Former Oregon wrestling coach Chuck Kearney became a lightning rod of sorts last summer when he accepted a new position, director of athletic alumni development, in an Oregon athletic department that had just axed the wrestling program that he had been a part of for more than 20 years as wrestler, assistant coach and head coach.
“When you participate in something or are part of something like I was, like my coaches were, like my wrestlers were, it becomes part of who you are and it’s hard to reconcile the fact that we don’t have wrestling anymore,” Kearney said. “The other side of the coin is that we had wrestling and the young men that participated in this program and the coaches who coached here are a part of this school’s history and a part of this school.”
Frustration was already boiling over within the Oregon wrestling community and on Internet forums over the program’s cancellation. The head coach staying on staff within the athletic department was too much for some. He was called, among other things, a “sellout” by some in the community.
“I don’t agree with that at all,” said former Oregon wrestler Zack Frazier of the term “sellout” being used in reference to Kearney. “Chuck Kearney was one of the best coaches I ever had and I think that he did everything in his power to try and save the program. I mean, he was on his phone all day long to people trying to get money for it, trying to get the word out, trying to tell people what we’re doing with our program, why it should be saved. People say he didn’t put in the work to try and save the program, and that’s a lie. He put in a lot of work trying to save the program.”
“With something like this, where it is so emotionally volatile to the wrestling community, there are people out there who empathize and people out there who criticize … at the end of the day we did the best we could to fight a good fight and put ourselves in the best position that we could to survive as a program,” Kearney said last week, almost a year removed from the program’s last home meet. “If popularity is important to you then coaching isn’t a business you should get into.”
Newspaper reports of pay raises for Kearney and assistant coach Rick Stewart (who also took a position within the department) only fueled that fire. Kearney disputes these reports.
“That has been in several articles that hit some of the web stuff is that we got pay raises and we didn’t,” Kearney said. “With a lot of people out there that don’t think it through, they see ‘He got a pay raise’ and think, ‘They bought him.’ That wasn’t the case. I would have gladly taken a pay cut to solve the wrestling program.”
The discrepancy, Kearney said, is in the contract number. Kearney’s current number is bigger than when he was wrestling coach. The coaching contract number, according to Kearney, didn’t include the value of perks he received as a head coach: a courtesy car, a phone and profits from summer camps and other incentives and bonuses.
“As a coach you consider that part of your salary,” Kearney said. “I’m still behind.”
Not that Kearney is complaining. In the end his love is for Oregon first.
“My degree is from the University of Oregon. This is my institution. I consider myself an ‘Oregon guy,’ being a native of the state and all that,” he said. “This is where I’ve spent the last 29 years. I’m pleased to have a position and am excited about the people I’ve been meeting and dealing with.”
And he is enthusiastic about his job. He said that coaching is a profession based on giving and he continues to give of himself, putting himself at former athletes’ disposal.
“I see my role as a conduit between the athletic department and the former student-athlete,” he said. “I want to help make that decision that you make as an 18-year-old signing a letter of intent to come attend and participate and perform at the University of Oregon not just for four years. There’s a connection through the legacy you leave both while you’re here and after.”
Aside from his affection for the school and the community, a large part of Kearney’s decision to remain in Eugene rather than to chase a coaching job elsewhere was his family. He has two sons, 11 and 14, who are active in local sports. Kearney himself is president of Churchill-area Babe Ruth Baseball.
Kearney’s older son, Chase, is a freshman at Churchill High School, where Kearney’s brother is the wrestling coach. Chase Kearney has taken to wrestling, and with the season now underway, that involvement has perhaps stoked the competitive fires in Chuck Kearney.
As a life-long competitor, that’s what Kearney said he misses most.
“Filling up the day, that’s been easy. And being a bigger part of my kids’ lives is a nice situation,” he said. “The personal competitiveness is the part I haven’t found the answer to yet. The adrenaline, the highs and the lows, how do I replace that without infringing upon my children and their right to have their own sports? That’s the challenge.”
Not being “the wrestling coach” after being one for 20 years is another aspect of that challenge.
“I’m working hard at not being the wrestling coach,” he said. “I’ve tried to make myself a resource, where people can come to me if so inclined. One of my goals is to not be a know-it-all.”
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