Oregon State Whining to the Legislature

[Tray Dub]

Oregon State's president went to Salem to complain that we should've been stopped from moving to the Big 10 for OSU's sake.

At a hearing in Salem last week, Oregon State University President Jayathi Murthy told lawmakers that the abrupt decision by the University of Oregon to leave the Pac-12 will have “devastating” consequences for her university.

“The decision to pull out of the Pac-12 by the University of Oregon and the University of Washington, two state institutions, was made very quickly, with little regard for the fallout to sister institutions and to taxpayers, and with little time to address alternatives,” Murthy said.

“I think this round of events has shown that there are holes in the way we’re doing this whole thing,” Murthy said when asked if lawmakers should take a heavier hand.

Rep. Ben Bowman, D-Tigard, agreed that governance questions are likely to spill into the 2025 session, but he doesn’t think they’ll disappear. The public is riled up, he said. Lawmakers’ inboxes have been full of emails from constituents with strong feelings on the Pac-12 implosion, and Bowman said the legislative hearing room for last week’s discussion with university presidents was as full as he’s seen it this year.

In the short term, lawmakers suggested the state might help cover Oregon State’s budget deficit and discussed whether the University of Oregon should help pay, mirroring a decision in California.

Article: https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2023/10 ... ation.html

[nogerO]

Someone call a WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMBulance.

[StevensTechU]

Absolutely infuriating. I completely understand why Oregon State is pissed, I really do. But placing the blame on Oregon (following the departures of USC, UCLA, and Colorado, and with Arizona looking for a way out) and the ONUS of carrying water for both school on UofO is insane. This really feels like OSU is feeling wronged and just searching for someone, anyone, to blame.

Subsidizing Oregon State's athletic budget with my tax dollars is ridiculous. Directly, you want people who make a fraction of what Jonathan Smith makes to make his $4M+ compensation whole? Get the hell out of here.

[SuperDuck]

Absolutely infuriating. I completely understand why Oregon State is pissed, I really do. But placing the blame on Oregon (following the departures of USC, UCLA, and Colorado, and with Arizona looking for a way out) and the ONUS of carrying water for both school on UofO is insane. This really feels like OSU is feeling wronged and just searching for someone, anyone, to blame.

Subsidizing Oregon State's athletic budget with my tax dollars is ridiculous. Directly, you want people who make a fraction of what Jonathan Smith makes to make his $4M+ compensation whole? Get the hell out of here.

I seriously doubt that Jonathan Smith will be at OSU much longer. It's a really sad situation for both them and WSU.

[OregonFan4Life]

I feel bad for WSU, but I have 0 sympathy for OSU since they were a big Larry Scott cheerleader for years, they deserve more blame than Oregon.

[rodentslayer]

This is, indeed, infuriating. OSU is only after as much Pac-12 money as they can siphon away from the rest of the schools, and this is just one more tactic meant to achieve that.

It is not Oregon's fault that OSU's athletic department has not gotten to the same financially self-sufficient level as Oregon has, and Oregon should never have to subsidize OSU in any way. It absolutely reads as whiny and entitled on the part of the Beavers.

[pezsez1]

As much as I sympathize with OSU, this is pretty lame. Would UofO be getting a refund for all of the money it poured into branding and facilities to help put it in this position to move to the Big 10?

Also, if you follow OSU's argument to its logical conclusion, then if Oregon is required to subsidize OSU, couldn't Oregon claim that OSU caused harm to it by failing to find a better financial arrangement than the Mountain West? And wouldn't that mean someone owes UofO money?

This whole situation sucks. I feel terrible for Beaver Nation. But they need to stop blaming Oregon for refusing to stay in the sinking ship just because OSU wasn't offered a spot on a life boat.

Beaver Nation also needs to come to terms with its likely home in the Mountain West. Again, really sucks, but none of this is OSU's or Oregon's fault. This is just how the landscape is changing.

[DuckMastaFunk]

OS Fans - "For Oregon it's all about money! That's all they care about - money!"
Oregon State in reality - We need more money. Give us the State's money. Give us UO's money. Let's sue the Pac12 schools so we can ensure we get all the remaining Pac-12 money.

I'm completely fine with OS trying to secure their financial future, but to pretend it's not about money for OS is absolutely ridiculous.

[StevensTechU]

I'd summarize this as the ship was sinking (Apple deal was ~$10M less than prior deal and $10-40M behind other major conferences), and Oregon State is saying that Oregon should have to go down if they go down. That doesn't make a lick of sense.

If Oregon State, or the State of Oregon, wants Oregon to manage Oregon State's financials then go ahead and make Mullens the head of both athletic departments.

[dthomas=ddixon]

OSU Admin’s behavior in all of this just embodies who they are at their core, and why they’ll always be a second rate program. They relish the victim role and garnering everyone’s sympathy; the poor little guy that everyone should root for because they’re the underdog.

Now they’re simply having to lay in the bed they’ve been making for the last 30 years. The same 30 year span where Oregon decided to do something about their status and take advantage of any resources they had. And of course, we’re the bad guys for just looking out for ourselves and not looking for handouts.

[lmduck]

Those folks at OS sure do have a short memory.

Seems that out of one side of their mouth they are very pointedly accusing Oregon of being 'bought not built' and also saying 'poor us, those mean people at Oregon left us behind'. That same 'donor' they are accusing of buying not building Oregon is the same one who saved their beloved baseball coach when they could not afford to and also that same donor gave some money to help with their stadium renovation.

As dthomas pointed out above, they sat on their hands and played the 'poor us' card for many years. They made bad coaching hires and let's be honest Bob DeCarolis (former AD) and Ed Ray whom they revere got them in the mess they are in. Ray notoriously enabled Larry Scott.

I know I have said it here before, but had the Big10 called and invited them, I highly doubt Scott Barnes would have said 'only if you take Oregon too'.

Their act is wearing very thin.

[buckmarkduck]

At this point UO could and should just throw all OOC money towards building up Portland St, and never play OS. Help PSU get the money to improve and move to the MWC, and overtake OS as the little brother.

[Duck07]

Good article by Sami Edge to bring up the firing of Larivierre back in 2011. I had a few small conversations with him when he was President and he was done wrong by that and what's funny is these gripes could see those efforts to go Private gain more steam.

The only thing that wasn't brought up was that OSU and WSU both intend to claim that Playoff and March Madness Revenues the PAC is owed by staying in the PAC, which for 2 years at least would see them feasibly make more than both UO/UW so this 42M loss stuff seems false (of course, that's what lawyers do).

I'll also add that some of us have also recognized the nature of Phil Knight using a public university as a private team of sorts. When the UO AD's office made all of its big changes under Moos, there was always a plan in place on how to pay for it, even if there was also the acknowledgement that the "upkeep" costs of that largess was now passed down to the public institution. Once the LA's left for the B1G, you couldn't reasonably bank on a large payout if the Pac 10 stayed together, let alone once CU left and made it 9.