Tonight I received word that Riley brings up religion on recruiting visits.
Someone close to the situation would describe the moments between the big time recruits and Riley…when Riley really started talking about God and his other BS you could literally see the soul of the young recruit leave his body, the parents get really uncomfortable, and they were never heard from again. Said he saw this happen over and over and over again. It was put to me this way: these young studs can sniff out winners and pretenders. Could you imagine a big time recruit meeting all the great coaches around the country, and then meeting Mike and hearing his bullshit? Talking about God, etc? It was an issue with BIG recruits for sure.
This guy lives in Corvallis, and I consider him my best source. We’ve heard from the mainstream media that he tells recruits to sleep on it, etc, so this fits that paradigm.
Go Beavs!
He must figure it worked once with Brandin Cooks so it has to work again.
Must have convinced him he runs so fast because the Earth is flat.
Nothing wrong with bringing up god if you know the recruit is religious. I just hope Riley can read the room. If you see weed crumbs on the table and rock and roll posters all over the wall save the God chat for another family.
Ole Rich had a “Come to Jesus” moment tonight.
He’s going to be deported?
Tough crowd.
Why do you think this is a bad thing?
Most coaches are very religious. It’s a selling point for most coaches. Look at Rueck and Casey.
Saban is a devout catholic. Religious schools like Notre Dame don’t seem to have a problem getting players from all over and they require students to take theology classes.
If Riley doesn’t go to church, then sure it’s a bunch of bs.
I never said it’s good or bad.
But the source hinted it’s bad because the recruits soul is sucked out of him and the parents feel uncomfortable.
You claim your source “said he saw this over and over and over”…. how could he see Riley’s visits with recruits?
Read the first sentence. He knows someone close to the situation who has seen Riley interact with recruits.
Also, stop thumbing up your own comments. It’s unbecoming.
I think it’s just that recruit’s feelings not an overall trend.
Or maybe just send Riley to recruit at the private religious schools like Central Catholic and Jesuit. Guys like Nall who might be more receptive to pitches like that.
Don’t conflate Catholics with evangelicals. You probably also shouldn’t conflate Protestants with them.
I don’t see Riley’s type of piety working at a Jesuit institution. The brothers would just look at him sideways the whole time. I guess the one in Beaverton is run by more laypeople than usual. So it may work on a superficial level.
Someone who claims to know but is actually hearing it 2nd hand, which means you are hearing it 3rd hand. That’s not exactly a credible source. Their quote that “you can literally see their sole leave their body”…. no, you literally cannot.
And if by some strange chance you can, I’m fine with these Zombies playing for another school.
I think most people understand this is analogy. But it’s also pretty well known that he’s a true believer. Still, he can’t escape the Gantry-isms that come with that overt faith. And that creates an unwitting usage of words and ideas that have been used as weapons against many sectors of the population, minorities being one of them.
I think it’s been a factor, but I believe it to be unintended. I certainly thought it wasn’t as big a factor as this analogy makes it out to be, believing it to be at least as subtle as his public displays. So it would be interesting to find out if it was a part of the schtick, not an add-on once he’s read the room.
Jack’s right. If you want to recruit a Catholic, send Coach Tibs. He can at least say that him and Coach Casey go to the same Parish in Corvallis and talk about the Newman Center, etc. Religion isn’t the make or break for most Catholic Recruits, as long as they know they aren’t alone at the university. I can’t speak for other denominations, but as a Catholic, if I were recruited back in the day, that would be my question, “Where would I make Catholic friends, and where would I go to Mass on road game weekends?
Riley goes to church, I’d see him Sunday mornings regularly before he left for Nebraska. I haven’t seen him in church since he came back. Not that that means anything, maybe he’s attending elsewhere now.
What’s your denomination?
Satanism….
Well… that gives me something to work with.
It explains why he would be seen in a church on a Sunday. Keeping the Sabbath on the day of worship for the sun is a salute to Satan and the pagan worship of the sun. And we all know what God thinks of sun-worshippers (Deut. 17:2-7).
It also explains why his players would point to the air when they score or do something good. Satan is the ruler of the kingdom of air… or the Prince of the power of air for those who read double-spaced bibles (Ephes. 2:2)
Unmarked bills, usually $20.
I’m Baptist Jack. I attend Northwest Hills Community Church in Corvallis. Would love to see you any any other AB’er join us on any given Sunday.
Thanks. I figured I had his verbiage pegged, but it’s nice to have confirmation.
This makes me sick to my stomach. If true, I will bet good money that Riley does not truly know how to talk about principles with recruits, judging his swings and misses on past top-notch recruits. He probably knows his Bible stories well, but instead of framing conversations around his experiences he frames the conversations around what’s taught in the Bible. This, to me, is poisonous to the program. It would make him look insincere compared to other coaches who are recruiting those same players.
I recently watched a video where Saban talks about leadership and it blew me away at how true his words were. The man knows how to talk about principles. Dabo, same (even if he thanked God after winning the championship). Frank Beamer? You bet, and he’s my favorite. Even Chip, who I don’t think is religious, knows how to talk about leadership and accountability more so than Riley. Seems as though these coaches really make players reflect upon themselves and through self-realization, they become better football players and better people. Who wouldn’t want to play for a coach like that, instead of a Bible-preaching one who has limited success on the field?
Yeah, I don’t have anything against him being religious. FWIW, I went to catholic school for 9 years.
But, there is a time and place for these things, and recruiting kids who aren’t religious + parents who feel awkward is not the time or place. You can argue that if the recruit is religious then it is, but that entrusts Riley to read who is and isn’t, and by the sound of things, he’s not a good judge of that.
