Home Football Bob De Carolis Declining Interviews

Bob De Carolis Declining Interviews

110

Not due to health reasons, but football ineptitude.

I'd be curious to hear the large donors' opinions on this. Actually, being a small donor myself, I'd be curious to hear my brethren's opinions as well.

My feeling is this is typical OSU behavior. I think fans and media need to take it up a notch, and ask BDC's boss, Ed Ray, some difficult questions…

110 COMMENTS

  1. Pathetic. Riley and BDC are in a death copulation spiral together. The program is on the verge of losing half its fans because of the poor stewardship and an inept coaching staff. BDC can’t even admit he made a mistake. If it gets bad enough as I suspect it will both will be gone or retired by next year. Unless Ed Ray also is a crony and cares to be replaced himself. It has happened plenty of other places where there was nowhere near the abysmal losing ways currently found at OSU.

    • Is that a scientific conclusion? How did you come to half of the fans are going away? I don’t fully disagree with where this guy is coming from, but every time you write one of your rants the message is lost in the ridiculous statements that are in the rant. Even starting with your “name”, Riley may be many things but a fraud is not one of them. Riley is exactly what we knew he was from the beginning – a classy guy that is great at turning around a losing identity and creating a program that will be competitive. He is not a creative football mind, he is not the architect of a football powerhouse and he is going to have bad years occasionally.

      If you want to say that is a reason to fire him – that is a great start to a discussion – saying that Riley is the worst coach in Div 1 or that he is bringing the program back to the 28 years is just silly and is dismissed by any fan with half a brain and even more so to those of us who contribute $$ (aka the ones that matter).

      • This will be the second losing season. His recruiting stinks. His choice of staff stinks and he isn’t emotionally in the game. I contribute $ to the program each year and feel like we are better than a 2 win team. There is no reason for us not to go to a bowl every year. We don’t have to go to the Rose Bowl, but come on, how hard is it to get six wins? Riley has always been a mediocre coach. Can he win games? Yes, when he has talent. Good coaches can figure our ways to win when they don’t have talent. Should he be fired? Probably. Can we get someone better? Absolutely. Should Bobby D be fired for giving Riley his current contract? No doubt.

  2. ANGRY,

    I posted this in a previous post, because of this topic, I felt it is appropriate to post it again.
    If you click on the link below it automatically brings up a spot where you can place your comments, and voice your opinions.

    Here is the information for OSU President Ed Ray.

    http://oregonstate.edu/tools/mailform?to=pres.office@oregonstate.edu&recipient=President's+Office

    Mailing Address:
    President
    600 Kerr Administration Building
    Corvallis, OR 97331-2128
    541-737-4133 (phone)
    541-737-3033 (fax)

    *To answer your question I think the reason BDC is declining interviews is NOT due to health reasons. Cliff Kirkpatrick responded to a similar question and commented on his blog about this, and he stated the reason being NON health related. BDC will address the media after the Civil War in my opinon. He probably doesn’t want to discuss the possible changes in the coaching staff until the football season is done.

    • Thanks. I just wrote Ed Ray.

      Update: not sure if the email went through…a copy showed up in my mailbox. Hopefully it didn’t mail to myself.

  3. This athletic department doesn’t give a shit about the fans and our coach isn’ttaking accountability for anything negative in the program and the local media is asking fans to ask tough questions of both parties. This ultimately comes down to the fans…whether or not this program rises or falls is up to them. People need to remember that money talks and that they can elect not to waste their money on a losing effort. Unfortunately I don’t think our fan base is united in their expectations so I’m guessing football will continue to die under their watch.

      • I donate because football is my favorite sport. It’s also the most popular American college sport. If osu football sucks and the administration doesn’t care then why should I? If I continue to donate to basf but designate away from football then that only tells the admin I don’t care about football. If I stop donating altogether, they will get the message loud and clear.
        Like it or not football drives everything else.

        • I disagree that football is the most popular American college sport.

          i agree that it is afforded the most leeway in rules interpretations, which leads to a quite pliable outcome. And if you can’t see the solution before the mix is made, then I can’t really help you. The system sucks, and football is not a game. It’s a system.

  4. I am preparing questions for Mike Riley. Paul Buker has promised to ask Riley these questions next Tuesday, before or after practice. I want to keep the questions focused on the big picture (mostly on the need to replace Banker and Langsdorf) and to avoid getting lost in the weeds. I also want to make the questions hard to avoid or evade.

    Here is my current set of questions. Comments, suggested improvements, different/new questions all would be welcomed. The final set of questions needs to be sent to Buker no later than midday tomorrow/Monday.

    Proposed Questions for Mike Riley:

    Q: OSU has been outgained 821-92 on the ground in its last three games. Is that wholly the fault of the players? Isn’t that at least partly the fault of OSU’s coaches? If the coaches are at least partly responsible, what have the coaches been doing wrong? What short-term changes, if any, will be made? When?

    You (Mike Riley) are in charge of the OSU football program, and are ultimately responsible and accountable for its results. Over the last 15 games, OSU’s record is an awful 3-12. In trying to turn things around, will changes to your coaching staff be seriously considered this off-season? If not, why not?

    Under your system, is there any individual accountability for assistant coaches in the OSU football program? Is the Defensive Coordinator at OSU ultimately responsible and accountable for the performance of his unit? Is the Offensive Coordinator at OSU ultimately responsible and accountable for the performance of his unit? If not, why not?

    In 2010, OSU’s rushing defense finished ranked 89/120, while OSU’s total defense ranked 86/120. In 2011, OSU’s rushing defense is ranked 86/120, while OSU’s total defense is ranked 70/120. Obviously, these are awful numbers, and an unacceptable level of performance over the past two seasons. If this were a business, the person in charge of such a poorly performing business unit would be held accountable. Why shouldn’t the head of OSU’s defense, Mark Banker, be held accountable for the poor performance of OSU’s defense over the past two seasons? If not now, when?

