Dana Altman has 'no intention' of retiring after 2024 season

Oregon’s head basketball coach has been dealing with rumors of retirement swirling recently. The Ducks currently sit at 19-10 and 9-7 overall on their 2023-2024 campaign. On Wednesday evening, Dana Altman immediately shot down any speculation of retirement at the end of the season.

“I have NO intention of retiring, and I never had any plans to retire,” Altman said in an interview with Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68. The Oregon legend is currently 65 years old and has four years on his contract.

In November of 2019, he became the all-time wins leader for the Oregon Ducks, winning his 236th game in Eugene.

He’s unquestionably one of the most successful college basketball coaches of all-time. As of March 1st, 2024, the Ducks basketball coach ranked third among active major conference basketball coaches, with a very impressive record in the month of March in the past eight seasons. According to Danny Neckel, Altman boasted a record of 42-14 in March (.750), ranking him just behind Tony Bennett of Virginia and Bill Self of Kansas.

He’s been named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year three times in his career (2013, 2015, and 2016). Altman is also one of only three active head coaches in Division I with 26 consecutive winning seasons. That list includes Hall-of-Famers Tom Izzo and Bill Self.

At one point in time, Altman led Oregon to five straight NCAA Tournaments for the first time in school history (2013-2017), winning at least one game in each year. Those NCAA Tournament runs were loaded with successful moments, including a Final Four (2017), two Elite Eights (2016, 2017) and three Sweet 16’s (2013, 2016, and 2017).

Oregon had a pretty magical run in 2018-2019, winning four games in four days to win the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament Championship. They ended up staying hot in the NCAA Tournament, making it all the way to the Sweet 16, where they were ousted by the Virginia Cavaliers, the eventual national champions.

Before joining Oregon, Altman spent 16 seasons the Creighton Blue Jays, where he became their all-time winningest coach (327-176) with a .650-win percentage. In those 16 seasons, he led them to seven NCAA Tournament appearances and five NIT appearances. Remarkably consistent, Altman had a stretch of 11 straight seasons with 20-plus wins.

One of Creighton’s best seasons under his watch came in 2002-2003, when the Blue Jays posted a school-record of 29 wins. The team finished the season ranked 15th in the Associated Press poll and ranked 23rd in the coaches’ poll.