Tag: Phil Knight

Ducks of a Feather to release Nike Dunk Low Triple Black Luxe “What the Duck Alternate”

Division Street’s Ducks of a Feather is teaming up with GOAT once again to release a limited edition “What the Duck Alternate” Nike Dunk.

Ducks of a Feather has done it once again, partnering with GOAT to release a limited edition Nike shoe that will be available for players and fans in the near future.

On Wednesday morning, Ducks of a Feather announced that they partnered with GOAT on a limited edition Nike Dunk Low Triple Black Luxe “What the Duck Alternate” which will be available on the GOAT app for $325 per pair.

The release is scheduled for November 28.

While the “What the Duck” Nike Dunk Lows offered a nod to the past decade-plus of Oregon uniforms that took the college football world by storm, these “What the Duck Alternate” Dunks will pay homage to the man largely responsible for turning Oregon into what it has become — Uncle Phil Knight.

The all-black design gives a nod to the Nike co-founder’s distinct all-black wardrobe and features luxe materials such as high-quality leather, suede, and hints of reflective on textured fabrics.

What The Duck Alternate Triple Black Luxe

As always with Division Street’s Ducks of a Feather brand, proceeds generated from the Nike Dunk Low Triple Black Luxe “What the Duck Alternate” will benefit participating University of Oregon student-athletes.

Division Street Inc. is a sports venture company founded by several University of Oregon alumni and donors that develops creative and effective marketing programs to maximize revenue opportunities for University of Oregon student-athletes. Division Street’s Ducks of a Feather is a brand featuring original apparel and footwear collaborations that are promoted by and provide revenue opportunities for University of Oregon student-athletes.

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Georgia coach Kirby Smart takes playful jab at Dan Lanning, Phil Knight

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart took a playful jab at Dan Lanning, Phil Knight and the Oregon Ducks for their NIL budget.

In the world of college football, the current mountaintop is the Georgia Bulldogs. Under the lead of head coach Kirby Smart, they have won two of the last three national championships, and arguably should have been in the College Football Playoff again last year as well.

If you were to ask almost anyone in the nation if they would trade places with Georgia, the answer would likely be yes.

But Smart may be looking elsewhere with some envy.

This week at the SEC Media Day, Smart took a playful jab at his former colleague Dan Lanning and the Ducks, making a remark about how jealous he was of the NIL money that Oregon gets from Phil Knight and Nike.

“I wish I could get some of that NIL money that he’s sharing with Dan Lanning,” Smart said of Knight. “But that’s another note.”

The subject of Oregon and NIL has become a major talking point lately after former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel claimed on his Sirius XM show that the Ducks had an “unlimited” budget from Nike as Knight pursues a national championship from his alma mater.

This talk has been fueled even more recently with Oregon’s latest string of victories on the recruiting trail, landing 5-star CB Dorian Brew and 5-star WR Dakorien Moore. The Ducks are also projected to pick up both 5-star S DJ Pickett and 5-star S Trey McNutt this week as well.

Whether the reports of “unlimited” NIL are true or not, it’s clear that Lanning and his program are the envy of even the best teams in the nation for what they’ve got going in Eugene.

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Oregon football has ‘unlimited’ NIL backing from Nike

Phil Knight is ready to spend for Oregon football.

Oregon football and Nike founder Phil Knight are in it to win it. And that means, according to a recent report, that the Big Ten program is set to spend in pursuit of a national championship.

That’s the buzz about the Oregon football program following a recent report from Sirius XM that Nike CEO Phil Knight is all-in on funding his program’s Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) campaign. Knight, the report said, desperately wants a national championship for his alma mater and is committed to providing the financial resources necessary to get there.

During his show on SiriusXM last week, former Washington and UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said that Knight is willing to find whatever it takes to get Oregon a national championship. Knight is the Nike founder is 86 years old.

Whatever Knight is providing, seems to be working. In the immediate, Oregon is finding success, with the second-ranked class in the nation in the transfer portal.

And in high school recruiting, Oregon’s class of 2025 is fourth in the nation (but is the highest in the nation in average in the On3 Industry Rankings). Of their 15 commits in the 2025 class, two are ranked five stars and 12 are four-star recruits.

 

The implications for high school recruiting are obviously massive. With what is essentially unlimited NIL money, Oregon’s already impressive recruiting will be unstoppable.

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We can be honest about Oregon’s victories over USC

Money might truly be the main driver of Oregon’s transfer portal wins over USC. It isn’t the only factor, though.