    In 2010, OSU’s rushing offense finished ranked 97/120 (and that was with Quizz Rodgers, an All-American tailback) while OSU’s total offense ranked 94/120. In 2011, OSU’s rushing offense is ranked 119/120 (next-to-last among all 120 FBS teams) and OSU’s total offense is ranked 80/120. Again, these are awful numbers, and an unacceptable level of performance. Again, if this were a business, the person in charge of this business unit would be fired. Why shouldn’t the head of OSU’s offense, Danny Langsdorf, be held accountable for the poor performance of OSU’s offense over the past two seasons? If not now, when?

    • Question for Riley, “With your current contract do you feel that you’re ‘too big to fail’ or has BDC come to you and said “I don’t care how big your buyout is if things aren’t turned around in a hurry you’re going to be fired”?

      • Agree that it would be very interesting to find out more about BDC and how much pressure, if any, he is exerting. Maybe a question like this: “At any time during the past month, have you had any conversation with Bob DeCarolis about the need for change in the OSU football program?”

      • “With your current contract do you feel that you’re ‘too big to fail’…”

        It does have a monopolistic feel to it. Does it not? And here we all are asking for regulation over laissez faire.

        Imagine that.

    • Silver, I’d really like to see a question asked about our ranking in penalties too. People seem to say that penalties come with being so young, but juniors and seniors (Remmers, Fernando) seem to be commiting a majority of the penalties. I think this sort of questioning, as long as it’s backed by simple statistics, will focus the microscope on the staff effectively.
      To help silver, is there a source to find out who has committed penalties each game? We need to compile some data here.

      • The subject of penalties is another good area to probe. It would be useful to have more data, but even with the existing data, a question such as this could be asked of Mike Riley:

        This year’s Beaver team has been among the most penalized teams in the nation. A month ago, you said, “We own that, we’ve got to do better on that stuff.” Yet it keeps happening. Is this all on the players? Or do the OSU’s coaches share at least some responsibility? If the coaches are at least partly responsible, what have the coaches been doing wrong? What short-term changes, if any, will be made? When?

    • I don’t expect beat writers to ask antagonistic questions of Mike Riley. If they do, they’ll be blown off. Worse, they could lose opportunities to conduct interviews w/ players and coaches. You can ask a question in a much more open-ended like….OSU has been outrushed over 3 games 821-92. You (Riley) have stated the need for a more balanced-attack on offense. What changes are being made on offense to increase rush production? What will the defense be doing to stop the run, without leaving the secondary isolated? Will you load the box more?

      UW has the #3 rusher (I think) in the conference. How will you stop him?

      Bring up data – it is hard to refute.

  5. I’m probably not a large donor by most measures but I’m withholding all future donations until they give me a reason to think things are changing. The whole gameday atmosphere is f–ed up and now that the football itself is lousy, I don’t want to give my tacit approval that I’m okay with everything.

    I won’t claim to know enough about football to say “He should go and this should change”. I just know that the drive to Corvallis is a pain in the ass every other weekend. Everyone at our tailgater bitches and moans about the lack of excitement in and out of the stadium. We watch a boring-as-hell football team lose by two or three touchdowns and get to sit in traffic for three hours. Yay!

    If BDC (or anyone) were to say, “We realize this isn’t the season you wanted. We all have high expectations. Here are the changes we are making to make sure you are proud of this team and want to come to Corvallis for the home games: blah, blah and blah.”

    Honestly, I don’t care what the changes are. I just don’t want to keep throwing good money after bad and hoping for the best. I’ve thought I might be over-reacting this year but have talked to enough people (and read enough from you on here) to know I’m not alone.

    Since no one at OSU seems to want to take the pulse of their customers or reply to e-mails or phone calls, keeping my wallet in my pocket next year is the only way to cast a vote.

  6. With the unfortunate passing of Al Reser earlier this year, who are the ‘big’ donors now? I find it somewhat strange this topic is hardly ever discussed. Is this a big secret? Can someone give me ONE name that gives legitimate money every year? I know there was a big deal made several years back about Spirit Mountain wanting to donate a $ 1 million for signage in the stadium. People freaked out and it was shot down. Obviously, a change in thought was made, as there is Spirit Mountain signage in the stadium.

    • There’s a list that the OSU Alumni Association used to publish in their magazine each year that listed names and dollar amounts by category. It was in the game day program for a while, too, but I haven’t seen one in so long I can’t say if it’s in there or not.

      I think OSU has a lot of mid-size donors ($5-20K) but not very many high-end donors ($100K+) who get King Bob’s ear. Might be part of the problem that he doesn’t have to answer to anyone specifically and can ignore the pleas from the masses.

  7. Good work, folks. You are right — those silent are ignored.

    And this isnt just losing….it is not even being competitive, and even against weak teams.

    And in situations where immediate coaching is required, like the end of a game or half, there is just obvious confusion and futzing about.

    But dont just withhold a donation. Write to the President and TELL him you are doing that. That gets attention.

    I doubt they fire or put early retirement on Riley, but maybe they can make him either light a fire under his assistents or replace them. We need to make that happen.

  8. I gave up on football after UCLA and I refuse to go to anymore games or give any donations in the future until major changes are made beginning with the AD. I don’t think Ed Ray has the guts to fire BDC though. Never been impressed with either one of them.

