Dana Altman’s run at Oregon ended with a jolt Wednesday, and it landed at the worst possible time for a program trying to get ready for the season.
With the Ducks only a little more than a week away from beginning the exhibition part of preseason, the school announced that Altman is retiring after 16 seasons in Eugene. Oregon said Tony Stubblefield will serve as interim head coach for the 2026-27 season.
After 16 seasons and 382 wins at Oregon, head coach Dana Altman has announced his retirement.
Tony Stubblefield has been named interim head coach for the 2026-27 season.
More: https://t.co/inqeJ3jy7W #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/K4Gm0fNIhG
- Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) October 7, 2026
The timing made the news even more surprising. Oregon had been working through offseason workouts, and Altman had just spoken to the media before the announcement dropped. For a coach who had been a fixture in the program for 16 years, the move hit like a thunderclap.
Altman leaves with a 382-182 record at Oregon, including a 185-114 mark in conference play across the Pac 12 and Big Ten. His résumé in Eugene is loaded: a Final Four trip in 2017, four Pac 12 tournament titles and four regular-season league championships.
He also gave Oregon a level of yearly stability that’s rare in college basketball. After arriving in 2010, Altman won 20 or more games every season until last year’s team.
Even after what was the worst season of his Oregon tenure, there was still plenty of curiosity about how he and his staff would reshape the roster after attacking the Transfer Portal. Instead, the Ducks now have to adjust to life without him.
Altman is expected to address the media later Wednesday night, where he’ll likely explain the decision. His retirement ends a stretch in which rumors about him stepping away surfaced from time to time, only for him to keep coming back.
For now, Oregon shifts to Stubblefield, who spent three seasons as DePaul’s head coach from 2021 through the end of the 2024 season. DePaul went 28-54 during that span and 9-38 in league play.
Because the announcement came so late in the calendar, Oregon had little realistic choice but to name an interim coach rather than launch a full search. The Ducks will likely give Stubblefield a chance to prove himself in the job, while keeping the door open for a broader coaching change if the season goes sideways.
One immediate benefit of the timing is roster stability. Elevating Stubblefield as interim head coach means the transfer portal will remain closed for 31 days instead of opening for just 5 days, making it harder for other programs to pry away pieces of the roster this close to the season.
Looking ahead, the bigger question may be how much Oregon is willing to invest in the program next offseason. That will shape both the kind of roster the Ducks can build and the level of coach they can chase. NIL and revenue sharing will matter in that conversation, and if Oregon is ready to spend at the level of the top Big Ten programs, it should be positioned to draw a major name.
In Other News...
Warriors Loss Brought Back A Familiar Offensive Concern
Balanced nights from the supporting cast are usually what the Trail Blazers want to see around their star guards, and there was enough of that against Golden State to leave Portland with a win. Deni Avdija set the tone with 23 points, giving the offense a needed lift while the bench chipped in meaningful minutes and kept the pressure from settling on Damian Lillard and Ja Morant.
Still, the larger picture was familiar for Portland, because one good scoring night from the group does not erase how much the offense can lean on a few pillars when the game gets tighter. Golden State got solid individual work from Miles Kelly and Dalen Terry, but the Blazers were the team with the better spread of production this time, which is exactly why the next version of this matchup will be watched for whether that balance can hold. [Read more 🡒]
Ja Morant Is Already Giving The Blazers A Different Feel
Ja Morants first run with the Portland Trail Blazers came in an exhibition against the Golden State Warriors, and the early impression was less about the box score than the temperature check he gave himself afterward. Morant rated the debut a 6.5 out of 10, a nod to both the long layoff and the adjustment of settling into a new team and system.
What stands out around Portland, though, is the tone around his arrival. Damian Lillard has noticed a positive edge to Morants approach, and the early read is that he has shown up with energy, stayed engaged in practice and fit the team-first mood the Blazers are trying to build. For a team looking for any sign that a new piece can raise the level around him, that kind of presence can matter almost as much as what happens in one preseason game. [Read more 🡒]
Clippers Bring Back A Familiar Name As Roster Battle Takes Shape
The Clippers kept one of their familiar developmental pieces in the mix, signing wing Jahmyl Telfort to an Exhibit 10 contract as they filled an open spot on a 21-man preseason roster. Telfort had already spent time with Los Angeles on a two-way deal before being cut in December, and the expectation is that hell head back to the San Diego Clippers in the G League.
For Portland, the ripple effect shows up in the broader preseason churn around these Exhibit 10 moves. The Trail Blazers waived guard Jaylen Martin, another player on that sort of path, as teams continue sorting out camp numbers and the G League pipeline that often follows these late roster decisions. [Read more 🡒]