The Oregon Ducks defeated the USC Trojans in the battle to land elite defensive tackle Derrick Harmon. Many USC fans will tell you that Phil Knight and his Nike money made the difference. Are they wrong? Let’s think about that question before answering it.

Ducks Wire wrote that “In the early transfer window, Harmon entered the portal and looked around for a new team, ultimately taking a visit to Oregon before deciding to return to East Lansing with Jonathan Smith. After a few offseason months, though, Harmon re-entered the portal and decided to fly west to Eugene.”

It’s clear that Harmon thought long and hard about his decision. Some might speculate that Oregon increased the value of the bag at the last moment, and that USC wasn’t willing to pay as much. Maybe that’s true, but we don’t know that. We can say that Harmon weighed his choice and didn’t make it quickly or easily. This obviously means Eric Henderson and USC offered something compelling, something worth considering. NFL-level development mattered in all of this. It might simply not have been the first — or only — factor.

When USC fans say that Phil Knight and his money were the difference for Oregon, they aren’t fundamentally wrong. That money is a powerful lure and a consistent advantage the Ducks have. However, while USC fans are basically right, they need to be careful and avoid saying that money is the only reason for Oregon’s player-acquisition wins. Is it the main reason? Very possibly, maybe even likely. It’s not the only reason, however.

Let’s be honest: If Mark Helfrich or Willie Taggart coached Oregon, and the Ducks were coming off the kind of season USC (8-5) just had, do you still think Harmon would be in Eugene right now? Money might be the main driver of this — we’re not arguing that point — but it’s not the only element and the sole reason for Harmon’s (or other recruits’) decisions. Dan Lanning has needed to display enough competence to pull in these portal and recruiting prospects. If he went 8-5 last season, he wouldn’t be winning nearly as many battles. We feel confident in saying that.

Money matters. Phil Knight matters. On those points, there is zero debate. We’re not fighting against those claims. We’re only saying money is not the only driver or the whole ballgame. The coaches have to be good enough. The program has to be good enough. Oregon is, and USC is coming off a five-loss season in which it didn’t look great. That matters, too.

We just want to make sure people realize that.

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Column: Dan Lanning’s vision is coming together in Eugene, earlier than some expected

Dan Lanning and the Ducks are approaching their ceiling quicker than many expected them to in Eugene.

There were about two hours remaining until kickoff on Saturday in Salt Lake City. It was a bright and sunny morning, but the air was still crisp and cool in Rice-Eccles Stadium. While event staff milled about, preparing for a top-15 matchup between the Oregon Ducks and Utah Utes, Dan Lanning walked alone up and down the home team’s sideline.

Still wearing the dark-blue sports jacket he donned on ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ a couple of hours prior, the 37-year-old head coach was subdued. Ahead of him was among the biggest tests of his young head coaching career; a road matchup against a ranked opponent in a brutal environment — the type of game that Lanning has yet to win in his two years with the Ducks.

After his quick field walk, Lanning went back into the locker room with his team. It would be several hours until he would walk back into that locker room again, high-fiving the Oregon faithful while carrying the biggest win of his coaching career in hand.

35-6 was the final score. It was a total annihilation, one that Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said was far more lopsided than the scoreboard would suggest.

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Coaches don’t typically get introspective after a big win but rather choose to focus on the moment, the team, and the future. I figured I would give Lanning an opportunity to look within, though. After the victory, I asked him about his pregame walk and the significance it holds for him.

At first, he was unsurprisingly technical.

“I’m just picturing what the game’s gonna look like,” Lanning said. “I always talk about playing the game before the game ever happens and trying to assess where the play clocks at. ‘Okay, where are the timeouts? Where’s the board?’ I want to make sure that I’m at my best for our players. So how do you do that? You’ve got to know where the clocks at. What’s the environment? When you’re out there on the field, you don’t want to be surprised.”

Coach speak precluded the rumination.

“For me, once I walk out on the field, I’m thanking everybody who ever helped me get here,” Lanning continued. “I don’t belong here any more than anybody else, but am lucky to be sitting in the seat. There’s a lot of people that helped get me here.”

Lanning’s pregame visions of what’s to come certainly help him on the field. I have to wonder if he envisioned himself finding this much success so early in his career at Oregon.

