I woke up on the right side of the bed today. All the negativity around the athletic department–is it overblown? Are there things to be positive about?
I'll let the Pollyannas have their voice today.
My opinion: Overall trend is down, but there are pockets of positivity. In the football program, the fact we will likely never have sanctions, have a good QB and WR corp, have an improved O-line, and from what I hear, a good chef (/sarc) are all positives. I don't even feel comfortable mentioning the positives because they are all things that should be expected at this level. Some fans still think the expected are blessings, and therein lies much of the problem. It's always good to hear the other side, though, so as not to become too insular or myopic. Plus it's always good for a laugh. Have at it, Pollyannas.
Basketball: Our coach is the brother in law of the President of the United States and he has turned the worst basketball team into a competitor that is on the verge of an NCAA tournament birth for the first time in 22 years.
Baseball: 2 National Championships and a 3rd trip to Omaha. I believe it was voted the best program of the decade wasn’t it? I also think I read that Oregon State is the only Northern team to win a National Championship in the last 50 years or so.
Gymnastics: Top 10 every year
Football: As pointed out by many this week, Mike Riley won 36 games from 2006-2009. 2010 and 2011 were down years, and Mike Riley has admitted that. Mike Riley also had the Beavers 1 win away from a Rose Bowl two years in a row.
Those reasons above are why most people think a lot of folks on this website have ridiculous expectations.
I agree with all of this. The last two years have been very tough to swallow, but fortunately things are looking up.
Also you left out wrestling who had their best showing at nationals in awhile, and also I believe are 2 time defending PAC-12 champs.
Good call. And women’s soccer is very competitive too.
that is on the verge of an NCAA tournament birth for the first time in 22 years.
Not withing Cunningham they aren’t.
I don’t think the drop off will be as bad as expected. Yes Cunningham was a great ball player, but not irreplaceable. His contributions will require several players to step up and fill his roles, but it is doable.
NCAA tourney or not he’s completely changed the culture. and i can’t stand that impression.
*expression.
There was excitement last year, but let’s not forget the year before and even early last year people were calling for CR’s head. It could easily happen again next year with Cunningham gone. Everyone knows I like CR more than past coaches, but he’s not a good coach at this point; he’s just a good speaker and recruiter.
Anyone know when the hoops facility will be done? That could provide a boost.
Just like those calling for Mike Riley’s head, it seemed like a vocal minority calling for CR to be fired. I agree that he doesn’t seem to be a very good coach, but he recruits so well and brings a lot of positive exposure to the University.
Cunningham will be missed, but I think we return like 75% of our scoring offense. We were still a very young team last year. It also sounds like some of the guys who will be stepping on the court for the first time this year are legit. In addition, sending a guy to the NBA in the 1st round can only be a good thing for OSU.
i don’t mean to suggest that he’s been fantastic, but i will say that i feel he’s been a good coach at this point, because you could say that recruiting is a big part of how good of a coach you are, especially in hoops. he’s by no means a successful coach, and i certainly wouldn’t call him great, his in game decisions almost remind you of riley. (bad with timeouts, not exactly quick to make adjustments). but even with his flaws he’s managed in my eyes to have realistically satisfying years in every year but the year before last, when they didn’t have tarver and cunningham wasn’t quite ready to take the reigns, and it got kind of ugly. there’s lots of positive cliches that apply to the program though, “on the rise”, “headed in the right direction”, “he’s really building something” yada yada yada. we should probably be happy de carolis hired him and not someone else.
:The basketball team will continue to play below their overall talent level until Coach Rob can get the team to play sound team defense. In my opinion Coach Rob is a below average X’s and O’s guy. Great recruiter, decent motivator, stand-up guy, not a great in-game coach. That said, great programs have been built (re-built) by less capable coaches (Scott Drew, Rick Barnes, etc.)
I’d love to see Coach Rob bring in a defensive specialist a la Ralph Willard at Louisville, while he concentrates almost solely on recruiting/motivating. Four more years right?
Actually, it took Drew about five years to start winning. The circumstances were very different, but the depths the program had reached were similar (in depth alone).
Coach Rob has turned out to be an excellent O’s guy. And he initially was a good X’s guy. It’s this transition period from bad O’s/good X’s to great O’s/great X’s that hurts because a part of great X’s is man D. And he made a miscalculation in not at least teaching man D. I realize you have to have the horses to play it. But you also have to develop it in the horses you expect to play it in the future.
his first year focusing solely on the 131 is part of the reason they had a better year than anyone could have expected. the kids bought into it, and actually got pretty good at it. maybe it was more effective than he thought it would be so he decided to stick with it in future seasons. that was probably a mistake. hopefully he’ll be able to transition into a more man to man oriented attack with next years group and they can defend better the way he’s transitioned the offense from a group that tried to win games in the 50’s and 60’s into a team that was 10th in the nation in scoring.
