With rumors of Banker being a strong candidate for the Hawaii job, who are some potential replacements?
I'll throw out three names I like (who I think OSU can actually hire):
- Matt Wallerstedt
- Inoke Brecterfield
- Pete Kwiatkowski
Riley might just move Locey to DC. OSU does have too many coaches, so that's not a bad idea. Locey is solid all around. That wouldn't be a flashy move, though. Thoughts?
BTW, I saw Wilcox mentioned in another thread. I don’t see that happening…ever. Why leave a prestigious SEC school for OSU? Unless he loves the PNW/hates the South East…it makes no sense. He’s also being mentioned as a head coach candidate at ASU.
For those who missed it: Powe committed to Cal
No biggie…we need DTs more than ever…I don’t even care about other positions. Oh wait, Riley said we don’t need DTs…
In fairness that was also before tragedy struck the defensive line. His opinion could have (should have) changed since then.
This has to be the most retarded website I have ever seen. Who wastes their time doing this kind of BS anyway. Are you still in high school? Get real man, I m a season ticket holder and it blows me away that idiots like you actually think this is a neat idea. Why do you think that you know better than a paid professional on how to coach or making decisions of the A.D. at Oregon State. It is websites like this one that really tears away at the heart of the program with a wrong kind of attitude, this is not a corporate takeover. MY GOD this is retarded. I have been a fan of Oregon State since 1975 and YOU really have no idea what it means to be a BEAVER FAN. Obviously you are a PUNK with a computer, go do the world some good volunteering at a soup kitchen for crying out loud. And finally, GO ROOT FOR SOMEONE ELSE, and do this crap some where else you are a disgrace to OSU.
You are right, that sometimes the comments on this site go over the line. But for the most part, most of these guys are devoted fans. Have you ever sat around a table with friends having a beer and talk about your team? My conversations with my son, who doesn’t view this site are along the lines of: Why didn’t Riley call timeout? Why didn’t Riley challenge that call? Why didn’t Banker stack the box. Why is that guy in there, he is just playing “bump and run” and he is a defensive tackle? Why are they running between the tackles again? Riley is the head, why is he blaming the team? I guess the announcers and coaches that have questioned Riley’s game plans should what? I saw last year the guys holding Riley back, he was so agitated at the USC game and the team played just as intense. The next game you couldn’t tell if Riley was asleep standing up and the team played that way as well against WSU. A lot of the guys on this site are from around the country and don’t have anyone with any knowledge or give a rats ass about the Beavers to talk about in their area. I’m not a student of the game as are most of the guys on this site. I don’t watch specific players, just the overall game. I have heard a lot about Remmers this year and started to watch him, and yes he got lots of penalties and a lot of times bump and let Mannion get creamed. Unfortunately, there is more to talk about at 3 and 9. But I remember talking about poor time management in the WA game with the Tostido’s team. As for Banker, if he can get a good opportunity in his career then its all good. I remember the civil war a couple of years ago 38 to 63. I thought Banker would make some adjustments at half time and shut down Oregon. No such luck. This years Civil war the Beavers shut down Oregon from running up the middle, so what did they do? Made an adjustment to run around the ends. We had the same problem running between the tackles, what did we do? Kept running between the tackles. Riley makes 1.5 million to run basically a semi pro football team, and is expected to produce. Especially as he has stated that a long term program is going to be more stable. We just don’t care for the 3 and 9 stability.
was just going to ask about Wilcox but you beat me to it. What about Nigel Burton? Would a Portland State head coaching position be better than a defensive coordinator position in the Pac 12? He’s a guy I’d like to see back on the Beavs sideline sometime in the near future. Good recruiter too.
I think by moving from a defensive coach at OSU to a head coach at PSU he’s progressing toward a head coaching job at a D1 school down the line. He’d probably come back to OSU to be head coach, but why DC? I don’t see it. It’s a step backward.
agreed. burton won’t come back to osu unless its to be the head coach
Whoa! How did we get so lucky? And what’s Hawaii thinking?
What a windfall for Riley, he gets to implement a new DC (major coaching change=appease the fanbase) without having to fire anybody!
We’re not lucky yet…he’s just a candidate.
I’d say we’re lucky to be in the running, and as you said, a “strong” candidate.
