With the state of college sports fan behavior being more heavily scrutinized across the nation, University of Oregon officials are drawing up plans to preempt unruly fan behavior.
And that includes all fans, not just the student sections which have been targeted as the source to blame recently.
I bring this is up because I took part in a meeting last week with University officials that included Laura Blake Jones, the interim dean of students, and Neal Zoumboukos, special assistant to the athletic director, as well as a variety of student leaders, including the president of the Pit Crew, Daniel Cogan.
“Fan behavior at the college sports level is a problem,” Jones said. “It’s not specific to U of O.”
While Oregon fan behavior at the UCLA game drew national attention a few weeks ago, fans have been a problem in Eugene long before then.
“It extends far beyond the students,” Zoumboukos said. “Any type of negative fan behavior impacts the athletic department.”
Zoumboukos, who is a former assistant coach on the football team, said the situation with fans at Autzen Stadium is something the football coaches have been concerned about for a long time. He then told an anecdote about how fans’ behavior at games have cost Oregon recruits in the past, particularly because the recruits’ parents were so taken aback by the abhorrent display of people in the crowd.
“Whether it be 20-year-olds or 50-year-olds, parents perceive it in negative light,” he said, alluding that this year’s football recruiting class might have been affected by fan behavior, particularly because Oregon lost several recruits at the last minute on Signing Day.
While the fans’ passion at sporting events is something any team wants, it needs to be filtered in some instances.
“The enthusiasm and support – we want that,” Zoumboukos said. “But the over-the-top behavior – it haunts us.”
So what’s the solution? Well, if recent behavior at the basketball games has been any indication, most of the fans have received the message already. Although the crowd might not be as loud or vocal during the game, the loud vulgar chants have been nonexistent.
Now it’s about continuing to encourage energetic and positive behavior while teaching future generations of Ducks the same set of standards.
Cogan believes that most of the crowd at basketball games is comprised of underclassmen because the freshmen have easy access to the ticket office near the dorms. If Oregon wants to keep its message a constant, it needs to start once the students show up on campus. The idea of handing out fan guides at Oregon’s orientation was a popular idea at the meeting. Cogan called it a “student fan book” and suggested it include the ticket distribution process, acceptable behavior at games and a history of Oregon athletics.
And if the students are setting the example of model behavior, the idea is the rest of the crowd will follow suit.
“The student body influences how the rest of the crowd reacts,” Oregon Marketing Director Angie Sit said.
She was speaking from experience. As stated earlier, it’s not a problem only Oregon should deal with.
At the Arizona football game in November, Sit and I stood next to each other after the game and watched a fight nearly break out after a Wildcat fan directed the N-word towards a Duck fan as Arizona students littered the field, directing verbal assaults on Oregon players and their fans.
It was a surreal sight and worse than anything I’ve ever seen, or heard, at Autzen.
While Oregon officials try to get their message across, given that the crowd comprises mostly free-thinking adults capable of independent thought, it remains on them to determine whether or not their behavior is acceptable in a public event.
“It falls on the students to police themselves,” Sit said. “We’re an institute of higher learning; we shouldn’t have to tell you it’s not OK.”
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