I thought you were going to let the polyannas have their day?
….how long did that last? 15 minutes?
Our school color is bright orange, and I love pheasant hunting where bright orange is worn for safety… So my used OS gear can be recycled ad pheasant hunting clothes.
That’s all I got.
You do any bird hunting at Camp Adair when they release the caged Phesants for season?
No, I pretty much fished the Alsea, Siletz or Santiam whenever I had free time during the college years.. I’ve hunted released birds but much prefer the wild roosters of NE Oregon.
Ah nice, I’m not familer enough with NE Oregon to go hunt out there, as far as public/private land and whatnot.
Oh, I’d hunt Adair if I lived nearby, no doubt. Just got into pheasant hunting after college. The willamette valley is tough for wild pheasants ever since they switched from wheat and corn to grass seed as the primary cash crop. Cut down on the cover/feed tremendously.
Yeah, my grandfather has told me lots of stories about how much better the deer/duck/pheasant hunting used to be. Sometimes I do wonder why I even try to hunt blacktail in the Willamette valley.
That’s true. In the 80s I lived in Corvallis and my Dad lived in Oakridge,so we’d drive across the valley every weekend and there were way more pheasants when the valley floor was covered in food rather than easy profits.
My Dad took me to that Adair hunt once when I was young and it was fun. High fence hunting is lame,for the record.
I did actually see a cock pheasant west of Cottage Grove about a month ago. Surprised the shit outta me,never see them out here anymore. Got turkeys by the zillion tho.
Damn those people looking for profit anyway
Hey it’s their property,they can pave it and use it as overflow parking for super walmart if they want. But from a life long outdoorsman perspective there was a lot more game in the valley when it was covered in something edible.
I wouldn’t call profits earned by farming “easy” in any sense of the word. The big change in bird numbers aren’t so much due to the change in cropping systems but more to do with the elimination of fence rows as growers try to squeeze more production out of every acre.
There are tons around my part of the valley as well, I shot two last fall, and one this spring. There are still millions around.
Do you still fish the Santiam? Is that a decent salmon fishery? FYI the coho are on fire just past the jetties in Newport, but better hurry it closes this weekend. Landed a 32# and 25# chinook Tuesday at the Whistler coho fishing, and they were clipped.
The South Santiam was good for springers this year within five miles of Foster, and the Willamette probably posted the best numbers in the valley just below Dexter. I was up at Leaburg today, and some waders told me the numbers were up this year in the McKenzie as well.
It looks like salmon might be back in a big way, which means I can’t wait for September… from Siletz to Winchester Bay… pulling in some kings.
If you’re into rainbows or cutthroats in the central valley, I’ve found a lot of good holes along the Luckiamute for many a breakfast.
The coho fishing has been outstanding, with the occasional chinook mixed in, other than they just showed up a week and a half ago and the season closes the 31st. Been out every day and succeeded in fishing myself to exhaustion. That’s a pretty good feeling…
Thanks for the valley tips, going to have to leave the coast about time the Nookies show up in the Yaquina, so I’m going to have to learn some new turf around Benton County, (trout are good) on days I can’t deal with 20 back to Newport, kids in school and all.
A little national love for the hoops team today.
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/61625/bracket-reveal-2k-sports-classic-2
Nice write of for hoops except this sentence: “There isn’t a whole lot to get the blood pressure going in this one,”
Not for me. I went to Purdue and have it in my blood. It’ll be strange if they get to play each other as I’ll be rooting for both, but in the end, I’m going to go with the Beavs, just like the writer. A win over Purdue would be a huge bump.
You should go with the Keady comb-over as a tribute. It’s a good look.
Best Hair Ever
The big 3 sports (football, bball, and baseball). I would give a C+ for the overall state. Baseball helped raise the grade, basketball things seem to be looking up, and football is struggling as of late. The second year sports (gymnastics, wrestling, track). I would give an A. Gymnastics and wrestling hve been top 15 programs for a couple years. Overall a B-. The big three I weighed higher.
On a side note, I got really good seats with my 3 pack tickets this year. Unfortunatly I’ll miss home opener, and Wisconsin as I’ll be on my honeymoon.
Congrats on the wedding; sounds like you’ve got your priorities straight.
You might be the only Beaver to score during the Wisconsin game LOL.
Hahaha!
Hahaha! That made me LOL IRL.
The Beavs have soul.
Baseball: One of the best coaches in the country. 3 exciting freshman in Conforto, Fry, Davis.
Gymnastics: Nationally ranked year in & out
Wrestling: 2 time Pac 12 champs. Coach with a National Title.
Womens Hoops: One of the greatest turn arounds in OSU history. Coach with mad respect.
