Long-time Oregon coach Dana Altman retires less than a month before regular season

Less than a month before Oregon's basketball team opens the season, long-time coach Dana Altman is retiring, the school confirmed Wednesday. News of Altman's retirement was initially reported by The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman.

Altman, 68, has worked for the program for 16 seasons, leading the Ducks to nine appearances in the NCAA tournament.

In a statement, Altman confirmed the news and called it "truly painful" to step away from Oregon.

"I have had to make two really tough decisions in my coaching career," said Altman. "The first was leaving Creighton, a place my family and I dearly loved, to come to Oregon. This is the second. I've loved every minute of coaching here, and stepping away is difficult and truly painful. I love coaching, it's what I know best and what I've been fortunate enough to do for almost five decades. I'm going to miss my coaches, my players and our incredible fans more than I can express. But I know this is the right thing to do at this time. I want to thank former AD Pat Kilkenny for giving me a chance here, Phil Knight and Tim Boyle for their constant and unwavering support, my coaches and players past and present, Rob, President Scholz, and of course our amazing fans. It's been the honor of my life to coach the Ducks."

In that same statement, the school announced assistant Tony Stubblefield would serve as the team's interim head coach during the 2026-27 season.

Stubblefield spent over a decade as an assistant under Altman at Oregon before leaving to become DePaul's head coach in 2021. He spent three seasons at DePaul, leading the team to a 28-54 record. Stubblefield was fired in 2024 and returned to Oregon, once again serving as an assistant under Altman.

With the move, Altman caps a fantastic run at Oregon — and overall. In his 16 seasons with the program, Altman won the Pac-12 tournament four times and frequently had his team in the top-25 polls.

His greatest accomplishment with Oregon came during the 2016-17 season, when he led the team to the Final Four. Oregon, a No. 3 seed that year, couldn't topple North Carolina to advance to the final, losing 77-76 . In his 16 seasons at Oregon, Altman posted a 382-182 record and a .677 winning percentage. He won three Pac-12 Coach of the Year awards at the school.

Prior to that, Altman excelled at Creighton, where he won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament six times in 16 seasons. He led Creighton to the NCAA tournament seven times during his tenure and earned two MVC Coach of the Year awards. He went 327-176 over his 16 seasons at Creighton.

Altman also coached at Marshall for one season and Kansas State for four years. He led Kansas State to the NCAA tournament during the 1992-93 season and earned the Big-8 Coach of the Year award for his efforts.

After making the NCAA tournament during the 2024-25 season, Oregon took a massive step back last year. The team went just 12-20 overall. It was the first time Altman finished under .500 at Oregon.