    With that said, Riley needs to fire a lot of coaches including Langsdorf, Locey, Banker, and Cavanaugh, plus the strength and conditioning coach and find some coaches that have the ability to teach and ingrain the fundamentals into their players. OSU is one of the worst teams when it comes to preparation and fundamentals and this has been a big hallmark of a Mike Riley team for awhile now, even when they were winning 8-9 games a year. Langsdorf was never a good hire and Locey may be good for a small college like Linfield, but he seems to be stuck on recruiting so-so in-state talent, and this cannot happen. Cavanaugh is a blowhard whose players have seemed to tune out and Banker is stuck in his ways with a defense that he refuses to change, even after he gets his ass handed to him by teams who run spread offenses.

    Angry, you have done a great job with this site and I am glad that I am not alone in demanding that things need to change. Please keep it up!!

  9. I have been an advocate of getting rid of Riley for over five years. I saw the handwriting on the wall long before this pathetic season. I get asked to donate to BASF about twice a month. I reply each time indicating that I am not going to put money into a sinking ship. I state that until Mike Riley and possibly Bob D. are removed and new people hired who are dedicated and able to bring our football program into regional and national contention, there will be no further donations from me.

    All of you who plan on cancelling any and all donations to OSU must at least email everyone you can think of on campus stating this fact……I also include the Daily Barometer, Mr, Ray and his secretary, any OSU donation offices, the Alumni office, etc. There is no use in emailing Riley, Bob D, or any other football staff personnel….they just can all emails coming to them.

    Please, everyone who is fed up with this deplorable football program led by Mike Riley, contact any and all offices at OSU to let them know your feelings and actions you will take to show your displeasure. Every single email will help. If we, as Beaver fans, don’t stick together and let the powers to be know, nothing will get done.

    Fightingbeaver

    • Same…I’ve been questioning these guys dating back to 2006. At that time, I wrote on rivals.com that Riley was only recruiting WAC-level talent. People scoffed. Sometimes things can be masked for a long time, but the truth always prevails.

      The past two recruiting classes are actually Pac-12 level talent, but I still think Riley caps out at 8 wins in a good season and 9 in a great season–that’s not enough to get better than a 4th place bowl. The conference and selection committees do not want the small-market Beavers in big games, so to make a meaningful bowl, they have to win the north and take their shot in the conference game. Riley will not and cannot do this. If fans are happy with 7 or 8 wins and a minor bowl, then they should support Riley because he will do that again. If they want a great team every four years, they should support pressuring Riley’s resignation.

  10. I’m actually cancelling my cable tomorrow…no need to spend another $100 next month just to watch the Beavers get creamed by the Ducks. Since I don’t watch anything else on TV, this feels like a good decision. Beavs’ ineptitude slows the overall economy in this sense.

  11. Angry: How do you know he’s declining interviews?

    I’m so, so, so tired of OSU’s nepotic crap. Almost makes me sad that Matt Moore turned it around a few years ago when the Can Riley / Canfield signs came out at Reser. Had that not happened, we might have been able to push Riley out before he anointed himself Joe Pa part two. Sad thing is, I like Mike Riley. I’d like to hang out and have a beer with Mike Riley. He seems like an easy going, nice fella. That’s just not what I want in a coach.

      • Really surprised Cliff hasn’t been banned by Riley (if he can do that). Cliff has been very critical as of late and rightly so. Also, I want to add to my earlier comment that the sports marketing department needs to be entirely revamped as well. They were the same dumbasses that brought in Randy the Logger and now they have that stupid basketball radio spot with the guy chanting Gary Payton’s name. I’m not buying the “we don’t have any money” crap from BDC. If people can’t get the job done, then they need to be shown the door!

  12. And it’s not like Riley is that loyal, he dumped on the program when they needed him most to go compile an “impressive” 14-34 NFL record, so I don’t buy all this prodigal son crap….2-10 is firing results at the D-1 level anyway you slice it unless you have an AD who gives out lifetime contracts for mediocore talent.

  13. I don’ know how the upcoming Washington game will turn out, but I almost hope the Beavers loose just to put that much more pressure on getting rid of Riley. The out come against the ducks will be a nasty mess. I would say the ducks will score above 60 points at least against Rileys frustrated players. The ducks might even set an all time high score record against us.

    How much can the major contributors and Beaver fans take. The ducks would have hung riley by now if he were their coach.

    Fightingbeaver

  14. I think a forfeit would be better than actually taking this joke of team to Autzen this year. The ducks could seriously score 100 on us. We let that Cal RB run for 200! Imagine what LaMichael will do to us. I will proabably skip the game this weekend and probably will not buy any tickets next year. This season is an epic failure on a Pettibonian level. I am done!

  15. i give very little and my father gives a pretty good deal to osu (he was president of the portland beaver huddle for three of four season in the 1970’s). its always been something that ive wanted to do, although im starting to wonder why. i guess i like to feel like im being a better fan for it. ive never given more or less based on the teams success until this fall. while riley gets credit for being a win away from the rose bowl two straight years, he needs to get a lot of blame for letting the team become an utter fucking mess in less than two years. i too am basing my future donations on the assumption on tangible changes being made to the football program. ive accepted that rileys not going anywhere, but if he refuses to make an overhaul to his staff then BDC needs to do it for him. the situation with the coaching staff is a disgrace. at this point in his career riley is an overseer, not a hands on decision maker. he doesent call the plays and doesent spend time with any position unit except qb as i understand it. i picture him at practice spending half the time walking around around with his arms crossed just observing, while his assistants basically run the whole thing. (im not there, so perhaps thats unfair.) its for this reason though that i can only blame him to an extent. to me its banker, langsdorf, and cavanaugh who have clearly failed in their responsibilities. they need to go. lasts years cal game was like watching the byron mouton era of beaver basketball. we all need to use what little influence we may have to get them replaced with new coaches. i dont give a shit if they dont have d1 experience, as long as they dont refuse to run anything other then a base 43 and dont love to call for 2 yard passes on 3rd and 11 six times a game. i will be emailing de carolis and ray. all that said- fuck this attitude of rooting for the beavers to lose so it will bring about change. against washington and oregon no less. im finding it as difficult as anyone to support mark banker, but the kids dont deserve that. i for one hope we kick washingtons ass saturday.