They LOVE Banker in Hawaii!! I just visited Honolulu in September for a work conference and tons of vendors commented on my OSU apparel. They know Banker by heart because of all the recruiting he does there. He’s truly loved by all because of the guys he brings to the mainland and gets to the NFL.
If he doesn’t get this job, it’s because he didn’t want it. =/
If he’s offered the job he will take it without a doubt. He wants a head coaching job BADLY. He figures this will be his only chance. He’ll take the job if offered.
Aren’t Hawaii’s facilities pretty bad? I thought that was why June Jones finally left…he kept getting promises from the AD and nothing ever changed. I don’t think they can get much more than Banker type talent unless someone like Dennis Ericksen wants to use it for a last stop.
That’s what I am thinking. I wish I could remember where/when I read the comments about our old trainer leaving. I think this may be a similar situation. We may not seeing what’s going on behind closed doors. I think Banker may have been encouraged to seek employment elsewhere, or maybe I’m just wishing our staff had the balls to do something like that.
Why are we all assuming that the defensive “philosophy” will change just because the body changes? I think we have pretty much established that MR has proven to be a stubborn SOB through the 2 year slide and is reluctant to change. I would like to think that he takes advantage of the opportunity if it presents itself, but I don’t have huge hopes.
OSU and UT are in somewhat similar situations. Riley is #4 on the hot seat list and Dooley is #7. Dooley is pretty new to the UT job though. Riley for sure has to produce next year or the heat will be intense.
http://www.coacheshotseat.com/CoachesHotSeatRanking.htm
It takes spending some money. Plenty of other Pac-12 schools are doing it. You have to decide what you want to spend some on. Having an insurance policy with a capable DC doesn’t sound like an unwise use. The reason I agree it is unlikley to happen is because De Carolis and Riley like to think everthing is fine in Corvallis when it isn’t.
I heard Dennis Erickson was looking for work…..
Some have liked Trent Bray as a potential candidate should Banker leave.
Offtopic;
ASU’s rebranding and uniform overhaul helped produce an 870 percent increase in merchandise sales in 2011.
OSU needs a new look. We need the money and with fans displeasure at the program something fresh could really be used to spark interest.
I know you are one of the people who wants stadiums upgrades and uniform changes. I don’t think we should do anything about our uniforms short of two things: allowing Tinker to take over our image/brand or allowing an entirely new company to design our image. I personally wouldn’t want Adidas (everything they do is ugly, even more so than Nike) and Under Armor doesn’t do that well either.
My personal hope is this: Tinker takes over and goes slightly more conservative than the Ducks with our image with one exception. We change our color of orange to distinguish us. We should start using highlighter orange. Nike already produces such a color on their shoes, applying it to us would distinguish our orange and help create an identity.
Now hopefully, I didn’t start this debate again with too much earnest.
I agree. We don’t need to be like the ducks with 1,372,481 different uniform combos, however something new would be great. It would also perhaps do something to placate the fanbase after a disasterous year.
Did some research on Wilcox, Banker, etc.
Here are the highest paid assistant coaches:
Here’s a look at this season’s highest paid assistants:
•Will Muschamp, Texas defensive coordinator — $907,000
•Kirby Smart, Alabama defensive coordinator — $762,350
•Todd Grantham, Georgia defensive coordinator — $760,600
•Ellis Johnson, South Carolina defensive coordinator — $706,650
•John Chavis, LSU defensive coordinator — $700,000
•Kevin Steele, Clemson defensive coordinator — $681,000
•Nick Holt, Washington defensive coordinator — $650,004
•Norm Chow, UCLA offensive coordinator — $640,000
•Justin Wilcox, Tennessee defensive coordinator — $600,000
•Gus Malzahn, Auburn offensive coordinator — $500,000
•Tyrone Nix, Ole Miss defensive coordinator — $500,000
Wilcox at 600K now but a rising commodity. Banker making 250K right now according to Oregonian. It would take around 900K for Wilcox to listen to OSU. Only way to increase the odds would be for Riley to tell him he was up for retirement within a set number of years.
This bit also from the article below: Tennessee defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox is in play at Texas. He was already making $600,000 with the Vols and could see his salary jump to $1 million or more if he lands the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator’s gig.
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/tag/_/name/justin-wilcox
I think that is 2010, not 2011. Muschamp is the head coach at Florida and Chow was at Utah.
Yup.