This is a situation where I would need specifics, what recruit did he lose because he specifically brought up religion and the recruit and family were not religious? I’m assuming Riley is a Protestant, so what would he be selling? Good churches in Corvallis? Himself as God fearing man? I would think recruiters have a core set of principles regarding their football program that they present/sell and then change up the details a little based on what their homework regarding the recruit dictates. I would find it odd if it’s the dominant selling point of Riley’s presentation. I don’t recall a lot of “thanking God” type quotes from Riley when he was HC.
I recall a shit load of “God Damns” while watching his teams.
I could never tell what he was saying since he was always so bundled up in his multiple layers.
Bringing Up Jesus
To Avoid Talking About
My Huge Shortcomings!
Some people are just socially clueless. I have had some temps working in my office due to a medical leave and it’s obvious after a few minutes why they are temps.
This Riley Bible thumping schtick sounds like the guy who inadvertently said something funny at the bar and ended up getting laid. It worked one time, now he says it 15 times a night for the next 5 years hoping it’ll work again.
The guy doesn’t know when to call a timeout….its unsurprising he’s socially agnostic while being pious.
His role needs to be defined and limited. Again, I don’t think its good for employee morale to have one guy who is just there with an undefined role and free forming it. What are his duties and how is he held accountable? And BTW, is he drawing a paycheck from OSU, or just Nebraska?
If your report is true, then his recruiting role needs to be limited. Maybe you bring him in on a QB or offensive skill player the program is trying to close on and that kid comes from a religious family(?). Doesn’t sound like a guy you send out on his own….
This was such a bad idea. Our AD should never have allowed it. If JS needed advice he could have made a phone call met for a cup of coffee. The last thing this program needs is dead weight on the coaching staff.
Dee Riley disapproves.
Debbie Downvoter is stalking around serially down voting everything. It’s really hurting my feelings.
It’s angry@angry. He thumbs up his own comments, too.
I don’t think this is news. You could tell this is the case with how Riley talked and how many overtly religious a lot of the guys on the team were.
^^this
It was obvious our prospective recruiting talent pool and the playing of favorites was limited to the pray-harders… and sons of wealthy alums.
Mannion Kissed the Cross
Katz is a Jewish Name, Right?
Now it All Makes Sense
OT: With MR back in the harness, we don’t need this stuff. Rah-crut’n to the next level.
https://sports.yahoo.com/georgia-new-alabama-kirby-smarts-spin-nick-sabans-process-game-changer-050129185.html
And this…..
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21951014/ucf-knights-raise-national-championship-banner
Miles to Arizona? “Mutual interest”
Can you imagine his recruiting abilities plus being able to stow players at the Zony Jucos?
Somebody should develop a Tinder-like app for coaching searches.
Interested/Not Interested/I’m Listening could be the options.
For every Interested match, a tweet could be sent out via the football scoop twitter account claiming “mutual interest”.
“Wink Wink” ?
Swipe left: “I’m committed to my university, love this team, staying here, I’m not interested ; ) ”
Swipe right: “I’m here for the long term, love these kids, going to honor the terms of my contract ; ) “
Fun Gary Payton story
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/gary-payton-supersonics-oakland/
Thanks for the link, enjoyed that. Used to love watch Karl’s Sonics w Payton, Kemp, et al….fun ball.
Thanks for the link Bill. Good read. I went to the OSU UW game Gary spoke about and ran into him on the way into Hec Ed. He was in a rush so I didn’t ask for a photo but it was cool nonetheless to see the man.
Speaking of a Payton…OT, but does anyone know what happened to GP-2 after he was waived by Milwaukee? He doesn’t even seem to be on a G-League roster unless I missed it. I didn’t realize Easy Eric Moreland is actually getting some PT with the Pistons.
He hasn’t been waived yet.
https://kaplanherald.com/2018/01/02/bucks-plan-to-waive-gary-payton-ii-add-new-participant/
He’ll likely be added to another team in the same capacity (like the Bucks are doing with Kilpatrick), or he’ll sign on with one in the developmental league so they can get a good look at him over the summer.
He’s in sort of a limbo now? I thought I saw a blip where the 76ers might have interest.
Sorry… that article was two Fridays before Christmas. the 18th was the end of his two-way contract.
There are a couple teams taking a sniff. Tbh, he’s better off not being on Kidd’s team. I think the Rockets would be a good landing spot. Lakers and Sixers need depth, but I think the Lakers already filled their two-way.
Yeah, I thought his two way had ended. Just surprised he’s not even on a developmental team right now.
But Mike Riley IS Jesus!
He’d be JTB.
There’s always someone calling for his head on a silver platter.
Anyone remember John Garrett, OC for the Beavs after Langs was shown the door? He was pretty upfront about his Christianity.
Then again, Tony Dungy is too.
If MR does things which make recruits and parents feel uncomfortable, that is a problem.
There’s “in your face” / “I’m a Saint”, and then there is living a life guided by scriptural principles and letting that speak for itself. A recruiting visit isn’t the place to make folks uncomfortable by your words; if your reputation/lifestyle causes discomfort then you weren’t likely to get that recruit anyway.
This is exactly the point. A lot of people say they are Christian, but then you see the fucked up things that go on daily in this country. At that point I’m more inclined to see people ACT like a Christian rather than spout off on their values.
If he was so Christian he would donate his ill-gotten gains from our Public University to the community…since he cares so much about Corvallis and all.