    • slamadam- I agree with all you wrote. I have a freind that has been a loyal season ticket holder for years and the only time he has missed a home game since the mid-80’s is when he deployed for the 1st gulf war in the early 90’s. He is not a huge spender when it comes to donating, but he gives a fair amount, and he does know some that are large donation types-above$ 25,000 and he informed me that the ones he knows are thinking twice on their yearly donations- either less or none at all.I think it is fair to say that they are going to take a hit this year in the amount of money that comes in. If it is 2,3 or 4 wins Riley and staff are going to be feeling the heat so there is no damn way I am hoping for a loss against the Huskies or the Ducks- it is totally against what I have ever believed from when I ever participated in any type of competition. I can and do question the coaching, recruiting, and general overall lacadasical approach to the program but I am never going to quit supporting the young men that are working hard. Yes they are frustrating and yes they make bone head plays and the O-Line makes me gray but to hope they lose is complete B.S. On saturday I will fill, then raise a glass of homebrew, yell “fuck the Huskies” and settle in for the game with hope for a victory- I will never hope for a loss-never.

  16. A couple of devil’s advocate-ish thoughts just for fun:

    1: What if BDC already told Riley that shit’s gonna change in the off-season,and he’s letting him ride out the season before flushing the shitter? So for now he’s just avoiding the situation til the bomb drops?

    2: What if Riley had his eye on the AD job, and got all psyched up when he heard BDC was sick only to be shot down in favor of Pat Casey? He definitely has the deflated demeanor like someone just stole his prom date.

    Fun to think about anyway…

    • I don’t know about #2, but I was thinking the simplest answer to our “Where’s Bobby D?” question was something like #1.

      There’s no reason for an AD to scuttle a team in the middle of the season. If anything, he would talk to the coach and give him the rope to hang himself before stepping in at the end of the season. If Bobby D were to come forward now, he would have to tell the truth about what he’s hearing from fans of all donation levels, and he would have to also tell the truth about the discussions taking place between him and the coach.

      But right now the truth would consist of him saying, “I really can’t comment on that at the moment.”

      How many of us would read between the lines if that were to happen? How much speculation would take place instead of actually waiting for the truth to be told?

      I’m not 100% sure that Bobby D is waiting until after the season to act (or even talk) because of this sentiment. But I’m sure that it’s what I would do as a manager in this situation. I find it interesting that we haven’t even heard the “we sit down every spring and evaluate our coaches/teams” line. If you want to read between the lines, I would say the lack of this rote line speaks volumes.

      So I’m willing to wait until after the season to hear that upper management is taking steps to correct deficiencies in middle management. I don’t expect the head coach to be canned, but I expect drastic actions to be taken against his security blanket.

      If none of this happens at that time, then the sentiments brought forth in this thread can resume with validity. But until then I give it about as much thought as I do the actual games.

      Now I’m looking at the schedules, and I see that hoops plays Towson at 11 am on the 26th. That gives me an excuse to do something other than watch the first half hour of the CW, which begins at 12:30. If the game is out of hand by that time, i won’t need to tune in to watch.

  17. Here is my revised set of questions for Paul Buker to ask Mike Riley tomorrow/Tuesday. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll email this to Buker before noon today.

    —————-
    Questions for Mike Riley:

    Q: OSU has been outgained by a stunning 821-92 on the ground in its last three games. Is that solely due to poor execution by the players? Or do the OSU’s coaches share at least some responsibility? If the coaches are at least partly responsible, what have the coaches been doing wrong? What short-term changes, if any, will be made? When?

    Q: This year’s Beaver team has been among the most penalized teams in the nation. A month ago, you said, “We own that, we’ve got to do better on that stuff.” Yet it keeps happening. Is this all on the players? Or do the OSU’s coaches share at least some responsibility? If the coaches are at least partly responsible, what have the coaches been doing wrong? What short-term changes, if any, will be made? When?

    Q: In the most recent Sunday night telephone conference — after the Cal game — you said “Everybody needs to be self-critical and look at themselves and what they can do….” But in addition to expecting your coaches to be “self-critical”, do you — as Head Coach — hold them accountable for results? Under your system, is there any individual accountability for assistant coaches in the OSU football program? Is the Defensive Coordinator at OSU ultimately responsible and accountable for the performance of his unit? Is the Offensive Coordinator at OSU ultimately responsible and accountable for the performance of his unit? If not, why not?

    Q: In 2010, OSU’s rushing defense finished ranked 89/120, while OSU’s total defense ranked 86/120. In 2011, OSU’s rushing defense is ranked 86/120, while OSU’s total defense is ranked 70/120. Obviously, these are awful numbers, and an unacceptable level of performance over the past two seasons. If this were a business, the person in charge of such a poorly performing business unit would be held accountable. Why shouldn’t the head of OSU’s defense, Mark Banker, be held accountable for the poor performance of OSU’s defense over the past two seasons? If not now, when?

    Q: In 2010, OSU’s rushing offense finished ranked 97/120 (and that was with Quizz Rodgers, an All-American tailback) while OSU’s scoring offense ranked 82/120, and OSU’s total offense ranked 94/120. In 2011, OSU’s rushing offense is ranked 119/120 (next-to-last among all 120 FBS teams), OSU’s scoring offense is ranked 105/120, and OSU’s total offense is ranked 80/120. Again, these are awful numbers, and an unacceptable level of performance. Again, if this were a business, the person in charge of this business unit would be fired. Why shouldn’t the head of OSU’s offense, Danny Langsdorf, be held accountable for the poor performance of OSU’s offense over the past two seasons? If not now, when?

