On the University of Oregon athletic directors’ Wikipedia page, there is a table that lists former “ADs” of UO and their alma maters. Rob Mullens, West Virginia University; Bill Moos, Washington State University; and Pat Kilkenny, none.
None.
Kilkenny, whom the Oregon baseball’s “PK Park” is named after, has been an entrepreneur his whole life.
After moving from his hometown of Heppner, Ore., to Southern California where he uprooted a mono-line insurance company, Kilkenny received a phone call from the late Jud Heathcote.
Heathcote, who was the Michigan State basketball coach for 19 years, recommended to Kilkenny that he create the initiative to build a new basketball arena in Eugene. On Feb.14, 2007, Kilkenny was hired as the university’s athletic director, all while having worked a grand total of zero days within any school’s athletic department.
From insurance mogul to athletic director at a Power Five school, Kilkenny did things his own way. You don’t have a nameplate in your office titled “His Dudeness” (from the Big Lebowski) without being a little bit strange.
His first order of business as athletic director? Buying out his predecessor.
Kilkenny was a significant donor in the university’s $2 million buyout to previous athletic director Moos. Kilkenny classified the buyout of Moos as necessary and “a fitting end for a person who served the university well.”
“I selected Pat because he is clearly best able to provide an immediate impact to the University of Oregon athletic department,” then UO President Dave Frohnmayer said in a press release in 2007.
An immediate impact is exactly what Kilkenny made. A week after he was hired, construction started on the UO’s new basketball stadium, Matthew Knight Arena. The building was finished in record time and spearheaded by a $100 million dollar donation from Kilkenny’s friend and fellow “PK,” Phil Knight.
Matthew Knight Arena opened on Jan. 13, 2011, less than two years after the construction process had begun. The $200 million dollar project was the most expensive basketball arena in all of college basketball. Kilkenny finished his work on revamping the basketball program by hiring current head coach, Dana Altman. In the final year of his contract, Altman took the Ducks to their first Final Four appearance in 78 years.
Kilkenny rejuvenated the Oregon baseball program, too. During his tenure as AD, he reinstated the baseball program as a university-funded sport. Kilkenny’s work on the baseball stadium, which included installing a beer garden (the first in a Pac-12 baseball stadium) and facilitating renting out PK Park to the Eugene Emeralds — the San Francisco Giants’ High-A affiliate, for home games — led to the stadium being titled in Kilkenny’s namesake.
After Oregon baseball’s Pac-12 championship win over Arizona in 2023, Kilkenny was out on the field celebrating with the Ducks. Oregon’s advancement to college baseball’s super-regionals this past season meant PK Park hosted all three of the Duck’s games. The Ducks’ baseball team — which hadn’t existed for 27 years until Kilkenny’s tenure as AD — finished just one win away from making the College Baseball World Series.
Kilkenny was monumental. Oregon baseball coach Mark Wasikowski couldn’t agree more. “We wouldn’t be anywhere without that guy,” Wasikowski said in an interview with John Canzanzo.
Via a podcast done in 2022, Kilkenny cited his contentment with his oversight of the building of Matthew Knight Arena and the soon-to-be PK Park as reasons for his stepping down.
In 2009, Kilkenny officially stepped down as athletic director. “The job is really hard, and honestly there’s not a lot of fun at all,” Kilkenny said. “When I first got there it was about building the arena; it ended up being about a lot of other things.”
Back home in Southern California, with newfound time on his hands, Kilkenny has focused his efforts on the “Lucky Duck Foundation,” which distributed over 1.5 million meals to the homeless population in the greater San Diego community. By raising attention to politicians about the ongoing homeless issue in San Diego, the Lucky Duck Foundation focuses on shelters, employment and job opportunities for the homeless. Through the help of a team of 16 board members, “we make a difference,” Kilkenny said via the podcast, “We’re quite proud of it.”
Both in service and in Ducks sports, Kilkenny’s life has left an impact.