Also, Malzahn got serious pay raise after the NC. Not sure what the new figure it but it is somewhere in the 7 figure range. Also, Monte Kiffin likely makes between 1.5 and 2 million.
Based on his track record I won’t be surprised if Bobby D offers Banker double or triple his current salary and a life time contract if Banker stays. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Riley’s lobbying for Bobby to do that.
Oh fuck me! I never thought of that scenario but now that you mention it it wouldn’t surprise me if Riley lobbys to get Banker to stay.
That thought hadn’t crossed my mind as an option. Thanks for ruining my weekend Mud&Dicks. ;-)
No shit.
No way that happens. Not even Bobby D is that retarded.
Don’t underestimate him.
Or is it, “Don’t underestimate my powers!”
I highly doubt that for 2 reasons:
1) Riley knows that jumping from a coordinator position to a head coach position is a huge deal and wouldn’t want his coordinators to be bogged down if an opportunity arose for them to be able to make that jump.
2) I don’t see BDC sticking around for more than 2-3 more years due to medical reasons and family as well with his daughters heading off to college and what not.
Straight from the Oregonlive.com site:
“Banker has spent 15 of the last 16 years working for OSU head coach Mike Riley. Riley has said before he would not only give Banker his blessing if a head coaching chance arose, he would try and help Banker get the job.”
See my point #1
We can’t be that lucky.
15 years, damn, no wonder Riley is never going to fire the guy. Stubborn MR will go down with the ship before he sends Banker packing.
Even worse yet, he will name him HC in waiting…
I’m so thankful Bob D is on his way out. I’d never wish Parkinson’s on anyone, but I definitely will not be sad to see him retire.
oops…
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2011/05/oregon_state_athletic_director.html
we have BDC until 2016. :/
I would think Riley, thinking a lot of Banker, would WANT him to get a head coaching job.
As to changing the uniforms to generate fan support, I would wait for a winning season. ASU did it this past season to real success but they were picked to win the Pac 12 south.
I hope Banker leaves. Whether he is the root cause of our poor defense, or not, we need some changes just to give remaining fans some hope.
Like I said, if it was results based, Banker shouldn’t have a chance, but I don’t imagine that any big names would want the Hawaii job, so I would think he has as good a chance as the motley crew of names listed on Oregon Live.
Worse case scenario is that he does well in a seriously watered down Mountain West Conference (looks like stopping AF’s wishbone will be the challenge) and he ends up replacing a “forced to retire” Riley in a couple of years! Then as they say, you can “just shoot me”.
I don’t think I’ve seen one (viable) replacement mentioned. Anyone have ideas?
If we take a page out of the WSU book and tap into some of that new TV money we could try to poach a big name DC from somebody else. Most assistants would be interested if the money was right. Who knows if Bob D will have the cajones for something like that though.
It’s funny how lame the Heisman trophy has become. Haven’t had one friend mention it; I’m not watching the ceremony, etc. I didn’t even know it was today until I accidentally clicked espn’s front page while looking at my fantasy football team. A big “who cares”…good job, college football.
Who won it? It’s such a fucking joke now.
It has only become a joke because the ESPN media machine more or less dictates the process. We are force fed this bullshit that Alabama belongs in the NC game. I wouldn’t be surprised if Richardson won it, he is a good RB but lets be honest, he is 3rd or 4th in terms of Heisman. Can’t believe Richardson got the Heisman over Ball. I think college football is losing sway (it certainly has with me) in large part because of the heavy SEC bias.
I agree with your feeling toward Alabama completely. There is only 1 game I am curious about this bowl season. I may get flamed by the duck lurkers and trolls here, and I don’t care. I hope they get buttfucked by Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
I hope that they continue to show they may be able to win the PAC-10/12 but get beat by anyone else outside the league that’s not barely above D-1AA. Some will argue that it makes the PAC-10/12 look weak, but given are showing are they wrong?
Our* showing lol.
Well you certainly get my vote! FTd!!!
Meant to say that can’t believe Richardson got the Doak Walker over Ball. Sorry about that.
Re Banker, we need to start posting to the Hawaii blogs about how our football team will never be the same if they hire Banker away from us.
I think we could say that with sincerity too.
:-)
The only problem I have with what you’re proposing is it could back fire on us. Riley, Bobby D, etc. could use our comments as a reason to keep Banker at all costs.
