Former Oregon Ducks offensive lineman Doug Brenner is suing the University of Oregon, former head football coach Willie Taggart, former strength coach Irele Oderinde, and the NCAA for negligence for $11.5 Million dollars.

  • On whether he thought about quitting football after the workouts:
    “I thought about it…thought about it.  But I love football.  I loved playing football at the U of O, I had a great experience at the U of O.  I was coming into my senior season, so I was a leader on the team.  I was on our team’s leadership counsel, the previous year I had been a team captain.  Quitting wasn’t a viable option.  They made it seem like you couldn’t quit.”| 
  • On his damaged health:
    “Bottom line, because of these workouts that I did, I have permanent damage to my kidneys and to my life.  I could have as much as ten years off my life because of this.” 
  • On his motivation for suing:
    “Beyond my kidney damages and the damages to my health, I’m doing this because the NCAA needs to be held accountable, these coaches need to be held accountable, because this shouldn’t have to happen to any college athlete…it’s so avoidable. 
  • On the volatility of the workouts:
    “They started with these workouts that were aimed not to get us better at football, but to break us, to break our will, to see who would quit.  And that became really clear to us when we walked up into the mezzanine where we do our workouts, and they had the balcony lined with trash cans for us to throw up in.  They brought oxygen tanks because after the first day people were passing out, these workouts were so tough. 
  • On if he’s ever experienced that coaching style before:
    “No. I have never experienced anything like this coaching style in my history of athletics.  In the Coach Helfrich era, Chip never did anything like this, Cristobal would never do anything like this.  It’s just irresponsible and dumb.”

Listen to the media session in its entirety below:

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