Football: Infusion of young talent to build program; added good teachers in Perry and Bray to Defense; added NFL trainer to better prevent and heal injuries
Pac 12 Network: Huge influx in income and accessibility.
Basketball: Six more months of saying Coach is Brother in Law of POTUS.
Solid assessment.
Except on the 6 month thing.
Couldn’t agree more on the POTUS thing, thank God he’s gone.
Couldn’t agree more on the POTUS thing.
He already lost the election? I guess I missed something. Or maybe you mean Michelle is dumping him, so CR wont be his brother-in-law? Or maybe you mean you don’t look at polling data and historically how a president loses their second term?
Everyone should take the political crap to the forums. Has zero to do with OSU athletics.
Yes. Knock it off.
And both parties are the same jackasses with different names.
People said Gore and Bush were the same, too. If Gore was pres, we wouldn’t have invaded Iraq and therefore thousands would still be alive. We’d also have an extra trillion.
Hunting doesn’t have dick to do with OSU athletics either. But the moment someone mentions a goddam knife I have to sift through 15 comments of drivel.
Haha
You should buy a Kershaw and cut out what you don’t like.
Kershaw does make a nice blade.
Broke the tip off my last Kershaw. Really surprised me,it was a great knife otherwise. It was my work knife,so it lead a difficult existence.
Got a great deal on an auto benchmade and haven’t looked back.
His boyfriend won’t let him have a knife.
That doesn’t make sense in even a dumb stereotypical way.
Nope,they live on reds,vitamin c and cocaine.
Don’t you know anything?
Not surprised that the OSU fan that loves hunting and votes republican also makes homophobic comments.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/roots/freud.html
????? Need less of that on this board
Then just make “that” stop.
OT– a different perspective on Paterno
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/07/the-case-against-joe-paterno-weak-to-non-existent-on-the-current-record.php
Vote for Slats Gill and Steve Johnson!
http://rushthecourt.net/2012/07/26/pac-12-basketball-fantasy-league-voting-semifinal-2/
Thanks for the help guys.
Has anyone actually watched the Pac-12 media day video of MR, Markus Wheaton, and Jordan Poyer? In the middle and the end, Riley actually talks about “identity”!! It’s not the old, “We need to find an identity”…he actually said that Dylan Winn and Scott Crichton both presented an identity for the defense. Also, Markus Wheaton got a little nervous on the stage, but Jordan Poyer was very social and didn’t show any nervousness. Also, seems like MR didn’t know what to expect as far as what he’d be asked.
Can you post a link? I searched, but I can’t find it.
Never mind. It’s on Youtube now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqgsktNkIts
I’ve not watched other interviews with MR, so I don’t know if he always clenches and unclenches his hands as he did in this question session. He seemed very ill-at-ease.
I noticed that to. Perhaps he was counting the years left on his contract?
Hard to tell – he has so many years left but only 10 fingers.
Beavers 4 life, why would that surprise you? Riley’s leadership style is one that allows the group to develop it’s own identity from within and decide who the leaders are going to be. There’s good and bad to this. We’re going to see the good that comes from this style over the next 3 seasons.
And you’ll see the bad by going o-fer in september every season.
I’m going to say 3 and 1 this Sept.
Looks like four beers on the bet line there cowboy :).
You never did get me that extensive list of 4-5 star kids that are gonna commit to OSU…
I didn’t promise a list, just that there was significant interest, when you were saying there wasn’t. It’s on with the beers.
Good one WFO!
@DevilsDigest Penn State OL Ryan Nowicki is scheduled to visit ASU on July 30th. Will visit Washington this weekend.
We need OL, could be an area we need improvement, where are our coaches on these? Riley is still on vacation in Texas…would like to see desire, effort, and committment.
He had an OSU offer out of HS, and I think he visited at one point…
no reason for not contacting any players that have already had an offer/visit.
Are you a liberal Duck honk or Jack?
Opps meant to be above.
If you’re asking me, what I posted doesn’t suggest liberal or conservative, just that I’m paying attention. Right now it’s 231 to 181 electoral votes in Obama’s favor.
For the record I’m neither Jack or a Duck, but a liberal Beav.
How the hell call you say it is 231 to 181. Did you grab that out your a$$. Heck 6 months before the election you liberals were fitting Queen Hilary for her throne. The only sure thing is once again American demands change.
Yeah, I just made it up. Or I got it here:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map.html
Sorry it’s two lines. Obama just needs a few swing states. Sorry. It’s pretty rare for the middle of the road voters to demand change with an incumbent president.
You sir are no pollyanna. Change back to the same shit ideas which put us in this hole in the first place is not change.
Hell, Obama didn’t really change much. But that was apparent in June of 2008 when his economic advisors were announced, and they were just more of the same.
And now we have Obama against someone who makes Joe Biden look discreet and sharp as a tack.
