‘ROB I AM SO SERIOUS HIRE PJ FLECK’ and other emails from Oregon fans

Oregon recently hired a new coach, USF’s Willie Taggart, after replacing Mark Helfrich following a disappointing 4-8 campaign for the Ducks.

The entire ordeal was new territory for Oregon fans. The Ducks hadn’t missed a bowl game since 2004 and hadn’t fired a coach since 1976.

We were curious how Oregon fans might handle such difficulties, what with “FIRE THE BUM” chants being so rare in Eugene and all, so we filed an Open Records request for all emails sent to Oregon AD Rob Mullens following Oregon’s losses to Colorado and Washington, when we assumed “Fire Helfrich” emotions might be at their highest.

Oregon sent 70 pages of emails, and those were just after two weekends. It’s clear Oregon’s administration was facing real fan pressure to make some sort of move.

Not all of these emails called for Helfrich to be fired, but by the Washington massacre, the bulk of the correspondence certainly called for a change. And to Mullens’ credit, he responded to several, thanking fans for sharing concerns and noting the high expectations.

I’d like to highlight a few of the most interesting emails.

I’ll always be a Ducks fan. I’m not going to laser my Puddles tattoo. Sad to say, I vote for the hard decision to find a new head coach at the end of the season.

Phew! Coaching searches are stressful enough without tattoo removals. Also, if you have a tattoo of “Puddles” The Duck, please email it to us. I would like to see it.

Les Miles is now an available coach and I believe that your organization should make him an offer that he can’t refuse he is one of the best coaches in all of college football history and it would be a crime to let him slip through our fingers he would do wonders for the University of Oregon football organization please consider this proposal.

There were multiple emails calling for Oregon to hire the fired LSU coach. None, for what it’s worth, mentioned Taggart. Other fans called for former Oregon coaches Mike Bellotti and Chip Kelly, plus other big names.

As a lifelong Duck fan and 1979 graduate of UO, it pains me to have to sit through the pathetic, uninspired effort of the current football squad which is clearly a reflection on the poor coaching they must receive. I would place a portion of the blame on Oregon’s recent legalization of marijuana, but since Washington and Oregon both have similar laws, and both have destroyed us, that must not be the cause.

There are a lot of explanations for Oregon’s struggles this season, from recruiting misses to poor assistant coaching hires to just plain ol’ bad luck, but I have to admit, this is a new one.

Art Briles, while he has some “scandal” issues to overcome, is a great football coach. He would fit the Oregon program perfectly. He deserves a second chance, of course, with a well-crafted apology letter from Art and forceful assurances by Oregon that the same things would not be allowed to happen here.

HARD. PASS.

Also, this wouldn’t be a collection of Oregon emails if there wasn’t one person who was WAY MORE MAD about uniforms than say, the results on the field. An excerpt:

My question is to you is why then, are my Ducks, tonight, dressed in black, blue and yellow and black helmets?

I have written others, including your head coach about dressing “my” Ducks in colors other than green, yellow or white (away games). Each time, and every single time I have received no response. No answer whatsoever.

My Ducks, not yours boy. I belong to a group, many of which know Uncle Phil personally and for many years. Perhaps you are unaware because you are ignorant of the ratio of loses to wins when my team wears black. Yes, perhaps you are. Stupid ignorant boy.

If you, or anyone else ever dresses my team in black again I will start a pogram against you, personally. As of today, and the game is not over, I will never contribute a f***ing dime to you, or the Duck’s administration while you are AD. I will counsel my friends whom are a lot more pissed off than I am to stop their contributions also. You think this is a boast, try me.

Wow, I can’t imagine why that person wasn’t getting regular emails back to his questions. That is a new level of mad online about uniforms.

And now, my personal favorite emails from the entire bunch.

SENT: 10/13/2016, 9:46 AM

Subject: PJ Fleck

Do it.

And then, one minute later, from the same person:

SENT: 10/13/2016 9:47 AM

Subject: ROB I AM SO SERIOUS

PJ Fleck, make it happen.

If that isn’t ROW THE BOAT distilled into email form, I don’t know what is.