It won’t happen because that would entail something GOOD happening for the Beavs. Or maybe I’m just overly pessimistic about things considering the week we’ve been having.
Have you heard of Squinky?
I like Wilcox, however we can’t compete with Texas, or the SEC, so he’s out. We need somebody who can RECRUIT. I was thinking before this that it made sense to bring in Trent Bray for LB coach, so maybe we do that and make Locey cordinator, because as Angry says we have too many coaches.
However, I would prefer a big name who is looking to move from a stepping stone, even if he is here for a two or three years mabye by then Bray is ready? I thought Stoops would have been a good hire, but he had bigger fish. So maybe we bring in Tim Kish instead, he was named a Top 25 recruiter, plus he has some head coaching. I don’t know if Riley and him have a relationship?
Another name maybe we can get for cheap, Tom Bradley from Penn St. Probably a lateral move but after the scandal maybe not a popular hire, although he was not part of it that we know. Staying in the Big Ten maybe we could go after Luke Fickel co-Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers coach makes a good fit for our needs with Banker gone, and with Urban Meyer on staff he gets swept away. Plus, he is in a favorable recruiting area and experience, yet still young.
BDC said he wouldn’t comment about the disappointing football program until after the season. Who are we kidding? The season is over but no real comment will come. Instead we get a few cheesy articles a year on osubeavers.com and that is all he thinks he has to do to explain all the happenings within the program. That’s B.S. De Carolis! We deserve your thoughts on the direction of the program and why you aren’t demanding coordinator changes after performances the last two years that would cause firings at over 97% or more of all D1 national programs. Still waiting for your comments BDC. Or should I say Houdini?
Do we need to get Hawaii a present as it is almost Christmas? I don’t see us getting a proven commodity at DC. What about an up and comer? Doesn’t Riley have some roots with a school in McMinnville? Would it be possible he would go back there for a DC? Where has Riley gone in the past for coaches? It could be fun to get someone with a clue about spread offenses.
You do realize that he grabbed Langs from Linfield. I don’t think a DIII coach will solve our problems with the spread. DIII isn’t much more complicated than high school football.
Scott Stoker
I like the Pete Kwiatkowski suggestion. BSU always seems prepared, and Pete Kwiatkowski also specialized in defensive line responsibilities, an emphasis from which OSU could benefit. Any chance he could be lured over? Maybe the new tv money helps bump up the salary and make the change attractive? I’d feel a lot better about the chances of OSU making CW competitive with this guy.
Matt Wallerstedt comes from a program that also prepares very well. Its the lack of off-season prep that kills OSU in the first month of the season, and the lack of attention to detail that leads to the poor performance against spread/option teams and the bonehead, under-performances that leave fans shaking their heads. So again, somebody who could add programmatic improvements in preparation would be a huge upgrade.
Either of these guys is probably worth 2 wins per year, plus more consistent competitive performances the remainder of the year.
I not sure Inoke’s quite ready to step up yet and it seems like too easy of a choice for Riley if it came to that. I shoud check into what FCS programs have shut down defenses. I just don’t see OSU getting a “name”, I think Angry speculated that MR would promote from within, which is highly likely.
Just for my own curiousity, looks like Texas Southern with Kevin Ramsey has been on top defensively in the FCS the last couple of years. He was promoted to HC from DC last April and looks like he is still running the defensive. Very impressive defensive resume, was DB coach at ASU in I think 2003.
Of course, this is all just random,but OSU could use someone up and coming with new ideas and energy. Not likely that a HC at the FCS level is going to take a coordinator job, but I believe Tim Walsh did that at Portland State a few years ago.
I don’t know much about the BSU coaching staff but I would say there is a 0% chance we hire Pete Kwiatkowski. If his specialty is defensive line responsibilities then that is in direct conflict with our current coach, Seumalo. Seumalo essentially believes in few responsibilities for defensive lineman (basically follow the path of least resistance as fast as possible). This hire would require Riley to let Seumalo go, which we know would absolutely not happen. Not too mention the obvious recruiting losses.
Ultimately, our potentially new defensive coordinator will be very unlikely to make many wholesale scheme changes as nearly all of our position coaches are intact. Our position coaches currently reflect a Riley school of thought. If a new defensive coordinator were to make scheme changes, we would also likely need to see changes in defensive position coaches. Riley will not allow that kind of autonomy to a coordinator nor would he allow them to get rid of his friends.