    Q: As Head Coach, you are in charge of the OSU football program, and are ultimately responsible and accountable for its results. Over the last 15 games, OSU’s record is an awful 3-12. In trying to turn things around, will changes to your coaching staff be seriously considered this off-season? If not, why not?

    Q: How often do you speak with Bob De Carolis during the football season about the OSU football program and how it is doing? At any time during the past month, have you had any conversation with Bob De Carolis about the need for change in the OSU football program?

    • Good and honest attempt, but I doubt if Riley or anyone else within the football or athletic program will answer your questions. I can’t imagine questions to Riley won’t be screened. I know for a fact that Riley hates criticism and will go to extreme lengths to avoid negative questions or comments.

      Where Dennis Erickson took and answered straight forward any and all questions and had the utmost respect for Beaver fans. On many post game interviews, Erickson would say after a loss “I simply got out coached”. I have heard this reply from other great college coaches…these are real men, not pass the buck whimps. Riley hates fans with a passion. Riley has never done anything for the fans.

      Remember the “men in black” pre game video……….designed by Dennis.

      Fightingbeaver

      • As beat writer for the Oregonian, Paul Buker has direct access to Riley. Buker can just walk up to Riley before or after practice and ask Riley questions. Buker says he will do that with these questions. We’ll see soon enough.

        Riley can refuse to answer. Riley can give evasive answers. Or Riley can answer the questions. If Buker keeps his promise and asks these questions, it will be interesting to see which road Riley chooses to take….

        • Thanks for your efforts, Silver. While it is tempting to imagine MR’s vanilla/non answers I’ll wait to see.

          When you ask (re: Banker and Langs) “why shouldn’t they be held…” it might be better to phrase it more like, “how are they being held accountable and how are you working with them to improve”

          Just a thought.

    • ‘Annually, you talk about your player’s needing to “find their identity.” What is the identity of your coaching staff?’

      Be interesting to see if words like “motivators,” “detail-oriented,” “analytical,” or “communicators” come out. Really, how would he answer this? Has he even thought about it?

  18. Just as I though, Oregon jumps to #4. If Ok State loses Ducks are in the title game. Ok State has to play Oklahoma…I think the Sooners win that game.

      • I don’t know how that will play out. Do you think they will? It’s close and probably depends on style points. Say Oklahoma wins a close game. If Oregon clubs USC I don’t know if Oklahoma would jump them…if Oregon put up 60+ on the Beavs that will help them, too. My gut says Oregon has the most momentum right now, and if they keep it up the polls will find a way to get them in the title game.

        • I believe with Oklahoma and Alabama’s strength of schedule they will jump Oregon. Oregon will have 2 quality wins on the season (USC and Stanford)… god we are missing a golden opportunity with a down in the dumps Pac-12.

        • If, If, If. USC will give Oregon a run for the money. Their speed can match up with Oregon fairly well and they have receivers that can punish the U of O secondary. Also, Monte Kiffin is no fool and will have some concept on how to apply pressure. Oregon deserved to beat Stanford but from the stands it appeared that if Stanford had run over right guar/ tackle every play of the game, they would have had no interceptions and would have kept U of O off the field for much of the game. U of O does not have a balanced attack. Why must you have a balanced attack to play against them? Oklahoma State will not roll over for OU this year either. The Oklahoma State receivers are better than the OU dbs this year.

          • I think the outcome depends on which USC team and which Oregon team shows up Saturday. Both squads have had some seriously off games this year. So we will see.. I think its either teams ballgame. My gut tells me Oregon rolls them and runs up the score to help their BCS numbers.

          • Oregon did not have an off game vs LSU. LSU is just as fast as Oregon and sees versions of Oregon’s spread several times a year. They beat U of O fair and square. Oregon might beat LSU in a rematch but the first time was not a fluke nor because Oregon had an off game. There are ways to defense Oregon if you have lbs, corners and safeties that can run. You cannot effectively play a read and react offense with a read and react defense (see Stanford approach to Ducks). Oregon line take big splits and mostly hold (semi legal) and shield defenders to create space as opposed to driving defenders off the line. LSU had 3-4 defensive linemen occupy 5 Oregon offensive linemen consistently, creating a man advantage for the tigers. On offense, the tigers drove the ducks off the line, especially on weakside with a lead thru hole from fb. When the ducks moved a man to fill that hole, the tigers then had one on one coverage with only a single safety over the top. Oregon defense is not read and react. How do you think they defend in practice day after day?

      • I’d say 30%. They are both fast and big. Oregon is on a singular mission, though. Mentally, they are like a robot/machine. Chip Kelly has that team focused. It’s refreshing to see, but also painful (as a Beaver fan).

        • I think the zeros need to watch their ass on Saturday.

          USC is big and fast and this is their bowl game. They have the athletes to compete on offense but I’m not sure if their defense can hold up for four quarters.

          • Shit, in addition to being USC’s bowl game this is also the conference championship game they can’t play in.

            It’ll all come down to if the USC defense can scheme and then execute for a whole game. Hard to do vs. that UO tempo.

          • Barkley will put up 25+ points, but the Ducks will also pick him off at inopportune times. The only way I see USC winning this game is on the ground/playing keep away, but the Ducks offense will pressure them into throwing.

            Ducks 42-25

          • I like USC’s passing game vs UO’s dbacks as long as USC’s oline can keep Barkley off his back. Kiffin needs to dial up some innovation on offense too.

      • Oregon has not lost at home in over 3 years! Chip has only lost one pac12 game in 3 years! The Trojans will go down! Sorry to say it but the Ducks are pretty good. I did not realize how young that team is and how fast their recievers were until I saw the game on Sat night. SC will get run out of town. Oregon’s success makes the pain from our ineptitude even worse!