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As of now, the Ducks are ranked as the sixth-best team in the nation. They have established themselves as one of the top two teams in the Pac-12 with an inside track to the conference championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff should they win every remaining game on their schedule, something they’re favored to do. They are the only team in the nation ranked inside the top 10 when it comes to both passing offense and rushing offense, and one of three teams in the nation that boasts a top-15 rushing defense, and top-15 sack rate. A Heisman candidate leads the way at quarterback, a Rimington Trophy leader spearheads the offense at center, and a likely Biletnikoff finalist is holding it down on the outside.

The balance is there. The ceiling is there. The expectations are high.

Did they arrive sooner than anticipated? That depends on who you ask. I think that over the past year, many Oregon fans have allowed themselves to believe in a world where this type of domination was possible for the Ducks, be it in 2024 or 2025. There’s been a conviction in Eugene that their brash and bold head coach would be the first to deliver a championship trophy to Phil Knight, making good on years of promise, and billions of dollars invested in the program.

I’m not sure many people pegged 2023 to be the year, though.

Since Lanning showed a willingness to reflect on Saturday evening, I followed up, asking if the outcome vs. Utah went as he envisioned it while walking to the field on that chilly morning, several hours in the past.

“We gave up six points — I was hoping to give up zero,” Lanning said with a smile. “So, similar.”

Similar enough to get the job done, and dominant enough to convince the college football world that the Oregon Ducks’ championship window is coming, and it’s running ahead of schedule.

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Column: Ducks display patience in win over Cougars, sending message to fans in the process

Oregon’s patience in a win over Washington State offers a good road map for Duck fans throughout the rest of the season.

Phil Knight seemed to be in a much better mood as this game wound down to a close.

Just a week after he watched his Oregon Ducks lose in frustrating fashion from the visiting sideline of Husky Stadium as a light drizzle started to come down, the Nike Co-Founder was in a lighter mood as he enjoyed the winning side once again.

I shared an elevator with Oregon’s biggest donor on Saturday afternoon as he traveled from his suite inside Autzen Stadium down to the field in the fourth quarter of the Ducks game against the Washington State Cougars. He smiled and joked with the several members of his entourage, and struck up a short conversation with the elevator clerk as we descended to the concourse.

After exchanging a few words, Knight stood quietly, patiently waiting for the doors to open.

I can’t help but look back on that incredibly brief, largely uneventful moment and think that Knight’s demeanor should be reflective of what Oregon’s fan base strives for at large this week. Coming off of a brutal loss to the Washington Huskies — their second in as many years — it had been a tough week to weather the storm. Dan Lanning felt it as he answered endless questions and criticisms about his aggressive fourth-down decision-making in the loss. I’m sure Knight felt it as well, watching the aftermath as the football program that he has invested billions of dollars into over the years once again fell short in a big moment.

When the pressure is on, though, as it currently is for the Ducks, there is no room for rash thinking. Instead, it’s patience that needs to be present. I’m sure that’s a lesson that Knight has learned time and again in his career, and it’s something that Lanning and the Ducks displayed on Saturday afternoon.

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Oregon entered this game against Washington State with no more room for error. Despite suffering their first loss of the season, the Ducks still had every preseason goal out in front of them, but another loss could tank their chances of making it to the Pac-12 Championship Game, and ultimately a spot in the College Football Playoff. They can still do both of those things but need to win every remaining game on their schedule.

You can’t do that in a single day.

Even Oregon’s 38-24 win over the Cougars required some level-headedness from Duck fans who watched. Lanning’s offense got off to a slow start, scoring only 3 points in the first three drives despite putting up over 130 yards of offense during that time. Ultimately, though, they ground down a less-talented Washington State team with their punishing rushing attack, and pulled away in the third quarter. Oregon won the game without any semblance of stress in the end.

“I don’t think our guys ever got rattled,” Lanning said after the game. “They stayed focused in the moment and that’s really what playing great football is about; being one-play focus.”

Going forward, it’s going to be that one-play focus that has the ability to carry the 8th-ranked Ducks forward to their ultimate destination. They’ll need that focus this week traveling to Salt Lake City, where the hype is already growing around their showdown with the No. 13 Utah Utes. ESPN’s College GameDay will be in town once again, and the eyes of the world will be watching to see what the Ducks can do.

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With a win, they have the opportunity to position themselves nicely in the race for a spot in the Pac-12 title game, and further their status as a CFP contender.

Both of those things are goals that the Ducks have had all season long, but neither will be fully accomplished with a single win. That was true last week, this week, and will continue to be true going forward as we march on through November.

Patience will be key.

