Despite hosting no home games for Oregon athletics between May and late August, the athletic department has had quite the busy summer. Although no points have been on scoreboards and no fans have been in seats, between bringing back a traditional sport to the intercollegiate roster while planning to cut another, adding a brand-new sport, and receiving one of the largest donations in the history of college athletics, the Casanova Center has been a hive of activity.
At a press conference held at Autzen Stadium, Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny and Senior Associate Athletic Director Reneé Baumgartner announced Friday, July 13 what had been rumored: that the University would bring back an intercollegiate varsity baseball team and add a women’s sport while dropping varsity wrestling.
“This is a time of mixed emotions for both myself and the University of Oregon,” Kilkenny said in an athletic department press release. “I am obviously excited to return a piece of the proud tradition of intercollegiate athletics back to the University, as well as provide more opportunities for women in a sport that has demonstrated remarkable growth.
“At the same time, it is unfortunate we are unable to be all things to all people.”
Kilkenny said at the press conference that much of his decision was made with an eye toward the future. “It became very, very clear that we needed to make some changes,” Kilkenny said of the athletic department’s roster of sports. However, that did not make the decision an easy one; “These are life-changing events. This is something you lose sleep over,” Kilkenny said.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed,” wrestling head coach Chuck Kearney said in a prepared statement. “We have the 2007-08 season to compete and with the Pac-10 Conference Championships here (March 2-3, 2008), we’re hoping our student athletes will be able to focus on competing at the maximum of their abilities and taking the next step after that.”
The athletic department will honor the contracts of the wrestling coaching staff, including head coach Chuck Kearney, and the scholarships of the student athletes expected to compete next year. Athletes with remaining eligibility will be allowed after next season to transfer to another school (the NCAA does not require a year between competing at Division I schools for wrestling as it does for basketball, football and other programs) or retain their financial aid at the University throughout the duration of their eligibility.
Kilkenny said the baseball study group headed by Baumgartner found “five or six” possible locations for a baseball stadium, and estimated the cost of building a new stadium to be between $5 million and $10 million.
While the home of the Eugene Emeralds, Civic Stadium, is an option in the short term, “That’s not a strategic solution without some investment,” Kilkenny said. When asked about locations close to campus, Kilkenny said he believed they could find an option suitable for students. “I think it’s always a preference if we could make it accessible to students,” Kilkenny said. “A lot of what this is about isn’t just the experience to the student athletes but also the student body.”
Competitive cheer’s addition turns heads
While the announcement of baseball’s return to campus made the big splash, the accompanying unveiling of a new women’s sport – competitive cheerleading – raised just as many eyebrows.
However, for many, the question was: Why cheerleading?
“We looked at a variety of emerging sports and NCAA sports and it came down to that competitive cheer was a sport that was growing very fast,” said Reneé Baumgartner, the Senior Women’s Adviser and an Associate Athletic Director with the athletic department.
Baumgartner’s belief is backed by the athletic department’s assertion that cheerleading squads are fielded by almost all Oregon high schools and 80% of high schools nationally. The Oregon School Activities Association, the governing body for high school sports in the state, lists 69 schools in seven different divisions as competitors in last year’s state cheerleading competition.
Baumgartner confirmed that the competitive cheerleading team would have locker room facilities in the Casanova Center, and would practice at the Moshofsky Center. The athletic department also hope to hold a cheerleading competition at the Moshofsky Center.
The team will likely compete in Division I of the National Cheerleading Association, and will be placed against other schools that compete in Division I NCAA college football. BCS-division schools that competed at this year’s NCA national championships include the University of Louisville, Rutgers, North Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Maryland.
Baumgartner said that getting ahead of the curve on a growing sport was an incentive for Oregon to make competitive cheer a varsity sport; “I feel that within 10 years the NCAA will certify (competitive cheer) as a varsity sport and we’ll be on the front end, leading the charge with Maryland,” Baumgartner said.
August 20: Kilkenny and Frohnmayer announce Knights’ donation
On Monday, August 20, University President Dave Frohnmayer and Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny announced a $100 million donation from Phil and Penny Knight to found the Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund.
“This extraordinary gift, which it’s hard to find words to describe, allows the University of Oregon and its athletics department to reach for new heights otherwise unthinkable,” Frohnmayer said.
“Gifts like this are almost unprecedented at any level in college athletics,” Kilkenny said.
The fund, Frohnmayer and Kilkenny said, will act as the cornerstone to ensuring the University’s athletic department remains self-supporting. In turn, the cornerstone for that stability will be a new multiple-use arena planned for the former Williams Bakery site near campus, specifically for basketball and the other sports currently housed at McArthur Court.
“I hope it will move rapidly,” Frohnmayer said when asked about the timeline for a full arena announcement. “Hopefully not months, but weeks.”
“In the next nine months we’ve got to get plans done, get estimates in, and hopefully break ground next September,” said Senior Associate Athletic Director Jim Bartko, adding that the goal was to get the arena done for the 2010 season. Bartko was singled out for credit by both Frohnmayer and Kilkenny for his work for the donation.
The announcement of the donation by the Knights was made Saturday, August 18 at an event held on the Nike campus in Beaverton after a closed-door scrimmage by the Oregon football team. Frohnmayer said there was an audible gasp and raucous applause after the announcement during what he described as “an evening full of high emotion and great enthusiasm for the University generally.”
“It’s something that I think people will remember for many, many years,” Bartko said. “I think my wife finally understood why we moved to Eugene,” Kilkenny added.
The Knights have donated many times to the University, notably to the Knight Law Center and Knight Library in addition to the athletic department. Previous athletic donations included funds for renovating Autzen Stadium and building the Moshofsky Center.
September 1: Baseball team has its man
On Saturday, September 1, at a press conference held before the first football game of Oregon’s season, Kilkenny announced that the University had hired Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton to take the helm of the reinstated baseball program.
“Baseball coaches of George Horton’s distinction and ability don’t come along very often, and his decision to come to Eugene speaks volumes about our commitment for Oregon baseball to become successful on a national level,” Kilkenny said on Goducks.com.
Horton led Fullerton to an NCAA Colleg
e World Series championship in 2004, and 2007 was his 11th year as coach of the perennially competitive baseball program, leading them to a .698 winning percentage during his time in charge.
Following Horton from Fullerton will be assistant coach Jason Gill. Rounding out the coaching staff for the reinstated program will be Oregon native Andrew Checketts, a product of West Linn High School and Oregon State, who has been the pitching coach at UC Riverside for six seasons and will continue at that position for the Ducks.
Even with a busy summer, much waits off the field for the athletic department going forward. Bartko, Kilkenny and Frohnmayer all mentioned a very short timeframe for announcing plans for a new basketball arena, and now with a coaching staff in place, the baseball team’s stadium situation can also be formalized. There is also still a campaign being run by wrestling supporters to try to keep the program in the University’s varsity sports.