This is all a tad silly. 1) Not sure which UH fans/alums/powerbrokers read this site and/or Oregonlive but if they take note of OSU fans’ poor opinion of Banker, they are going to have serious doubts. You should have started out lamenting his possible departure. 2) fantasy coach selection is fun but Riley isn’t going to hire anyone who will rock his boat. I’d rather not pay a new coach a huge amount of money and save the difference to buy out Riley.
The small difference that we have to use to get a better DC won’t be enough to buy out HC. Also, I hardly think that the opinion of a lowly fan reading this non-mainstream blog will impact the hiring possibility of Mark Banker.
should have said save the difference TOWARD buying out Riley – a little at a time, although I’m sure you’re right – the difference would be slight. This might be a non-mainstream blog, but I think more people read it and consider its contents more than we can know.
That may be, I certainly regard this as my favorite sports blog. I just find it hard to believe that we have much established credibility among UH fans, particularly the boosters who would have sway in hiring matters.
Dare to dream….
http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2011/12/11/2627875/hawaii-football-coaching-search-mark-banker
And I think they passed on Lumpkin before when June Jones left. Damn, Banker may have the inside track. I laughed when the article referred to Banker as a “big name”.
George Rush?? applied for the UH job? Hard to believe.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/09/SP8P1M9UMQ.DTL
I don’t know why he would bother unless he plans on retiring on the island or something. In reading the article, he did not strike me as someone who has to prove it at the next level, but if he applied I guess he is interested. I’m assuming Banker has applied also?
One can only assume the 3 coaches mentioned in the article have formally applied.
I have great affection for City College of SF. When I lived in SF in the early 90s – great time to be there, I took many a class at CCSF and found the teachers some of the very best I’d ever encountered in either undergrad or grad school. Evening classes were held all over the city not just on campus. I went to a couple of football games – I hope the facilities have improved, but I doubt it. To this day, I am indignant to read of some billionaire endowing Stanford or USC when their money would be better spent, imo, at CCSF.
PS. I wonder if Masoli called George Rush when he was in trouble at UO?
How did Olidno Mare make the NFL but Serna never got a chance? Makes no sense…
Serna was inconsistent in the CFL and I think that cost him a shot at the NFL. The one thing I thought would have been in his favor was that he could punt in an emergency also, so that would have given some NFL teams an insurance policy if their punter got injured.
Good day for Paea today. Two sacks against the Broncos.
Quizz got his first TD too.
For those who think Riley would be unwilling to make defensive changes, I’m not so sure.
I’m not even sure that we’re running Riley’s defense, so much as we’re running Banker’s defense. Riley is very much an offensive coach. Remember before the Husky game, when the beat writers emphasized how Riley was watching the defense practice (and he NEVER does that?) I think Riley wants to hand over the defense to someone and have to think about it minimally.
And regarding position coaches and difference in defensive philosophy…if a DC changes the philosophy, a decent position coach can adapt. I don’t think it’s as simple as needing all new position coaches if we bring in a new defensive philosophy.
Do you think there will be any issues with having recruited a certain way for defense and then having to adjust if Riley hires a new DC with a different philosophy?
Sumlin to Texas A&M:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/12/10/sumlin.texas.am.ap/index.html?sct=cf_t2_a10
Excerpt from the BASF donation renewal request letter today:
“…
The level of competition is rising on both a national level and within the Pac-12, and with that comes increased costs to our athletic department. Our student-athletes deserve every opportunity to compete at the highest level, and I ask you to support their academic and athletic pursuits by continuing your contribution to the Beaver Athletic Scholarship Fund.
…
Sincerely,
Bob De Carolis
Director of Athletics”
Trying to think of how I’m going to respond this year. Something along the lines of saying that in the world of business, which is where I live and earn, people are paid for performance. The football team is not performing and despite this waning performance, no significant changes have been made within the program by you or the head coach.
I ask angrybeavs nation for your input so we can all respond in writing with a common theme for why we’re lowering/eliminating donations this year. Trying to keep it professional and to the point.
Here’s what I’m planning to write, more or less:
Dear Bob:
I agree that the level of competition is rising on both a national level and within the Pac-12. I also agree that our football players deserve every opportunity to compete at the highest level.
I ask you and Mike Riley to support them by making significant changes to the OSU football program, including the hiring of more talented and more qualified people to serve as Offensive Coordinator and Defensive Coordinator.