  19. If I was donating, I would certainly curtail my support. But I have no choice over “donating” to my son’s 2nd senior year at OSU. My question is when does the PAC12 big bucks start rolling in? Isn’t that next year? So couldn’t OSU theoretically play to an empty house and still be flush with cash? They have a lot of excuses for the current problems and most don’t involve coaches. We are playing a ton of freshman this year, was there a plane accident I didn’t hear about similar to Marshall? It usually sounds from the announcers that OSU is playing young players due to injuries. Is McCants on the injured list? I have a ton and a half of respect for Riley for his faith and what he does for the players as students and young men. But I can’t understand with his faith, his inability to step up and take blame. He has 8 years on his contract. “Yes I messed up” “Yes poor time management is on me” Yes, the play of the offense and defense is my responsibility” “no, its not the players fault for not being prepared” “with the new influx of money I am going to create two new positions “pine riding consultants” for Langsdorf and Banker” and finally “I will be using the Angry Beaver web site as our recruiting resource consultants”.

  20. I feel like the the beavers have some similarities to the Bears and their coaching situation. And funny enough they have a crappy o-line as well. But even a broken clock is right twice a day and its always possible to come out on a Saturday and leave with a win.. look at the Bears victory over the Lions as my case in point. I believe Smith also is loyal to his coaches etc, and there is pressure there and people calling for his head, but he has been given lots of time to fix the situation based on past success. I think it would take Riley taking on some more duties and a big shakeup, but I think this program can turn around. I am not really interested in the coaching merry-go-round. Also not interested in making the program all about football, and not caring about how these kids fare as adults. So, I guess I have a lot of anxiety about the whole situation. Not sure there is a clear win in any direction here. We should do incremental changes though, and not throw the baby out with the wash water.

    • Incremental changes started with the new trainer and two new assistants. Those were probably worthwhile, but to show that he is serious MR needs to implement a more significant (as in one or both coordinators) change. Additional changes could have been made mid-season in schemes and game approach, the fact that we’ve seen no significant changes in the approache to the game tells a lot; as does the continual message that the system is fine if only the players would execute.

      • I agree one or both coordinators should and likely will be replaced or demoted. I think some more help or staff to focus on recruiting and the strategic angle of recruiting(ie. what will we need down the line instead of oh.. we like this kid lets grab him and make him into what we need). Obviously when you have a severe lack of talent or depth you need to see the JUCO’s as well. So some focus there to fill immediate needs would be good.

  21. I also like the scheme changes, but I would guess we don’t have the players needed to make something like a 3-4 work(depth, experience, etc). See my note above about recruiting strategy change.

  22. OK, here is the email that I just sent to Paul Buker. We’ll see what happens….

    ———–
    As promised, here are a few tough questions to ask Mike Riley tomorrow. A number of people are looking forward to MR’s answers to these questions….

    Q: OSU has been outgained by a stunning 821-92 on the ground in its last three games. Is that solely due to poor execution by the players? Or do the OSU’s coaches share at least some responsibility? If the coaches are at least partly responsible, what have the coaches been doing wrong? What short-term changes, if any, will be made? When?

    Q: This year’s Beaver team has been among the most penalized teams in the nation. A month ago, you said, “We own that, we’ve got to do better on that stuff.” Yet it keeps happening. Is this all on the players? Or do OSU’s coaches share at least some responsibility? If the coaches are at least partly responsible, what short-term changes, if any, will be made to try to cut down on the penalties?

    Q: In the most recent Sunday night telephone conference — after the Cal game — you said “Everybody needs to be self-critical and look at themselves and what they can do….” But in addition to expecting your coaches to be “self-critical”, do you — as Head Coach — hold them accountable for results? Under your system, is there individual accountability for assistant coaches in the OSU football program? Is the Defensive Coordinator at OSU ultimately responsible and accountable for the performance of his unit? Is the Offensive Coordinator at OSU ultimately responsible and accountable for the performance of his unit? If not, why not?

    Q: In 2010, OSU’s rushing defense finished ranked 89/120, while OSU’s total defense ranked 86/120. In 2011, OSU’s rushing defense is ranked 86/120, while OSU’s total defense is ranked 70/120. Obviously, these are embarrassing numbers, and an unacceptable level of performance over the past two seasons. If this were a business, the person in charge of such a poorly performing business unit would be instructed to make significant changes, or be held accountable.

    Has Defensive Coordinator Mark Banker been instructed to make significant changes in OSU’s defensive schemes, strategies, or personnel? Has Mark Banker been told that he will be held personally accountable if the poor performance of OSU’s defense continues? If not, why not?

    Q: In 2010, OSU’s rushing offense finished ranked 97/120 (and that was with Quizz Rodgers, an All-American tailback) while OSU’s scoring offense ranked 82/120, and OSU’s total offense ranked 94/120. In 2011, OSU’s rushing offense is ranked 119/120 (next-to-last among all 120 FBS teams), OSU’s scoring offense is ranked 105/120, and OSU’s total offense is ranked 80/120. Again, these are embarrassing numbers, and an unacceptable level of performance. Again, if this were a business, the person in charge of such a poorly performing business unit would be instructed to make significant changes, or be held accountable.

    Has Offensive Coordinator Danny Langsdorf been instructed to make significant changes in OSU’s offensive schemes, strategies, play-calling, or personnel? Has Danny Langsdorf been told that he will be held personally accountable if the poor performance of OSU’s offense continues? If not, why not?

    Q: As Head Coach, you are in charge of the OSU football program, and are ultimately responsible and accountable for its results. Over the last 15 games, OSU’s record is an awful 3-12. In trying to turn things around, will changes to your coaching staff be seriously considered this off-season? If not, why not? Given how the last two seasons have played out, do you think anyone on your coaching staff should be considered “untouchable”?