I have a feeling that Phil Knight understands the patience that I’m talking about. He’s more invested in the success of the Ducks than any man in America. He’s seen the many highs over the past couple of decades, and he’s had a front-row seat to the handful of low moments as well.

Knight doesn’t pop champagne with each victory, and he doesn’t pull the plug with each defeat. He weathers the storm, knowing that with the right pieces in place, and the correct amount of time, the end-of-season goals can be accomplished.

The Ducks appear to be in a position to achieve those goals. They’ve got the coach, they’ve got the players, and the road map is clear. It’s not going to be an easy journey, and there will certainly be some bumps along the way.

Patience is going to be key.

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Deion Sanders hugs Nike’s Phil Knight before Colorado-Oregon

Deion Sanders and Phil Knight got together at Autzen Field

For a minute, the bad blood between Deion Sanders, Colorado and Oregon subsided on Saturday.

That’s because the Buffs’ coach seemed honored to see Nike boss Phil Knight prior to the Pac-12 game with the Ducks.

Everything was sweetness as the pair exchanged some love.

Sabrina Ionescu claims ‘Oregon Duck’ and ‘Uncle Phil’ editions of Sabrina 1 shoes stolen

There appears to be a shoe thief on the loose, and they’r snatching up limited edition Sabrina 1s.

You know you’ve made it in the world of athletics when you get your own shoe named after you.

I guess you can say you’ve made it, even more, when certain exclusive versions of those shoes go missing or get stolen.

That’s the case for New York Liberty star and Oregon Ducks legend Sabrina Ionescu, who claimed on social media Thursday afternoon that someone stole a couple of pairs of her new shoe, the Sabrina 1, from the opposing arena.

The two shoes designs were exclusive, one which honored Phil Knight, the Founder of Nike, and the other of which was an Oregon Ducks’ colorway. Of course, Sabrina wanted her special insoles back more than anything else.

It is unclear where the shoes went missing, but Ionescu debuted the ‘Thanks Uncle Phil” shoes on August 13 against the Indiana Fever. She wore the Oregon Ducks Sabrina 1s a couple of days later in a game against the Las Vegas Aces.

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AIR: See the cast of Ben Affleck’s new Nike movie compared to real-life counterparts

Ben Affleck nails it as Nike founder Phil Knight.

We’re getting closer to the release date for the upcoming sports movie AIR.

The early reactions are overwhelmingly positive and the Nike biographical sports drama currently has a 100 percent approval rating on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie tells the story of Knight and the partnership between Michael Jordan and Nike’s basketball division, which eventually led to the creation of the Air Jordan brand.

RELATED: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Nike film AIR debuts with a perfect 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Ben Affleck, who directs the film, stars as Nike co-founder and former chairman Phil Knight.

Affleck stars alongside Matt Damon (as Sonny Vaccaro), Viola Davis (as Deloris Jordan), Julius Tennon (as James Jordan), Chris Tucker (as Howard White), Jason Bateman (as Rob Strasser), Matthew Maher (as Peter Moore), Chris Messina (as David Falk), and Marlon Wayans (as George Raveling).

Michael Jordan, a character who appears more as a mythic figure than as an actual presence on the screen, specifically required Affleck to cast Davis to portray his mother.

This movie will have its theatrical release in the United States on April 5. Until then, you can watch the trailer to get excited and build anticipation for AIR.

You can also check out our side-by-side comparisons of the actors and all of their real-life counterparts:

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Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Nike film AIR debuts with a perfect 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes

This movie sounds amazing.

The upcoming sports movie AIR recently had its premiere at South By South West and the early reactions are overwhelmingly positive.

In fact, the Nike biographical sports drama currently has a 100 percent approval rating on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes. That specifically means that all seventeen reviewers thus far have rated this movie favorably.

As also noted by For The Win’s Cory Woodroof, Variety‘s Peter Debruge called the movie “this generation’s Jerry Maguire“ in his review.

AIR will have its theatrical release in the United States on April 5. But until then, you can watch the trailer to get excited and build anticipation for this movie.

Ben Affleck, who directs the film, also stars as Nike co-founder and former chairman Phil Knight.

The movie tells the story of Knight and the partnership between Michael Jordan and Nike’s basketball division, which eventually led to the creation of the Air Jordan brand.

Affleck stars alongside Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Tucker and Viola Davis. Michael Jordan, a character who does not actually appear in the film, specifically required Affleck to cast Davis to portray his mother.

Could this movie possibly be a contender for another Oscars win for Affleck, who took home the award for Best Picture for Argo in 2013?

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