Not to mention how he handled the gang rape issue…
The man is clearly about himself first and foremost, which is fine if you admit it.
I also have issue with it since he’s a state employee and works at a public school.
If he’s asked about it, I have no problem. If it’s voluntary, then we have an issue.
Clock Management for Jesus!? Ughh….
I talked with the source more today about using words like “never” and the “literally saw his soul leave the body” comments above. He basically said that yeah, he has to be more careful about wording because it gives people an in to discredit or oppose his information.
That was after he sent me the below email (an excerpt from it), in which he used more absolute language.
A lot big recruits come around in the summer to check out programs, they’re going around to all of the big time programs and seeing what the mood is like in practice etc. the big programs that actually win big games are all incredibly serious and disciplined.
When the recruit shows up in Corvallis with his parents, he sees Mike Riley‘s circus going on. Literally they are eating ice cream and having water balloon fight… again every single one of the big-time recruits after seeing this stuff is never heard from again.
After this, I mentioned Mannion, Cooks, etc, and he conceded that he shouldn’t use words like “never”, “every”, etc. My overarching impression, if we parse out the absolute language, is that most of the highly coveted studs get turned off by the atmosphere Riley creates. Whether that is religion when sitting in their homes or goofy stuff at practice.
I trust this source more than any I’ve ever worked with on AB. He’s really good, and I think owning a local business and being connected with people in the AD gives him merit. He’s been on point about things (the booze issue mid-season last year) well before anyone even heard of it.
So, that’s my stance on it. If you want to ignore the source because this is AB, go for it. I don’t understand people complaining and saying this isn’t news. It’s better to not know this than to know it? You’re upset that I’m sharing inside information for free? Talk about first world problems…
LOL I think this is all common sense stuff Angry.. Not hard hitting breaking news.
1. Riley is religious and talked to recruits about religion
2. Riley creates a soft environment that turns away some serious competitors
We knew this shit already.
I’m not sure we knew it. Not sure we ever heard that recruits are actively turned off by it. If anything, we’re told he’s a great recruiter and the kids/families like him. Might be true, but doesn’t seem true with elite recruits.
Oh well… I’ve heard all of this from dudes who played for Riles.. Especially the ones who played for Erickson as well. Riley sealed the deal with a lot of parents by hitting the religious angle. Moms loved that about him.
Very few of us have conversations with “dudes who played for Riles.. Especially the ones who played for Erickson as well”.
Nearly all of us have read of his superior recruiting skills, even the ability to bring SA’s to a little town without an airport. Was any success he had due to religion? The aw shucks, nice guy thing? Common sense says,… maybe.
A larger factor may actually have been the organization and support staff (see the Kirby Smart story posted by bg above) along with the ability to identify potential. What is unquestionable is the results and the downward trend of MR’s last few years; those results don’t include many highly rated recruits.
What is yet to be seen is his effect on 9’s staff and results.
I think a better point is that we’re not talking about people who ever played for Riles.
The problem with the God talk is that it is well worn. Evangelical Protestants are the largest plurality in America. The Mormons most closely align in methods. Together they account for 27% of the population.
If you’ve lived in the US for any measurable time, the news, poitics and culture have been dominated by this plurality. This is a good thing in their eyes not because it benefits the longevity and legacy of this great nation. It’s good because it hastens their apocryphal ends.
We who were not programmed in their language from birth recognize their vernacular. It’s so clear, that one can tell when a “saved” [former religion here] evangelical starts proselytizing. It’s sort of like listening to someone with an accent. Point being that it’s so in our faces every day that it’s a turn-off when the 73% who aren’t borne of blind faith (and don’t find it their duty to affect laws of other people by inundating them with unnecessary legal squabbles or referendums and the apocryphal propaganda that ensues) start to hear it in person.
I mean, why would anyone who doesn’t want to hear it in their home not be uncomfortable? This is a man who can pay for college. And he’s really a decent, personable guy. But he has shown many times that he doesn’t respect boundaries or ethics by even applying reason. What do you tell that man?
“A lot big recruits come around in the summer to check out programs, they’re going around to all of the big time programs and seeing what the mood is like in practice etc. the big programs that actually win big games are all incredibly serious and disciplined.
When the recruit shows up in Corvallis with his parents, he sees Mike Riley‘s circus going on. Literally they are eating ice cream and having water balloon fight… again every single one of the big-time recruits after seeing this stuff is never heard from again.”
Seriously, when was the last time a bunch of big time recruits came and checked out Corvallis? Source would be smart to tone down his facts. This info is also somewhat old. 4 years at least.
And what does this say about GA? Man he sucked at recruiting. He could reel in the real dumb ones who didn’t qualify but no one else.
Also seems like a little user bias creeping into his observations. How he thinks Riley should have sold his program to recruits after comparing to other programs.
The quality of athlete improved under GA’s recruiting.
Big time recruits blow through Corvallis a lot. It’s just that they’re sophomores and juniors when they stop in Corvallis on their way home from some camp or event somewhere… that somewhere sometimes being Corvallis itself.
You hear a bunch about unofficials after Nike events up in Portland. There are a lot more than what you hear.
My question:
Is the source basing this on stories regarding how Riley recruited here at OSU?
He did recruit also at other schools. Any positive or negative assessment would be seen as more fair, if there were similar anecdotes at those other schools.
I personally think it’s interesting information, I never got the impression Riley was particularly religious but some here say that he is, so it’s something to consider. Like I mentioned earlier, specifics would go a long ways. What “big time” recruit turned and ran and what were his comments about Mike Riley? That kind of detail might not be possible, but it would shed light. I know Ndamuhkong Suh has always spoken highly of Mike Riley and wrestled with his decision. There would need to be ex-recruits willing to talk details for me to measure any negative impact. I guess a recruiting cycle or two will prove interesting when it’s just the JS recruits.
Can your top inside source tell us all if Wayne Tinkle is tall? Not sure we know for sure
Again, you are reaching on this. Clemson coach, Dabo Sweeney, also incredibly religious and open about it. You guys think that Riley and Oregon State are the only ones having “fun” and having a circus atmosphere. As a former employee for the football team, I never heard one word from Riley about his religious affiliations, and that was over a five year period. It was known he was, mostly because he never said a curse word, which these days you should get some sort of fucking award for. Practices were efficient, and serious. A lot can be said about losing Paul Chryst to Wiscy and what it did to Riley. Huge loss in my opinion. Paul was an epic dude, but i digress.
There are a lot of coaches that are very open about their religious affiliation. Regardless, there are more pressing issues to get all butthurt and offended about. Amen? Amen!
Look at UCF, building a floating river, and Clemson, has a indoor slide in their facility.
By the way angry, I think your talent evaluation is pretty spot on. Really enjoy those pieces.
If you were to put as much energy in taking down the team to the south as you do poking at Mike, their sanctions would make SMU look like saints.
Again, you are reaching on this.
It’s an email that I’m sharing. I’ll put up a separate private section for these in the future so I don’t have to listen to people whine about free information.
Can someone remind me who Kenny Trunier is? I remember him as a recruit but what was his deal?
*Turnier
DE that transferred out.
GA guy?
If memory serves: Super athletic kid out of Florida. I think he was a basketball player that only played football his senior year. Very raw but lots potential.
I think he picked up an injury in his freshman camp. The details around the transfer were murky but seemed like grades.
That’s what I thought. I just remembered the name and could put details to it.
A lot of whining and unproductive comments. I’m not in the mood for it.
There will be changes moving forward.
For what it’s worth, I’ve heard that Whittingham runs with the god talk also. We can kind of see that with his charity case hire of GA and the Carrington deal, or maybe he is just big into AA meetings. The fact is a lot of these kids are big into the Jesus/praying/God talk. Whether it’s the real deal or not remains to be seen.
I can understand if Riley is rolling into some recruits house that is covered in velvet paintings of Jesus and 15 crosses hanging on the wall, that he would bring the god talk into play (probable a good idea). But in doing so, he must use tact……If hes has any. We know Riley is a lazy recruiter, it’s his thing.
As far as your sources comments on summer visits. Is he talking about fall camp or summer workouts? Unless they came during fall camp they won’t be seeing ice cream/water balloon fights, at least not organized by the coaches.
“…a lot of these kids are big into the Jesus/praying/God talk. Whether it’s the real deal or not remains to be seen.”
So true. I’m tired of reading the predictable “blessed to receive an offer….”
Praying hands emoji also. Just look at the Twitter feed, just about all offers have it.
My favorite:
Blessed to receive my 12th offer from Oregon State.
Really? We offered you 11 times, but the 12th time is a blessing?
It’s a whiney world we live in today my man. So many outlets that people can turn to and bitch about whatever’s up there butt that minute. Everyone is so special and their interesting thoughts needs to be heard!
Convenience that it’s brought is unmeasurable, but also pretty fucking annoying this internet and email thing has become.
Never before has a generation so diligently recorded themselves accomplishing so little…
Not mine but fitting
Yeah, us middle aged folks made maximum use of every minute doing things old people approved of when we were that age.
Unlike past generations’ inability to recall that past of their elders fucking up the world they could inherit, this largest generation in the US has been raised with an understanding that we had no proper tools to save for posterity the events that shaped our futures.
Laugh all you want at the fluffy people who take pictures of their food. For every one of them, there are ten quietly going about the task of creating metadata that can’t be edited by their elders in order to secure the legacies of said elders.
Also, they have mastered the tools of information and will set to correcting the edited legacies of the past as we older generations die off.
I choose not to complain about them as a them because they will rule the world in short order.
Angry, understand your mood is sour at present. Also understand that this is your site as well.
It may be helpful though to keep in mind your own header: “A Critical View of Oregon State Athletics.”
Free information is welcome! But if it’s your intention to have this place be seen more prominently in general, then what information you choose to share as articles needs to be better sourced or supported. People who visit will then have a better foundation from which they can agree or not, and feel more comfortable commenting.
None of this says what you provided is incorrect, or that it shouldn’t be believed. The person in question may genuinely believe what they heard! But as others pointed out who weren’t in the room — it’s too laced with innuendo, and lacks legs (other examples).
I think the big takeaway about this info is Riley can’t be trusted coaching and recruiting a key position like DB/RB just too much risk…its one thing to be a little tone death but with the cache of being the leader of the program behind your back vs. being out of touch and responsible for rustling up your own position group prospects.
My concerns about MR go further than whatever position group he ends up with. It’s the effect that “cache of being (a past) leader of the program” will allow him to have on the entire staff which concerns me.
So far, we don’t know how much he is being paid by OSU. So far his twitter account is silent. So far we don’t know what position group he’ll have, or where he’ll have recruiting responsibilities.
Damn, still think that consultant thing would have been best for the Beavs. Give him $25k each time JS sets him down for a cup of coffee and some “sounding board” time. Let younger, more in touch guys, handle the recruiting……….and the management of TO’s!
25k to sit down with a borderline senile coach? More like $25.
Heh, heh. I’d hoped JS would see the “value” of visiting with MR soon enough to stop after one or two meetings!
Betting even 4 meetings at $25k would be significantly less expensive than the rate he ends up getting from OSU as Associate Head Coach!
Interesting information. Thanks for sharing.
I would say there are a lot of things a coach will present in selling themselves and the school for a recruit. If any of these things are presented wrong it can be awkward,out of place or a downright turn off. We have known for some time that Riley does not make much headway with very many highly ranked recruits. It only takes a little while of his mannerisms and salesmanship to turn away many recruits, It also works as an advantage at times. I am struggling with the concept that the information delivered to the recruits is a problem. I would guess that it is the delivery.
There’s a danger to over rehearsing too. If the delivery of whatever it is you wish to communicate is too perfect, then the listener (or recruit) will perceive this as part of your spiel or schtick.
And therefore not genuine or authentic.
Trying to find the middle ground that will be successful in persuading any number of recruits with different backgrounds and personalities is probably difficult.
Being able to establish a trust relationship is critical.
I know many people are up in arms that Jonathan Smith hired Riley but you have to look at from JS’s perspective… That is the man who got him here, he walked on at OSU, Riley is the one who gave him a chance… It shows the character of JS, he’s paying back the person who started the career path that he’s on… I am sorry but if you don’t understand that then you’ll probably never get far in life….. As far as the religious thing, I am pretty skeptical that it is the reason we lose recruits, it probably goes back to Riley and his win/loss record… The fact that we have been close with recruits tells me that they are considering us even with the terrible record… Otherwise they would be turned off from the get go… After a 1 win season if your expecting players to be stoked about OSU, you are not living in reality
Or, you could look at it from the perspective of those who suffered through seasons of Riley’s lack of any passion for victory.
Surely there are other ways JS could recognize Riley’s effect upon his career; but, I’ll admit it wouldn’t be easy to turn down MR when he (apparently) asked for a job.
It’s the failure to make that hard decision which now causes concern for the resolve of our new HC; it’s that failure which now opens the probability of MR’s attitude affecting the entire staff.
Shouldn’t have been that hard given Riley’s red parachute (NU paying him $2M/Yr). Something like – “Mike, thanks for calling, thanks for the congratulations. I appreciate your interest in joining my staff, and ‘ll be happy to have you in sometime for some perspective, but I really think its important I establish my own culture here. You established yours and enjoyed some important success for the program, and I appreciate that. I think you understand its important I have a chance to do the same.”
or something similar…
AD should have said no.
AD should be fired for allowing it. These kind of short-sighted decisions were something Lynn Snyder used to do.
precisely, Objcritic
I think it was a definitely a tough call for JS to make but that’s what great leaders do. He hasn’t been close enough to the program to realize how much of a washout 2018 Mike Riley is so that naivety is really his only saving grace. I think his comment about wanting to do things more like Peterson were likely in response to some of the concerns about Riley that he legitimately may have just started hearing for the first time.
AD should have said no. The “adult” in the room.
I could care less of what the “fans” think lol… Thats a big failure in logic, let someone from the outside who has no expertise or knowledge make the decision… We all suffered through the Riley years and after watching the Andersen Era, it shows that it can get much worse than ol Riley… The fact that you think a posistion coach defines a program is flat out funny to me… I guess that means Utah is done now, they hired Andersen… Their whole program is poisoned lol… You people are silly, no wonder people hate Beaver fans… You all remind me of Duck fans.,, The sky is falling horse shit, let the guy coach a year first… I more interested in seeing player development with this coaching staff, I could care less about prima donna 4* recruits who never play a down… I sure as hell wouldn’t want play here with how fickle the fan base is, especially when I read the bs you all write
Fickle? How many fan bases have had to support such crap, and still do it. Check Websters for the definition. This fan base is the exact opposite.
And he is not just an ordinary position coach, or he would have had an immediate title as one. Please tell me what position he is coaching?
Crickets
Makes sense.
There’s no time management in cricket.
Surprisingly, or not, there continue to be two major divisions in the perception of Riley’s status and influence. Some see an Assistant Head Coach who spent decades as the HC and is ballyhooed as “having the most wins at OSU” as having no more influence than a position coach. They equate Riley’s influence on JS and the balance of the staff as no greater than, say, Trent Brey. Others disagree.
Chuck is obviously in the first group. At this point there seems little chance many will change their position. I’ve about decided it’s not worth trying to convince anyone to change.
BTW, and speaking of failures in logic: “I could care less about prima donna 4* recruits who never play a down…” seems to me to be classic straw man thinking. But that’s just me.
GO BEAVS!
No true Scotsman!
I’ll tell you something about that fallacy. A true Scotsman wouldn’t rehire someone who ditched them because the English provided a better opportunity.
Fickle is a gross understatement when it comes to the rehire of Riley. It’s a simple business standard that could not be met. It’s starting a building with a cornerstone made of sand. You can take your fickle and shove it up your ass.
No.
I don’t.
Mike Riley quit… twice. He does not deserve to draw a salary of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Oregon State University. He doesn’t deserve to draw one of tens of thousands of dollars. He has proven twice that he is more loyal to his pocketbook than he is to Oregon State University. He is also more loyal to his friends and at least one other school. College football is a business, and 9 decided right off the line to follow in the mediocre footsteps of being more loyal to a friend than his employer.
9 stepped in it big time. His perspective, if anything, should be that he needs to take a power pressure to his boots to clean the stink off them.
When I figure out what a power pressure is, I’ll let you know.
Regarding Chuck’s comment: after chiming in vociferously in the immediate aftermath, I was going to sequester myself from the Riley discussion until his position area was announced and recruiting was over. After Chuck’s piece above, I can’t abide staying out of it.
We all have mentors, and treasure the role they played in our lives. I’m sure Smith feels this way about Riley. But speaking for myself, it would simply never have occurred to me to hire someone who had been my teacher, or boss, or friend because, to use the most economical word–it would have been WEIRD to do so.
But let’s look at the underlying dynamic about how this came down. It has since been documented, to the force and effect of my previous paragraph, that Smith did not go looking for Riley, Riley pestered (and I use that word advisedly) Smith into hiring him. Smith probably thinks, “damn, I owe this guy, and he’s going to be in town anyway, he has friends who may be in influential places in the booster element which I’m going to need support from” so he capitulates to those circumstances. EVERY utterance from Smith after that decision point is a rationalization to explain the decision to skeptics. I don’t for a second believe all this blather from Smith about Riley’s knowledge of the game, living room recruitment skills, been there before, etc. Smith concluded he had to immunize himself from some perceived downside to not hiring Riley after he called.
One last point: any senior in a relationship (Riley in this case) who would trade on a protege’s (Smith) fondness for their previous association is devious beyond measure. Riley took advantage of him.
“Riley took advantage of him.”
Well said. And, by extension, Riley is taking advantage of “Beaver Nation”
I think the main point is that is his Schtick and only one. You can only go to the well some many times before it starts to lose its luster. We had a ton of big time recruits come through here on the camp circuits. Riley admitted to “given up” and “resting on their laurels” the last few seasons. You need a coach that can either read players to know what they want to hear or be so charismatic that they love everything youtell them. Now thosearen’t the only ways but you get the point. Riley is an old dog can’t teach him new tricks.
Old dog like old yeller?
Hey! I resemble that remark!
If JS is anything like Chris Petersen, he won’t tolerate mediocre MR for very long. I think the jury is still out on whether JS realized what the fallout could be to bring MR back. No matter how far in the shadows MR stays, he will be mentioned before JS far too much in any OSU context. Even today on 620AM Nall’s decision was talked about by the Portlansd guys and they quoted Nall as saying that RIley had input on the decision. Riley comforted Nall by assuring him he would back his decision either way. Why does MR have that kind of input, where is JS fighting for the key guy on offense to return?
MR will not benefit OSU in landing any major recruits. He will become an albatross around JS’ neck and and anchor to this program moving forward. Good luck digging out of the self-imposed mire.
Chris Petersen would never hire the 2018 version of Mike Riley.
Bingo.
*re-re-hire
“I think the jury is still out on whether JS realized what the fallout could be to bring MR back.”
What IS clear is that few in power realized the portion of Beavs fans who’d object to the re-re-hiring of MR. That JS didn’t see that reaction coming speaks to his grasp of just how bad MR had become in the recent years. I agree that he may NOW be much more aware and thus the need to speak of following the Petersen model.
Scotty and Tumwater Dave deserve credit, along with others, for making it difficult for Parker and others in “power” to ignore the significant feelings in opposition to having MR on staff.
Time will tell if bringing MR back was merely a one time failure to think things through and if lessons were learned from Petersen. Agreed, if those lessons were learned then MR will be kept on a short Associate Head Coach leash.
Probably semantics, but Riley’s the Assistant, not Associate, HC…
Thanks, my error. Been trying to keep that straight. Thinking it has some significance.
I’m not sure of significance myself…to me it’s like an honorary title. I believe that Lindgren (the OC) is Associate HC. Not sure about anyone else.
Smith had the same familiarity with the late Riley era that every remote observer had, principally those in national media, which means Smith was oblivious to how things went down (literally and figuratively) at the end. What is mystifying is how anyone could have missed the denouement in Nebraska, because that was a flop on the national stage with a perennial college football blueblood which in itself should have demolished the “he does less with more” trope that undergirded the narrative when Riley was in Corvallis.
Thinking about the RichRod firing…it seemed odd at the time that JS was able to poach an AZ coach from a winning team with a proven coach to take a lateral move to a losing team with a noob coach. Writing may have been on the wall?
Now here’s hoping he can poach some AZ recruits.
RR was on the way out anyway before Tate saved their season. Michalcizk knows Corvallis and it’s always better to look for a job when you have one than when you’re unemployed.
What was Henry’s tweet that everyone retweeted before it disappeared?
I think it was the one with a pic of him and Christian Wallace saying how they’ve been friends since they were kids.
Looks like Wallace has reconsidered?
Subtle hints from other players maybe he’s switching to rb?
Maybe more natural for him? There’s probably a need there with Nall gone, maybe Tyner.
I did note that Wallace was still listed on the roster not long ago.
It’s actually ill advised to run backwards as a running back, so maybe he’d do well there
Fwiw, I didn’t see any implication that Wallace would be switching positions, but you never know. Having a 4th body to share RB reps wouldn’t be a terrible thing, and he did play RB in highschool.
Just speculating because of the Tweets tagging him “LET’S MAKE THIS AN ALL TEXAS BACKFIELD”
Managed to screenshot it as part of Wallace’s subtweet. Cuts off some of the pic and text, but it was a pic of he and wallace at a workout and said “This Been My Dawg Since Them Young Days, I Can See Us Killing The Pac 12 Together”
https://ibb.co/fBntNG
But then he deleted it, so maybe he can’t see it anymore?
Is Henry a recruit?
Yes, visits OSU on the 12th
OT: Aranda making more than our HC. Remember the excitement about him coming to OSU before he didn’t?
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21954646/lsu-tigers-sign-defensive-coordinator-dave-aranda-new-four-year-10m-deal
I wonder why he didn’t follow GA…
Rosen and Darnold declare for draft (each probably hoping to avoid Cleveland).
Meanwhile, several PAC programs – UW, WSU, Stanford, UCLA, UO – have 4* QB commitments in this class. I know stars aren’t everything, but it will be interesting to see how they develop in the league and when the league gets competitive in bowl games again. I expect UCLA will get there quickly.
Would have been nice for OSU to land Petras.
The kid from WA that started the season as the starter at UGA will probably transfer. He was the Gatorade POTY as a HS senior. A pipe dream he comes to Corvallis, but all we have is hope.
Small bit of trivia. Riley was the first coach to offer Matt Eason back in the day. He didn’t come to OSU for Riley then. Don’t see that changing this time around.
What a neat deal that would be
Any word on whether or not Luton will return next year? I think he ought to retire given his injury, but he did talk of potentially returning if cleared to do so.
Just curious what the QB depth chart will be.
I believe he was medically cleared to resume football activities.. not sure if that means games yet though
As FR played 12 games, 55% completion rate, 2:1 TD:INT ratio.
Utah commit jack Tuttle appears to be a 4* too, with an offer from Alabama, among others.
College football is getting harder and harder for me to be a fan of. It has become so money crazy and the coaching carousel is like a soap opera. Rich Rod, Anderson, Leach, on and on, and the schools are putting out big money for this circus while our kids walk away over $50k in debt from college.
Agree, been feeling that way for years. And the sham way it is promoted and “championships” managed is difficult to swallow. I have watched none of the playoffs or bowl games. I was interested in TCU’s game, because I think there program provides a potential model for OSU, but not enough to go out of my way to watch it.
I may watch the “championship,” but more for the food and the friends than the game. Two SEC teams is pretty annoying and will no doubt feed the false narrative about that conference. Although the PAC didn’t help itself at all this year.
IMO: I don’t think there’s a false Narrative regarding the SEC in football. The top teams in the SEC are generally the cream of the crop. They pay the most money for their coaches, they have the best recruiting classes, they have some of the biggest and most jam packed stadiums, with the most rabid fan bases. They also for the most part, put more bodies (and eventual all pros) in the NFL. They just have better players. The defense played is on a different level then anything in the PAC 12. Stanford sometimes is on that level defensively because they have smart, good football players that gel to make a great unit, but the athletic freaks reside on SEC lines.
The real story would be how much cash or in-proper benefits are given to the players/recruits that gets swept under the rug because their in bed with the NCAA.
You can’t prove or disprove any SEC narrative. Maybe the best team this year is Bama.
So what? Win your division, then win your conference.
It’s to the point that we should wonder why Bama even has to play regular season games listening to all the rationalizations.
Think about it. If Bama didn’t have to play in the regular season, they would be rested and recovered, having everyone on hand. That’s a major consideration for some. They wouldn’t have any “bad” losses… ever. They also wouldn’t have any big wins. But since that doesn’t seem to matter, why bother? I suppose you could try to make them play in their conference championship game. But they seem to have no interest in doing that.
So let’s just give them an auto-bid, and let the rest of the P5 earn the other three spots… like we did this year… again.
If you want to tell me Bama deserves to be in any “play-off” just because they’re the “best” team, then why weren’t they selected to play in the SEC CG?
Bama games the system. They have it all figured out and broken down to a simple formula for success. Ties into them being in bed with the NCAA and vice versa.
All that being said, because they have superior talent they can still beat any team on any given day.
Expand to a 12 or 16 Team true playoff system and they still make it every year, and probably win 2 times out of 5.
That may be so. And if they do it in a vastly expanded format, I will be happy to call them champions.
But the reason they weren’t selected to the SEC CG is because the SEC was going about trying to crown a champion, not the best team.
Except the problem isn’t college football, the problem is our culture of profit it best along with capitalism. College football is trying to maintain itself outside of this, while at the same time getting dragged into it. Our economic system is toxic to football.
That’s not true.
First, there is no one economic system in this country. Capitalism is a dominant practice, and it mimics a truly free market structure in that there are ostensibly free points of entry and exit. But what’s great about this country is that different economic structures can be applied situationally and be more effective than capitalism.
In this case, a cooperative is what is intended. It is a poorly run cooperative with many rogue participants who do see that another economic system engorges their cash flow. It has probably already passed its tipping point now. So the hope of reeling it back into a truly efficient cooperative is low. But it’s the lack of leadership that is bringing this house down, not simply some participants tipping the field by adhering to principles counter to their own long term benefits.
True that there’s elements of multiple systems. My point is the complaint is with the economic system more than football.
Jordan Poyer named AFC Defensive Player of the Month….pretty cool.
I heard Tom Brady keyed his car.
Most clever post of the day
I still think that Riley mania is much more in the heads of the fans that hate him than reality. A whole thread related to the recruiting angle of an assistant coach. I see similarities to the craziness that surrounds Trump and the media. The thing that bothers me about this discussion is that after the 100 th time of drawing the tie top Riley being the puppet master people are going to accept it regardless of the truth.
Nope.
Riley is the dominant topic because it’s Mike Riley at Oregon State.
It’s that simple.
The voices in opposition or support are simply more practiced at this then they were the last time. And both, not just the opposition, are guilty of it because it is the natural outcome to his re-re-hire.
At best, this is 9 looking at an avionics panel mid-flight and saying, “I wonder what happens when I flip this switch.” That doesn’t instill anything good in my estimation of his leadership, something I was willing to embrace… and may still in a Riley-less future.
Well said.
Smith seems promising. Less so with Riley around.
But Jack, the discussion on here is from the point of view that Riley is in charge. There is no proof of that in any way. JS is the head coach, Riley is a shell of his former coaching self and is assuming a lesser role. Where is there any proof that it is playing out differently than that? I think the assistant head coach title is likely more a sign of respect than anything real. Prove this wrong with facts or i will continue to dismiss as hysteria.
Way overgeneralize much?
Mike Riley doesn’t deserve a paycheck from OSU.
Period.
End.
It’s not that he’s in charge of anything. It’s that nobody is in charge of him.
He’s Mike Riley. He can kick OSU in the face, and OSU will remain his chump. 9 gets to hear this every day he doesn’t take the action necessary to prove that he really is a head coach, not just the head coach.
I just explained that those who like Riley and his re-re-hire are just as guilty of making him the dominant topic. If you think choosing a bunker mentality over a unified message is the way leadership works, I got nothing for you.
How about the kettle calling the pot black. What is your proof that Riley had nobody in charge of him? Your line of it is against the rules to hire someone who has “quit” is old and just silly in my opinion. I’m not someone who thinks it wad a good hire, I am someone who doesn’t think the world is coming to an end because of it.
I will say we can agree that you have nothing for me.
So you do believe that choosing to go immediately into a bunker mentality is a form of leadership. So I won’t talk about that anymore.
The idea that one doesn’t rehire someone that quits is old. It’s also a steadfast principle of a sound business. It’s not personal, as much as you would like it to be. It’s just business. The employee has shown their capacity for loyalty to this business, and any further dealings with them as an employer will be spent mitigating the now much lower bar set by said employer. If that employer does not now capitulate to any quitter who wants back in, it becomes personal, not business.
So it becomes a form of the inmates running the prison. Doing it twice only lowers the bar that much more. it’s now to the point that Mike Riley can do whatever he wants to do without fear of discipline. 9 may even think he’s using Riley to form his message when he gives interviews. He’s not. It’s just the same old lazy “Mike Riley is at OSU doing more with less because he’s generous enough to do so for lowly OSU” trope. Nobody is in charge of Mike Riley in his current position. He’s not likely to do anything that would rise to getting fired. But he certainly has proven that he does a lot of stuff that builds over time to create an untenable employment. Normal employees would be corrected without hesitation. Mike Riley will not be corrected until the discomfort of his latest annoyance rises to the level of public discourse. This will happen often, because Mike Riley is now getting paid an executive level salary from OSU, and we already know his faults… that he repeats ad nauseum. His influence on the program is deeply rooted, no matter how much you want it not to be so with rationalizations about non-position position coach this and that.
And now it can’t be taken back until the off-season when he will see that he divides the fan base and steps away. Since we know he’s not the kind of person with this kind of wisdom, it will really be 9 suggesting he find another job, and they’ll spin it to be Bikey’s idea… something of a “9 is doing great now, so I’m going to go off and give it one more go… like any highly competitive coach would do.”
You should also look into the pot/kettle maxim. I think you’d be surprised to know its roots.
Is Riley trump and we’re MSNBC?
The only of the four you mention that can’t be avoided in daily life is Trump. You can’t make a direct comparison for anything to him. He affects the daily life of every one of us simply because of his position.
All else can successfully be ignored, if one chooses.
… or CNN ..
Also avoidable.
That depends. What Fake News Award did MSNBC Win? Mildly Fake? Fakest of the Fake?
Many are arguing Trump is just a Figure Head type assistant head coach so the analogy.
Fun read if you have 10 minutes: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html
Total shit show. And people think Riley is a bad manager of people.
You can’t always get what you want.
I’m not touting one over the other, but only one mainstream media outlet sued the FCC to be able to relay fiction during broadcasts under the purview of the title “news”… and won that lawsuit.
Everything now is a derivative of that… and avoidable.
Coach Chad K hired as a DL coach at Boise St. He must not have been one of the dumb ass assistants GA was texting Canzano about.
Not sure why people are down-voting and complaining about this topic. All the Riley fans will go on and on about his recruiting prowess but this post speaks to the contrary which is interesting. If Riley rambles about god to an uncomfortable audience without taking signs from the room that they don’t want to hear a sermon, that’s kind of an issue and shows he’s a bit socially inept. Kind of an important thing to know about so thanks for posting.
I would 100% agree that this would be relevant if Riley were the head coach. We could all have a great discussion with Jack demeaning anyone daring to believe in anything. Where I take issue with the post is that the hatred for all things Riley carries on the narrative that somehow Riley has taken over and Jonathan Smith is just a figure head. I reject that narrative, not rejecting the reasoning that Riley should not be the head coach of the Beavers.
I don’t demean the person daring to believe in anything. I demean the belief of a giant variable in place of a grand unifying theory at the expense of reason and exploration. If the person takes umbrage to that, then I’ll call them dumb or a moron. But that hardly rises to a loss of dignity or respect. It’s just dumb.
I would further demean the use of incomplete and improperly transliterated canons as weapons of hate, and I might go on to demean that person by demeaning his or her programming. But that’s rare here.
Riley is the Wizard of Oz. Without the clock management skills.