    Q: How often do you speak with Bob De Carolis, if at all, during the football season about the OSU football program and how the team is doing?
    At any time during the past two months, have you had any conversation with Bob De Carolis about the need for significant change in the OSU football program during this coming off-season?

      • I posted a series of tweets over the past several weeks, always including Buker’s twitter handle, criticizing Buker for failing to ask tough questions of Riley, Banker, and Langsdorf. My tweets got more critical of Buker over time, especially after the Utah debacle, where Buker (and the other beat writers) failed to press Riley and Banker about OSU’s defensive meltdown.

        Buker — to his credit — often retweeted my criticisms. Last week, Buker got tired of the barrage of criticisms, invited me to email him questions, and promised to ask those questions of Riley. So that’s where things stand as of today. It will be interesting to see whether Buker chickens out tomorrow, or whether instead he “mans up” and asks these tougher questions of Riley before or after tomorrow’s practice….

  23. Taylor Henry leaves the team for personal reasons… Anyone got info? Not as big a loss with Scott Chriton and Dylan Wynn emerging as terrors, but still he was a good serviable DE. Always bad to lose depth.

  24. I think if any of Silvers questions get asked or answered we should have a thread up…or heck.maybe Buker should be directed to a link of a thread with questions we have been asking for years. You know… Do his job for him.

  25. Riley has 8 years left on his contract and BDC just signed a five year extention earlier this year. Furthermore, OSU just borrowed $9mil from the general budget to make up for short comings in the athletic budget. Obviously going 2-8 with no TV money this year, plus no bowl for two years in a row have hurt the budget. Not a surprise. And basketball certainly isn’t bringing in any revenue. So even with the new Pac12 TV contract money coming in next year (and even a possible added boost of two Pac12 BCS teams this year) OSU has no money to buy anyone out. Much less anyone with multiple years on their contract.

    We can withhold donations, which IMO is only going to hurt OSU. I don’t see how with less money to lure new coaches, less money to spend on recruiting, less money to wine n dine recruits in town, etc is going to help. And withholding donations isn’t going to get Riley or BDC fired. At least not this year.

    Complaining about Riley and BDC is natrual and I am right there with everyone. I am frustrated as anyone. However I just don’t see either going anywhere this year! So I am curious besides the Fire Riley, Fire BDC, Fire President Ray. What are the people of AngryBeavs.com wanting to see next year. What would you like to see happen with in the staff? And while Riley most likely won’t resign or retire, he could free up some money for OSU by lowering his salary to free up more money for new assistants and take a lower base salary. And have a contract based more heavily on incentives. He has in the past taken less money so that his assistants could have more. Perhaps he’d be willing to do it again.

    My opinions for FWIW…
    Offense. Langsdorf needs to go. He is actually a pretty solid recruiter for OSU though. Especially in Oklahoma/Texas. I doubt he takes a demotion, but maybe he’d be willing to take a demotion and be the QB coach/recruiting cordinator. His stock is so low right now I dont see any team taking him on as a coordinator.

    Coach Cav…mixed feelings. When given talent he is damn good and puts guys in the NFL. Our run game as sucked the last two years, but he’s dealing with walk-ons the last two years, as well. We have some very good OL guys redshirting this year and a solid recruiting class. I’d give him another year, but if Riley decides to part ways with him I won’t be to upset.
    If Riley wants to remain loyal to his staff, I wouldn’t mind him giving Locey the offensive coordinators job. He had some damn good offenses at Linfield. And he is familar with Riley’s offense. And Riley isn’t going to hire a guy that isn’t going to run his offense.

    If Riley wants to go outside, I’d like him to take a look at the head coach currently for Willamette U . He is the same guy who OSU reached out to, to help with the flysweep in 2007 and he has a solid/entertaining offense he runs at Willamette. I think he’d be a guy who could come in and take Riley’s offense and ad in his own style and run an offense that would put up some points.

    On Defense….
    Banker like Langsdorf needs to go. He’s defense has gotten worse and worse since 2007. He’s been a defensive cordinator for a long time and is older then Langsdorf. No way does he take any type of demotion. He’s been with Riley for a long time and I think it’s time for him to go.
    Coach Heyward… I know a lot of people on here would like to see him go because of the techique he teaches the CBs. However, that is Banker’s philosphy, not Heyward’s! He did a good job with Dockery and a good job now with Poyer. With a new DC, I think you’d see OSU’s CBs getting more INTs.
    If Riley wants to promote from within I wouldn’t mind him giving the DC job to Joe Seumalo. I honestly don’t have anything to base my opinion on. Just a hunch he’d be a solid DC.
    If Riley wants to go outside, I’d love to see him go after Nigle Burton at PSU. I know its a looong shot, but the guy is a great recruiter and I believe had has a solid defense at Nevada before becoming PSU’s coach. Is going from a head coach at the FBS level to a cordinator at the BCS level a step up though? I’d think it is.

    Like I said, I am curious who you’d like to see and who you’d like to go!

      • You call the proposal of firing both Offensive and Defensive Coordinators ‘re-arranging deck chairs’? Or did you just not read the entire post?

        I’d call that a pretty substantial proposal and a fairly likely scenario considering the fact that we don’t have enough money to offer Riley a buyout. Bringing in some new blood, preferably a young, talented OC who might serve as a coach in waiting and a DC with fire and passion and hopefully a lot of recruiting ability is a BIG move and a pretty likely move in my opinion.

        • Pretty much stopped reading when “Langsdorf must go… (then)…maybe he’d be willing to take a demotion”. My bad. Maybe I just need to move on to basketball.

