Oregon Owes the State of Oregon?

[GatOrlando]

https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2023/08/oregon-state-mailbag-ducks-owe-nothing-to-state-of-oregon-ticket-price-concerns-realignment-end-game.html

 

 

• Nick Daschel | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Another Oregon State mailbag, where readers provide Beavers-related questions and comments, and The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Nick Daschel gives a response.

Here goes:

 

Well Nick, based on several of your comments you have left objectivity behind and left no doubt that you are a Beevur Believer. I am a U of O alum and a Duck fan since birth. The U of O owes nothing to the State of Oregon. It owes nothing to Oregon State University.

OSU football has been freeloading in the PAC10/12 for 44 years. One conference Co-Championship in 44 years and last played in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1965. Their overall record puts them at 106/107 depending on which ranking since they started playing football games. Truly pathetic. As for future Civil War games – the U of O cannot afford to schedule games in 36k stadiums with a meager payday. – Douglas W

 

The U of O owes nothing to the state of Oregon? I was not aware the University of Oregon had become a private school.

 

As for the rest, I’ll just respond with the quote that keeping on giving gifts, from Ducks donor and former athletic director Pat Kilkenny: “Oregon would be in the same soup with the Beavs and Cougs if it weren’t for (Phil Knight).”

 

 

[Annie]

No, the UO is not a private school, but it receives less than 10 % of its funding from the state, and it's been that way for a long time.

[Charles Fischer]

More loser-logic.

 

What Beaver fans forget or ignore, is that Phil Knight did not help Oregon until after we had already gone to the Rose Bowl in 1994 by ON OUR OWN, and then went to the Cotton Bowl ON OUR OWN. After that, did Phil come forward to begin helping, but even then, with the new indoor practice facility, it was Ed Mosjofsky, who made the biggest donation, and hence why it has his name.

 

Winners want to work with winners, and you have to do it on your own first, and Oregon State fans don’t realize that…

 

Our wonderful baseball facility, PK Park, was primarily donated from Pat Kilkenny, who grew up in Heppner, Oregon, went to Oregon, and then went off and built in Insurance empire. Nobody even knew he was on the radar, but he shows up when Oregon goes to the Rose Bowl.

 

Winners want to work with winners, and the Beavers are not.

 

Beavers want to blame everyone else, and give no credit because it would shine a light on the failures of their own leaders.

[Just Ducky]

Sad but true.

[HDuck]

There is an old saying, "Envy is the enemy of honor."

 

For many in the Beavis community it probably is also "envy is the enemy of happiness."

 

No doubt, Beavis has quite a bit to worry about right now.  Not only football and basketball, but how might realignment affect baseball which has been a touchstone of happiness from the W's that have eluded football and basketball.  The Mt. West has 7 programs that play baseball.  The Big West has 11, more competitive teams, and would be a better fit for the Beavs.  Might it be possible in the future to have a structure for sports no longer tying everything to a "conference?"

 

Along with the uncertainty over the future of Cal and Stanford, it is an unsettling time in Beaverville.  It's akin to watching your handsome brother join the Homecoming Queen inside at the prom, while you park cars outside the country club.  But, hating on your brother because it gives you temporary relief will not bring happiness.   Still rationality goes out the window when you can't control your emotions.

 

Personally, I don't like seeing Beavis in this quandary.  I don't.  But, life ain't always fair and attempting to detract from, or penalize, someone a step or two up the ladder isn't going to change the ladder.   It's better to get control of your emotions and make the best situation possible for yourself where you are at.

[Annie]

Another factor in the Ducks success, IMHO, is that Oregon kept Brooks as the head coach for 18 years, allowing him to build the team, while the Beavs fired and hired several coaches during that same time period. Yes, there were ups and downs during the Brooks era, but there was consistency of staff (though maybe the days of position coaches staying put for a long time is over) and support from the athletic department.

[Augduck]

Pat Kilkenny is 100% right about Phil changing the trajectory but what Nick Daschel fails to realize is that while Phil was changing the trajectory OS sat and watched.  That's called being stupid.  In the business world if your competitor offers a particular set of goods or services and you sit and watch him/her, chances are you will be out of business pretty quickly.

 

Daschel is a beaver homer 100%.   I get that but he is also a big time whiner.

[GatOrlando]

I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but where I'm from, eventually you have to take off the training wheels. You have to grow up, make your own way. If your sibling gets a higher paying job, nicer car, house etc..  That doesn't entitle you to the same perks.

 

I'll say this once again, and it applies to the state trying to tie Oregon to Oregon State, UCLA to California, or Washington to Washington State. One is not obligated to help fund the others sports programs. Arizona State and Arizona got to go together because both offered something valuable.

 

As far as Oregon elevating itself due to superior funding. So what. Phil Knight can donate to Oregon if he wants. Money finances things if you aren't aware. If Ohio had as much money as Ohio State, they would be a much bigger deal. So yes Phil Knight helped elevate Oregon. 

 

What is with this thought process in the PAC of sports socialism? Sports isn't essential. The university may benefit from the branding, but sports is non essential. Oregon doesn't need to stay behind to make sure Oregon State has a more prominent place for it's sports teams.

[OregonDucks]

The University of Oregon leadership has a fiduciary responsibility to the University of Oregon.  Joining the B1G was a no brainier, given the instability of the Pac-12 conference, media deal with no linear exposure and the future of college athletics featuring 2 super-conferences.  It's sad that a 100+ year old conference came to an end but it is a result of years of poor leadership and decisions. 

 

The move to the B1G ensures years/decades of continued financial independence for the University of Oregon athletic department, national exposure/relevance and access to the college football playoffs.  The future media payout and exposure will enable Oregon to continue to compete at the highest levels of college athletics.

[Augduck]

I know I have said this already in another thread, and this is not an attempt to beat the proverbial dead horse, BUT if the Big 10 called Scott Barnes on that Friday and said 'we'd like you to join the conference' there is no way in hell Scott Barnes would have asked them to hold and run out of his office and asked his  executive admin to get Rob Mullens on the phone because he wanted to ask him if Oregon was okay with OS going to the Big10.

 

Mullens et al did what they had to do.  The Apple deal while plausible in some aspects was bad in other aspects.  The UW pres was pretty succinct in her assessment when she said it had a two year exit clause and that was a deal breaker for them along with the fact that in a 24 hour period the Apple deal had significantly changed from the initial offer. 

 

 I am not sure what more Daschel and others can say.  Were there mistakes, of course and they can all be traced back to Larry Scott and university presidents across the conference (looking at you ED Ray, now retired OS pres; Michael Crow (ASU) and whoever was at UCLA at the time and Carol Folt (SC) who was playing both sides at the time) who had just a bit too much hubris when ESPN offered a couple of years ago.  Hindsight is 20/20 .