As bewildered fans poured out of Autzen Stadium on Saturday, dismayed at the 55-16 beating Washington State hammered down on the Ducks, a handful of questions came to mind.
How could the offense be so terrible? How could the secondary be so soft? How could the Ducks be on the cover of Sports Illustrated?
The first two questions can be answered by local sports writers, head coach Mike Bellotti and the Oregon football players. The last query has less to do with football and more to do with what this University has become.
The University is a football school. A basketball one, too. It’s been years in the making, and last season’s blemished record won’t keep high-rolling, big-dollar donors from shelling out millions to keep the athletic department in the national spotlight.
Video games in the locker room. Special ventilators, optical gizmos and an atrium. A door rigged to whoosh (swoosh?) open — vertically — when players are ready to take to the field. Plasma TVs. Price tag: $3.2 million.
And then there were the renovations of the stadium itself. Some 12,000 seats were added, along with suites for the said donors. Price tag: $90 million.
Finally, it’s the new arena to replace the aging McArthur Court. More than 14,000 patrons will pack the new facility. The donors will have luxury boxes, too. Price tag: More than $100 million.
Clearly, the story in Sports Illustrated wasn’t about the monumental win against Michigan. Instead, it was about the aforementioned big-ticket bonanzas. The Michigan game just served as a means to direct the spotlight to the Ducks’ frivolous spending.
It’s quite all right that students, alumni, Oregonians and national citizens get excited about Duck football. We in the office do, too.
But the excitement doesn’t seem to be around when it comes to funding eight-figure academic buildings. Donors play integral roles in athletics, so it seems only reasonable that contributions would be comparable for academic purposes.
Donors have helped secure renovations to the University Museum of Arts. The library and law center were funded by one Mr. Phil Knight. Clearly, donors do recognize the need to donate.
And as an aside, University research did have a record-setting year, bringing in nearly $80 million.
It’s just that, well, athletics always seems to overshadow everything else.
Perhaps it’s the excessive nature of some of the athletic department’s spending — Joey Heisman — coupled with the fact that athletics seem to be raking in the money when the school’s academic side is scraping by.
State higher education funding was less than expected this biennium, tuition is increasing — again — and the future appears uncertain. Knowing that some deep-pocketed friends are ready to come to the University’s aid would be a blessing.
Regrettably, that just isn’t so. So “Go Ducks!” Despite the Washington State loss, perhaps more winning will keep donors in good spirits and hopefully boost academic funding in the process.