        • Riley isnt actually stupid. He knows where the deficiencies are — but right now he just doesnt care about it. Nothing will happen unless he starts caring, for whatever reason.

          Not being even competitive doesnt bother him. Making lots of mistakes doesnt bother him. Looking inept as a head coach doesnt bother him.

          Its hard to see what will in fact move him to make some changes, but we have to try.

    • Great analysis, I think you are right on with the coaches evaluation. I think OC should get more recruiting responsibility in a promotion/demotion scenario. The DC needs to go though.. Cav may need to go if he can’t teach the fundamentals to willing kids(walkons), despite his ability to mentor better athletes. Also if he can’t introduce the discipline needed to stop or reduce the penalties(ie Remmers).

    • You mean Speckman From Willamette? A good coach and a hell of a speaker but not sold on him stepping up to D-1. I think you need some time at the D-1 coaching level before you become a coordinator.

      • I agree, however and I hate to use them/him as an example…but Chip Kelly was the OC at New Hampshere for a while before making the jump to Oregon. He’s done pretty well. I am not saying he’s the right guy or a guy that would be successful. All I know is that has been fairly successful, Riley is familar with him as he is with Riley. And I read a while back that he would consider moving on from Willamette if the situation was right. Just throwing a name out there. I don’t see Riley/OSU being able to pay for a well known OC. So I suspect we’ll have to think outside the box. And I don’t see Riley trusting is offense to someone he doesn’t know. And being that he has a friendly relationship with him, I thought he may be a good choice. I do agree, I’d prefer to have someone with a successful D1 or NFL background.

    • Unfortunately, I think these changes would be way too conservative although a more likely scenario than one I would wish for. Regarding potential new coordinators, I am unsure who we should acquire (although I would love Houston’s HC as a potential new HC, however unlikely).

      I agree with your analysis of Heyward but not on Seumalo, I don’t like his style at all. If his son wasn’t a commit at OSU, I would like to see him go. His basic scheme for DL is to run to less pressure. That leads to penetration (& with poor LB allows for big gains by our opponents) but also fails because we allow the D to block us where they want. When everyone mentions that our D runs too far up field and removes themselves from play, it is because they are coached to do so by Seumalo.

      Regarding Nigel Burton, I don’t think he would move on from PSU HC to FBS coordinator. His next logical job is FBS HC. I think he is doing an oustanding job at PSU and will continue to have success there, no need to ruin that momentum now.

      We are in sore need of a no name hire that leads to a HR (e.g. Chip Kelly). I don’t think we have the cachet nor the money to hire a big name. So at OSU, we have to play the lottery until we win…

      • Someone who runs a somewhat similar offense to Riley’s, but game-plans and adjusts really, really well… and wins… Lance Leipold.

        Defensive coordinator who runs some nasty D but just can’t do it as the head coach, Scott Stoker.

  26. Basketball fans, the NBA season is over now that the players have rejected the league’s final offer. Would be nice to see some Blazer/beaver fans in Gill this season since the Rose Garden will be empty. At least the basketball team plays hard. Should be worth your time and money.

  27. So all the discussion about change is much needed, but definitely depressing.

    I was just thinking how excited I would be if I heard that Mike Leach were slated as the new OC and Riley would be stepping down by 2013! And what if we brought in AF’s DC Tim DeRuyter?!? I would be stoked from now until the Mayan calendar expired in 2012!!!

    So all of us have sufficiently beaten the dead horse that is the OSU football program. Let’s reciprocate it for a minute though and live in Utopia. What would be your ideal remedy over the coming seasons??

    • Tim DeRuyter is at Texas A&M. When you say AF are you talking about Air Force? Their DC is Matt Wallerstedt.

      Maybe AF has a bad team this year, but I’ve watched his defenses in the past, and they are impressive (given their talent level). Play hard and are always prepared. Here’s a short bio:

      Wallerstedt’s defense was outstanding last year, finishing third in the conference in scoring (21.1) and fourth in total defense (349.3). The group was second in the MWC and nationally in passing defense with a 147.8 norm.

      He was also instrumental in developing one of the top defenses in Air Force history in 2009. The team led the conference and ranked fifth nationally in pass defense with a 154.3 mark. The unit was second in the MWC and 11th in the nation in total defense allowing just 288.3 yards per game. The team was second in the MWC and 10th nationally in scoring defense with a 15.7 norm, which is the best mark in school history since 1998. The defense also scored five touchdowns in 2009.

  28. I went to OSU football web page and BDC is attempting to quell the fans by putting on a “fan appreciation day” at this Saturdays game against Washington. Is this a first for this grand event? I never herd mention of it in past years. Anyway, I guess he’s trying to buy off fans with cheap popcorn, coffee and a pair of airline tickets.

    Angrybeaver

    • Wow, his comment.

      No one knows his perspective. He is very hard to talk to, and understand.
      Interviews with him in the past have been train wrecks.
      I can’t even describe if he has a condition of some sort, and won’t say if he does, because I just don’t know. It’s just strange talking with him. That goes for everybody, not just me.

      Weird.

      • I thought it was interesting that Cliff was that candid about Henry. I sense that Cliff is getting a frustrated with the team also. He is after all a journalist, so the bland, cliched answers/comments from the coaches and the players have to be annoying. Unless he can get some leverage from the unprecedented Riley era free fall, there is no story. The Beavers might as well be another crappy WAC or Sun Belt team that nobody cares about.

  29. i think BDC is burying his head in the sand with the (lack of) developments of beaver football the past 2 years – but i just don’t think the fans are vocal enough to put pressure on him and the entire coaching staff for him to make changes. these guys put out a mediocre product and cash a weekly paycheck – business as usual. one more thing – when was the last time a mike riley team ever showed some fire and passion?? i mean the staff cannot/do not fire up the troops. fail.

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