Knight: I didn't force out coach.

Byline: Ron Bellamy The Register-Guard

Phil Knight said Wednesday that he "absolutely did not" tell Oregon athletics director Bill Moos to fire track and field coach Martin Smith.

"I never said he should, at all, ever," Knight said.

However, the Nike co-founder and Oregon's most important sports donor, told The Register-Guard that more than a year ago he expressed concern to Moos about "things I thought he should check into" regarding the track and field program.

"I think if he would have really investigated it, he would have saved everybody a lot of agony," Knight said.

Knight would not specify those concerns, but said they went beyond philosophical disagreements about whether Smith was placing adequate emphasis on Oregon's traditional stronghold of distance running.

Knight made it clear he believes that Moos has mishandled the situation. Monday, Knight released a statement to The Oregonian in which he said: "Bill Moos had 10 chances to make the right decision regarding the University of Oregon track and field program and missed every one of them. It's hard to be that perfect."

Moos said Wednesday that he's "disappointed that Phil feels that way because I've valued our friendship, and I've always felt we have a mutual respect. It's my hope that we can continue to work together, but I'm going to continue to do my job the best I can, and hopefully the people that support our program believe that I'm the guy who should be doing this job.

"Until I hear otherwise, from those who I work for, I'm going to keep doing the very best I can as athletic director for the University of Oregon."

Smith resigned Friday, the day before the beginning of the Oregon outdoor track season, having reached a negotiated settlement with the university in which he will receive payments totaling more than $500,000 over the next three years.

That agreement, released to The Register-Guard on Wednesday by UO general counsel Melinda Grier, requires Moos to provide Smith with "a mutually agreed upon letter of reference."

Furthermore, according to the settlement, "the university agrees that Moos and other senior administrators' comments regarding coach Smith will not disparage coach Smith. Coach Smith agrees that his comments regarding the University of Oregon will not disparage the university or its employees."

Wednesday, Moos chose his words carefully, and refused to be specific, when he said that roughly "five or six weeks ago" he began investigating "concerns within the program that had nothing to do with what alumni and fans wanted us to do in regard to an emphasis on distance running."

According to the document, the UO has promised to pay Smith through the expiration of his contract on June 30, 2008, based on an annual salary of $150,000 (base salary plus supplement) plus the value of other personnel expenses, the value of his Nike clothing allowance ($2,000 per year), courtesy car ($3,468 annually), Downtown Athletic Club membership ($1,848 annually) and the net revenue of his track camp ($15,000 annually).

Not including the amount owed to Smith for the rest of this contract year, that would result in payments totaling almost $517,000 over the next three years, with the payments ending if Smith gets another job at equal or greater salary, and being mitigated by the amount of his new salary if that's less than he gets from Oregon.

On the surface, the negotiated resignation capped a long-simmering disagreement between Smith and former UO track and field athletes who contended that Smith led the Oregon men's team away from its heritage as a program built around distance runners.

Some of those critics, including former Oregon distance star Alberto Salazar, work or worked for Nike and have connections to Knight, leading to the widespread perception that Smith's position became untenable because of the influence of Oregon's biggest donor.

However, last week Oregon women's distance coach Marnie Mason alluded to "a lot of issues" that had nothing to do with Nike, and Knight said Wednesday that he and Nike are being inaccurately portrayed as the heavies.

"I don't think we are," Knight said. "I don't think we've done anything wrong. I think it's really been mismanagement that has put us in this position."

Knight said "it's a sad time for Oregon athletics." However, asked whether he can get by this current situation and continue to support the track program, Knight said that he can.

"I'm not going to make any Draconian statements," he said. "Basically, a lot of guys came to me and said, `Hey, they need to do something,' and I said, `Listen, he (Moos) has been told this, and we're not the A.D., he is, and we're going to have to sit back and see what he does. This is going to define him.' ...

"I just think it's been very badly handled."

Knight said his proposed support of a new basketball arena for Oregon "is really kind of a different subject, and there are a lot of other issues related to that as well."

In Smith's settlement agreement, the university promised to include a statement from Smith in its official news release of his resignation, and did so. In that quote, Smith said, in part, that he was "pleased with the success of the university's track program" but was resigning because he had become "increasingly concerned about the controversy and related publicity regarding the track program."

The agreement requires Smith to "cooperate fully on behalf of the university" in any litigation stemming from his employment at Oregon, with the university reimbursing his travel and lodging expenses if he's required to return to Eugene as a witness or defendant in such a case. By state law, Smith is indemnified by the state if sued for actions committed during his employment.

Smith, Moos, the state board of higher education and the university are defendants in a lawsuit by former throws coach Sally Harmon alleging gender discrimination and seeking damages of at least $1.1 million.