Jerry
Green left the University of Kansas and Roy Willams in the spring of 1992 to
become the head men's basketball coach at the University of Oregon. Williams
then head coach at Kansas who has since moved on to coach at the University of
North Carolina, said about Green, "Jerry Green," can flat out coach the game of
basketball, he's one of the greatest basketball guys I've been around, KU's head
coach said." High praise indeed from one of the universally recognized "great
coaches" of the game.
Green wasted little time in hiring a premier assistant in Mark Turgeon who came from the same Kansas program Green had just left. The Oregon Ducks had not enjoyed consecutive winning seasons over the pasttwenty years. It was obvious they had their work cut out for them. In the five years of Green's leadership the Ducks enjoyed their first trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 34 years and played in the NIT. He coached the Ducks to three consecutive winning seasons.
Presented with the opportunity to right a sinking; or had it already sunk? ship at Tennessee Green left Oregon for the University of Tennessee in time to begin the 1997-98' season.
He coached the UT Vols to an outstanding 20-9 season that first year including a trip to the NCAA Tournament. This from a team he inherited and a school who hadn't known success for some period of time such as 1993-94, for example when the Vols were at an all-time low of (5-22). "They (Tennessee) hadn't won since the rocks cooled," joked Green, referring to the success of the last three seasons. If you bothered to check you would discover UT's record for the 90's prior to Green's arrival was an abysmal (90-113) over seven seasons with only one winning season (19-15) during that stretch.
Suddenly out of nowhere a 20-9 season and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Green was not prepared to sit back and take it easy he continued to talk about the future success he expected for the Tennessee basketball program. While making a guest speaking appearance Green spoke about his life and the road he had traveled to becoming a big-time college basketball coach.
"We were very poor," said Green as he discussed his family, "nobody in my family had ever gone to college. After high school I went straight to the mill and worked all summer. I got out of there and went to junior college. If I hadn't I'd still be working the graveyard shift at the mill."
"Sports is a great equalizer in this world," said Green, "regardless of how poor we were, when you stepped on the court, the one common thing was ability. It didn't matter if you had holes in your shoes or you didn't have any money. It was all to do with desire. Everything became equal. Sports were a great way for people to advance."
All Green and his teams did following that first magical season was keep the magic going with three more 20+ wins ie each of the three succeeding seasons including an outstanding 26-7 season, the most wins in school history, first place in the SEC and their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, they ended the season ranked llth in the nation by the AP. Jerry Green left the University of Tennessee after his fourth season with the Vols. He is currently enjoying life, his friends and his wife wondering, given his experience at Tennessee, whether that "urge" to coach will return.
Some of his accomplishments are: