of a coach who doesn’t want to leave.
Funny that the blogs and papers are spinning the move as brilliant. Yeah, brilliant if you’re a masochist who enjoys being pinned into a corner with your hands tied behind your back. Hey, maybe that’s your thing. But I digress.
The truth is that it’s short-sighted to call this a good move. The Beavers are now committed to Mike Riley for 9 years, and if he continues to reach the Las Vegas Bowl, Emerald Bowl, and Sun Bowl, well, tack on another year for each of those. Essentially this is a lifetime contract for a man who didn’t want to coach anywhere else. Such a scenario begs the question: what motivates Riley now?
Is it reaching a bowl game higher than the Sun? I guess you can make that argument. But I know quite a bit about human psychology, and the fact is that people lose their passion, fire, and motivation when they have security. Insecurity, the energy that comes from the unknown and unstable, fuels momentum and greatness.
Another argument I’m sure to hear is that stability is good for recruiting. Sure, that is true. But Riley was locked in for 6 years, which I consider a pretty stable situation. Why add 3 more before you have to or even know if you want to? Remember 2005? Each of us was calling for Riley’s head. It happens annually after the slow starts and bad loses. Say we have back to back years like 2005 and Bronco Mendenhall comes on the market, then what?
The bottom line is that in the world of athletics it’s never good to tie your hands for this long. Was signing A-rod a smart move by Texas? What about Giambi and Oakland? What about Beltran and the Mets? I pose this question: when has a ten year contract ever been a success? It’s always disaster, because things go wrong over long periods of time. In this case it was especially stupid. Why? Because you have the horse’s mouth saying he was never contacted by USC and would have rejected their offer had he been contacted. And shame on Riley if that isn’t true. That is, if he was contacted and used it as leverage. He knows the athletic department is strapped for cash, so to lie about being contacted and hold your athletic department hostage would be a cold negotiating tactic. Before you praise Riley for being a good, shrewd businessman think about that.
This entry will be archived and in a few years people will want Riley gone after some bad games/seasons and say, “Angry was right.” I take pleasure in little things like that, but I also take pleasure in being wrong when if it benefits the Beavers. Unfortunately, history hints that this signing will be disaster, and the beautiful thing about patterns like that is they are unbiased and simply do not lie. Of course, now I’ve set myself up to have to defend the Joe Pa argument. Oh brother.
De Carolis is telling us that 9-4 is the best we can hope for.
Pretty much.
When Riley said “They never offered me the job and I wasn’t going to take it” you knew OSU got played. By itself no less. Riley didn’t deserve a “lifetime” contract.” This was indeed stupid – not because Riley’s a “bad guy,” but because he wasn’t leaving, and thus far, his top performance is 3rd place in the sun bowl. No holiday bowl, no rose bowl. He may get there yet, I think he’s capable, but if he can’t get to that level, there’s no reason in the school extending him or limiting their own options. So he goes to New Mexico bowl, LV BOwl, Emerald Bowl, Insight Bowl….and EACH time he gets another year. That’s not good enough. Even given the 28 year losing streak. Incentive clauses need to give incentive, not reward stasis.
There are a couple upsides to this…
If he’s fired, there’s no $18m buy-out involved with this ten year contract.
If he tooled Bobby D for more years, then maybe he does have a killer edge somewhere in him.
then maybe he does have a killer edge somewhere in him.
That’s really it in a nutshell. Does nice guy Riley have a killer instinct or killer edge in him? Does going for two when down by one and no time left in the Sun Bowl against Missouri count? Maybe. Can anyone give any other examples? Harbaugh and Stoops annoy me to no end, but there’s no doubt about it with them.
It’s not just those two, it’s Kelly and the former guy at USC, too. Sark is trying that mindset up in Seattle and Tedford gets uber aggressive at times, too. It’s a conference wide epidemic.
I think there is a sure argument about whether or not Mike should be the long term coach at OSU, and if he can get us a 10+ win season. However, I suspect that whatever motivates Riley, has nothing to do with money, and that his motivations will not change based on the monetary peice of his ontract. His motivations may change as he gets older, or his family life changes, but hes made plenty of money and probably isn’t spurred by the chance to make more. I’m guessing Kiffin or Carrol drive something more expensive than a Toyota.
It’s true, Riley’s motivations will remain mostly stable with this contract extention. But we alreardy knew that before hand. Everyone saw what happened when we missed a second straight Rose Bowl apperance at the hands of our adversaries. It disheartened all of Beaver Nation and it dejected our coaching staff heading into a lower class game. Riley was not content with the CW outcome and therefore went against his normal state of affairs during preparation and we lost again. He wasn’t even motivated toward a 6th straight mediocre win.
But that could be a sign of the times. He advocated for a brutal upcoming schedule. He wants to find a way to start fast (albeit choosing the hardest path to get there). The family roots and winningest coach in OSU history is important to him. The Civil War resonates in his bones. I never want to see my team lose. Especially at the hands of our coaching staff. But it does intrigue me to think that Riley may be preparing for something epic.
The state of Oregon will be the focal point of PAC-10 football again next season. Riley will have his time to shine. My true question is whether he will then be content with a single conference championship, or if he’ll be motivated to attempt leaving a bigger legacy in his wake?
Dude.
This is why I hate Bob DeCarolis. Guy is an asshat, plain and simple and nobody should be surprised that he draws up these retarded little contracts because he was the mastermind behind giving Jay John an extension we had to waste money buying him out of.
However, it could be worse, our coach could be Lane Kiffin.
One can only hope that something gives and we see our possible run at a Rose Bowl becomes an actual appearance, or maybe the Pac-10 will have a strong and respected year and we can send two teams to BCS bowls.
Or I could be a chinese jet pilot.
Speaking of contracts…Lane Kiffin just picked up as USC coach? After one, controversy filled, lackluster year at Tennessee? I realize he’s young and fiery, but just seems risky for USC who is already toying with NCAA violations. No?
Mike Garrett and USC are getting ripped apart for this. This is better than I ever imagined.
USC is the big loser here. We get free publicity, and Tennessee gets a decent or maybe even a good coach… or at least one who knows what the hell is going on in this little place we like to call reality.
Kiffin needs an adversary to mask the reality that he sucks as a coach… or to make excuses. He had Al in Oakland, and he had Meyer at Tennessee. Who does he choose out of the Pac 10 coaches?
Ironically, he has an easy scapegoat provided him in Mike Garrett. After two years, he can complain that his teams suck because Garrett isn’t giving him any and all opportunities for success. All USC boosters have to do is look at Kiffin’s hire, and they would agree.
So maybe an opposing coach won’t be his next adversary. Although, there’s another squeaky rat coaching in the LA area. This could be fun if those schools can put up with what’s to come for any length of time.
Besides, Kiffin has a much broader recruiting pool for the ‘cheer team’ on Santa Monica Blvd alone.
Rah Rah Lane.
I’ve been following AngryBeaver for a few weeks now. Sometimes you make sense, but much of the time you sound like some player from the 80’s (the loser’s) who thinks he knows all about the game. I personally feel we at OSU are more than fortunate to have men of the caliber of DeCarolis and Riley leading this program. We could certainly use more support from our alumni to compete in this competive sports world. Not the kind which is full of criticism and has little good to offer to the program. Take a good hard look at your columns and then tell us how you re supporting OSU.
“Take a good hard look at your columns and then tell us how you re supporting OSU.”
1. Going to games
2. Buying cable packages just to watch the Beavers
3. BASF donations
4. Buying gear
5. Criticizing when it’s due
6. Working hard/well at my (day) job and representing the university.
These are just off the top of my head.
Yourself?
Even someone who doesn’t support the program (financially) has a right to an opinion. This is something Beaver fans have a hard time wrapping their state-school-pea-brains around. You should look at what you just wrote, take off the orange-colored glasses, get of the ledge, and reassess your stance towards this blog. This space is the work of someone who cares passionately.
And for the record, show me where I give either Riley or DeCarolis *unfair* criticism. This isn’t firemikeriley.com, so don’t act like it is unless you’re in the business of purposely having your opinions discredited.
Part of me enjoyed reading your criticism of this blog. It’s how anything becomes better. I’ll take the parts that are constructive and sleep on them. Welcome aboard.
-angry
LOL, you are every bit the douche bag that the firemikeriely.com guy was.
If you’re going to feign respect for Oregon State football, could you at least spell our coach’s name correctly? Some of us actually care about our team and coaches.
Gio Bernard is starting to look at UNC and OSU again.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100113/SPORTS13/100119758/1130
Bernard told Rivals.com he is also strongly considering Oregon State, a school he took an official visit to last September.
OSU needs to get 2 RBs in either this class or next years with Jefferson gone and to replace for Jacquizz in the future. Marable and Bernard in the same year would help.
I don’t know that I’d put too much stock in this. Blitz didn’t even bother to link it on their front page. While I think Giovanni Bernard would be an excellent RB at OSU immediately, I think he’s looking to differentiate himself from his brother so much that he’s only respecting OSU because it’s his brother’s school.
I’m interested to see if Ryan Murphy comes here and gets a shot at RB.
Murphy sounds like he’s being recruited at Safety at pretty much every school including OSU. He’s get nice speed though with a 4.42 40
Rivals has an article about Bernard they just haven’t updated his interests with UNC and OSU.
http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/barrier_noentry.asp?ReturnTo=&sid=&script=content.asp&cid=1039255&fid=&tid=&mid=&rid=
I don’t have access to the pay sites right now. I saw that the article existed by looking at his profile. But I’m sure it’s as cryptic as they usually are.
Then again… hmmmm….
http://www.kpam.com/upload/file/35237%20Evenson%20Bernard%20Haiti%20earthquake.mp3
Danny Mwanga was just picked #1 overall in the MLS draft by the Philadelphia Union. I’m thinking he made a good decision to leave school early. I wonder how he was sold on staying in the US.
Good luck Danny… do us proud.
I’ll never understand why the higher ups are obsessed with Lane Kiffin and think he’s a good coach. He’s won nothing and causes problems everywhere he goes.