Until I see you and Mike Riley supporting our athletes by making the changes that so obviously need to be made, do not bother asking me to continue my contribution to the Beaver Athletic Scholarship Fund. Revitalize the OSU football program, and contributions will follow….
No results, no donations.
I pay for a quality product…if OSU can’t deliver it, then that money goes into something more deserving.
I’d also ask Bob how the game day experience has changed at all (for the better) since he took over. It is probably one of the worst experiences auto BCS conference college football.
This brings up a good point Angry regarding game day experience.
My wife went to her first game at Autzen for the civil war. She hates the ducks as much as any beaver believer, but just the other day she sheepishly admitted to me that she loved the atmosphere at Autzen that day.
Since she’s only been going to football games for a couple years I made her itemize her observations of Reser vs Autzen, here is her list:
Autzen pluses:
the marching band doing new pop songs that encouraged fans dancing at halftime
the video-board showing replays quickly and utilizing the full screen instead of hemming the viewable space by full time ads on each side
Puddles the duck’s silly and entertaining behavior compared to Benny
WAY more food choices in the stadium.
Reser pluses:
More covered seating available
Easier to get to the stadium as far as parking and walking
More seats with backs instead of benches
More bathrooms
More tailgating options
Here was my list
Autzen pluses
they win often
Reser minuses
we lose often
I know much of the Autzen buzz comes from winning/playing for big games, but game day at Reser doesn’t have to be a farmer’s convention, either. If the PA announcer wasn’t 90 and on ludes it would feel like a hog auction.
I wouldn’t go as far to say that Reser game day experience is bad. The product on the field is the most important thing by far to me. They could hold the games on that rugby field near the stadium and I’d be happy if we were regular BCS bowl contenders.
We should also keep in mind that when comparing to Autzen I suspect we’re comparing to one of the best marketing programs in the country.
I was at the Civil War too. I also found Autzen to be a much more electric environment than Reser. It was my first time back there since the expansion and I was impressed at the amount of noise that the fans generate. There were times that my head actually hurt. My friend who has tickets there actually wears earplugs. I love Reser, and I love going to games there but I have never heard noise like that before. At Reser it seems like a lot of our fans are happy sitting in their seats and providing golf claps when the team does something exciting. I also hate that stupid inflatable helmet and that hick with the chainsaw. They make us look small time.
Early in the year I thought about cancelling my tickets, but I just cant part with them. I do however think that I will probably cut my donation to the minimum level until a better product arrives.
The inflatable helmet is Bush League.
I had a buddy at work as me if I went to many Beaver games when I was in Corvallis. “No”…
He was confused. I had to explain how bad the game day experience was…I told him of one time I tried to stand up and cheer a good play and got shoulder tapped/yelled at by a 70 year old hick (who looked like he should have been wielding a chainsaw) behind me. I tried to high five a young guy (20s) after a TD, and he gave me a dirty look (and I think made a nasty comment). It just wasn’t fun, so I stopped going. Games should be fun experiences. The crowd is grouchy, and the atmosphere is lame. I was there in ’08 and ’09 and nothing had changed.
I have never sat in the same seats from year to year because I’m constantly upgrading, until last year when I started downgrading. Every section is different but as a rule, the cheaper the seats, the louder more vocal the fans (I’m sure this is true across the board for sports venues).
I discovered this fact the hard way. In the early days for me (2002) I loved sitting with my group on the west side benches up high but I wanted to work my way under covered seating (remember the hail game against Boise St?) and into chairs with backs (I am 40 after all). So every year I donated more until I got into some great seats… every upgrade in seating came with a downgrade in surrounding fans.
I wonder if some trolling duck season ticket holders could shed some light for us… are there grumpy old timers at Autzen, holed up in their seats shouting at everyone who stands during a 4th down play?
Get rid of lame ads during the game like “Beaver Bicepts”.
Oops, I mean “Biceps”
This year’s Beaver Biceps campaign featuring Stephen Paieiaiaaiaa was a huge improvement over year’s past. They no longer show some player biceps then have the crowd guess who they are. THAT was fucking ridiculous.
I think they’re actually trying to attract the middle-age female fans, and it works. All the girls in our group love it. I just roll my eyes.