Woo hoo… yippee? Whatever. It looks like I’ll be writing in another name for the seventh election in a row.
I’ve posted only one other poltical opinion here – that one on how Iran wouldn’t be such a problem if the US hadn’t overthrown Iran’s democratically elected government in 1953 – but, Jack, I well remember the chill I felt when Obama announced his financial advisors. I haven’t purposely taken any notice since.
no one gives a shit what your political opinion is here. or at least they shouldn’t. read the top of the website.
We found out more about James Holmes life in 3 days then we ever have of Obama.
That’s darker than Obama’s skin, which is makes you ignorant of his life.
Are you a troll or a mental deficient?
Baseball is looking good for next year. Its the first year in quite a while we didn’t have the draft kill us. Conforto, Fry. Even Boyd came back even though he didn’t have the best of years last year.
Boyd was pretty solid last year, probably our most consistent, and he has been tearing it up during the Cape Cod League this summer! Very excited about the potential next season.
Most consistent reliever was probably Schultz. The #’s back this up.
Yeah… and that was late. Do we know why Schultz sat for most of the season? I was expecting him to be that long middle who would have one of the three starters’ backs over the weekend or go as a fourth when he wasn’t needed.
he should’ve been. starr got way too many chances.
Yes, Schultz had some mechanical issues early in the season and Yeskie helped correct the problem. Yeskie loved Brocker. He got a lot of opportunities that Schultz probably should have gotten. I’m thinking Casey and Yeskie just didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in Schultz until later in the year, that may have cost them a game here and there. Schultz will clearly have a much larger role this year. Hopefully Tony Bryant bounces back this season. Would be nice to have 3 pitchers that can truly be counted on. Adam Duke being healthy will be key, also will getting improvement from Carlos Rodriguez.
I think the bullpen has the potential to be great, we’ll see how things go. But hopefully Cole Brocker’s role will be significantly reduced.
Will Duke every be healthy? That is the question. I don’t think they should count on him ever being a major contributer.
ever
I doubt anyone is exactly counting on him, but even without Duke, the Beavers’ bullpen will be fine. I expect incoming freshman Andrew Moore to make an impact immediately. Cole Baylis is someone who I think will be solid in relief next season. Didn’t pitch a whole lot after the early part of March but he has good stuff and think he’ll do a good job. So, even without Duke, the Beavers are still in really good shape when you got Boyd, Bryant, Schultz, Rodriguez and add in Moore and Baylis. I do hope we finally can see what a healthy Duke can do but who knows if we will get to see that. We’ll have to wait and see how that works out.
They don’t even mention OSU on the topic of innovation?!?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/stewart_mandel/07/26/pac-12-offenses/index.html?sct=cf_t12_a0
No love for The Oregon State University, once again. But should I act surprised? The media loves the team down south & USC, everyone else are just fillers. Money buys $ucce$$ and success/ #winning earns respect. Everyone loves a winner, and only Beaver Nation loves OSU.
We need a catchy name for the offense. The “Play Action Fake On Third and Thirty Offense” has a nice ring to it.
Something positive.
WE’RE NOT…clap, clap, PENN STATE……..clap, clap.
MN coach Jerry Kill used the word “neat” at B1G media days. Oh no!
Fellow Angrybeavs.
A couple questions. Is the band going to be at the opening game? School is not in session at that time if I read correctly. If they are not, is the atmosphere dead for that game?
Would it be possible with the traffic to get down to Eugene for their night game the same day?
Trying to set up an CFB orgy of going to MN/UNLV Thursday night and then flying up to Portland.
Beavergopher, I have some inside information on that. A buddy of mine who is in the marching band informed me last week that they will not be marching for the Nichols state game or the Wisconsin game. They will have a voluntary band which most of the members participate in. If Wisconsin wa going to bring their band then yet would have the full marchig band, but Wisconsin is not so they will have the volunteer band again. My buddy is stoked because he only does marching for his scholarship and to get into the music Ed program. But for the peoe who just go to the games the band brings energy to the games.
You should have sent this to Angry last week when he was looking for the inside scoop.
College games are not the same without the band playing. Bummer. Thanks for the reply.
Get ready to catch shit from the obnoxious Wisky fans about not even having a band. Poor PR for a game of national interest.
Hello beaver. I didn’t think that marching band was high on the priorities of beaver athletics.
Beavergopher- I agree, but there will still be a band, they just won’t be marching. Wisconsin won’t have much to talk about after we beat them…
Look to the scoreboard in the 3rd Q for info on the fastest route out of the parking lot and you’ll have plenty of time to get to Eugene.
Well, there’s this…
http://www.osubeaversshop.com/gdosu12381116.html
We could stage a “Neat Out.”
If we stage a neat out, we dont show up, right? …because we dont really care.