Dana Altman retires: Oregon coach steps down in surprise move less than a month before start of 2026-27 season

Oregon coach Dana Altman is retiring less than a month before the 2026-27 season begins, the school announced on Wednesday. Altman has been Oregon's coach since 2010 and has racked up 792 career wins during his time at Marshall, Kansas State, Creighton and Oregon.

"I have had to make two really tough decisions in my coaching career," Altman said in a release. "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."

Oregon assistant coach Tony Stubblefield, who has head coaching experience dating back to his time at DePaul, will serve as the program's interim coach for the upcoming season. Stubblefield rejoined Oregon's coaching staff in 2024 after being fired by DePaul. Before that, Stubblefield joined Oregon's staff when Altman was hired back in 2010.

Big Ten basketball preseason poll, predictions 2026-27: Michigan, Purdue overrated; USC, Iowa underrated

Cameron Salerno

Altman is the latest coach in recent years to announce his retirement shortly before the college basketball season began. Last year, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl stepped away after leading his team to the Final Four the year before. Weeks before the start of the 2024-25 season, Virginia coach Tony Bennett announced his retirement.

In the annual media poll conducted by The Columbus Dispatch, Oregon was tabbed to finish 14th in the Big Ten. The Ducks went 12-20 overall (5-15 in Big Ten) last season, which marked the program's worst record since the 2008-09 season. Before that, Oregon had reached the NCAA Tournament three of the last five years.

In 16 seasons with Oregon, Altman won 382 games — the most in program history — and led the Ducks to nine appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Oregon won four Pac-12 regular season titles, four Pac-12 conference titles and reached the Final Four in 2017.