Interesting how perspective is a personal thing. I went to the UCLA vs Duck “championship” game. It was the first Duck game that I’ve been to since I was at OSU in the early 90s. My brother is a season ticket holder in the north endzone, almost the same place as I have at Reser. My brother said that the experience for that game was a bit different than a normal game day since the Pac 12 was in charge of the microphone and many of the normal ticket holders didn’t pay the $85 or sold their tickets.
But some of the things that I didn’t like about the game experience were things he likes (and many on this site like as well). So I will preface my comments with the insight that I bring my kids (12, 10, 7) to every game that I go to and that shapes many of my likes/dislikes (some would vary if I went alone with my wife).
Autzen Pluses:
– I really liked the way that they came out staggered for warming up, I think the motorcycle with the Duck was a bit cheesy, but way better than the blow-up helmet.
– Energy from the start was much higher (some of that comes from winning)
– Signage and marketing around the stadium is just much better than Reser
– The usage of the video board was much better, quick replays
Autzen negatives:
– Parking and getting in to the stadium was painful
– The scoreboard in the South endzone is like a highschool board, I really missed the live stat updates. I even said that to my brother and the guys in front of me turned around and said that they fully agreed that is something that is better about Reser.
– Not family friendly. I know this is where I will diverge from many, but that is a reality for where I am in my life. Standing for the entire game rather than just the exciting plays makes it impossible for my kids to watch the game. Also, the number of beligerantly drunk people was staggering. I’m sure that this could be isolated to the game or the section I was in but it was crazy. I had multiple people literally fall on me because they could not walk straight. Along with that the language was incredibly out of control – it was not isolated to one person or group, it was wide spread. Even the cheers had profanity and were very “cocky”. Again, from my parental perspective, I would not want my kids to experience that and I’m very happy that the crowd at Reser is respectful. That is not to say that I would not like to see more energy at Beaver games.
– General knowledge of fans. I was surprised at the idiots lack of any knowledge at simple things. They boo things that are normal parts of the game, such as when the ref stood over the ball after the Ducks substituted to allow the Bruins to also complete their changes. They also were yelling at Chip when they were up by 28 in the 4th quarter for not opening up his playbook, and yet they were excited to see L. James returning punts in that same 4th quarter.
Regarding the booing at Autzen, I noticed the same thing. As you stated, they booed when the ref stood over the ball or whenever someone from the opposing defense got hurt because they think they’re faking to slow the offense. Ever since the Cal faking injury incident last year most duck fans think this is normal for opposing teams.
In fact during the civil war when LaMichael went down with his 2nd elbow injury the stadium was dead silent. I loudly asked if it would be inappropriate for me to boo him like they do opposing players. Had the surrounding duck fans not been such a nice, respectful bunch or if I had been intoxicated I might have just proceeded. (Which I’m sure would have been followed by my ass getting kicked).
I told my brother that it would be healthy for the Ducks to have a bad year to lose some of their fan base. I do honestly fear that Beaver Nation is only a great season or two from being attached by the same caliber of fans that UofO has.
Oh well, nothing in our current path shows us trending to that possible problem. :-)
Off topic but you guys should read article on freshman OSU volleyball/basketball player (Temescal Canyon Nassar Female Athlete of Year) Arica Nassar that includes why she selected OSU over UO.
I think I also read that OSU would let her play both volleyball and basketball. She’s now on the wbb roster. BTW, that team came from way behind to win their game against Pepperdine.
link?
Wilcox could be in the lead for the ASU job.
http://www.houseofsparky.com/2011/12/11/2629529/asu-coaching-search-rumors-candidates-justin-wilcox
I saw this sentiment yesterday. There’s a lot of positive buzz about Wilcox in Phoenix.
Wilcox reminds me of Lane a few years ago…road some coattails, hadn’t accomplished much on his own, yet people lionized him. Funny that TN chased both those guys.
Lane is finally doing okay at USC, surrounded all-world talent, including his father. Wilcox…eh. I think he should stick to DC for a while. ASU fans will be disappointed five years from now imo.
Banker to Hawai’i? I hear the rumors.
Rocky Freitas heads up Hawai’i’s coaching search committee.
Co-inky-dinky?
http://cliffkirkpatrick.mvourtown.com/2011/12/12/banker-rumored-to-hawaii/
lol only about a week late, gj Cliff.
Provided absolutely 0 information.
We all need to sacrifice some goats to get this hiring to work.