Tag Archives: Athletics

Oregon holds out on multi-year scholarships for players

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From the Chronicle, 4/19/2013:

Nearly two-thirds of the 56 most powerful Division I public universities now offer multiyear awards, according to a Chronicle review of public records. Yet few of those institutions do so for more than a handful of athletes. 

Among the holdouts are some of the wealthiest programs, including the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Oregon, and Texas A&M. At the University of Arizona, Georgia Tech, and the University of Louisville, this year’s NCAA men’s basketball champions, you can count the multiyear beneficiaries on one hand. 

Officials from some of those colleges say their hesitation is not about the money—they just oppose making long-term promises to prospects who may not hold up their end of the bargain. 

“Who gets a four-year, $120K deal guaranteed at age 17?” Christine A. Plonsky, women’s athletic director at the University of Texas, wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle. “The last thing young people need right now is more entitlement.”

Speaking of entitlement, AD Rob Mullens and most of the UO coaches have multi-year contracts that require UO to pay their salaries even if they are fired. And of course we know what Frohnmayer/Grier gave Bellotti, who is also getting more than $500K a year from PERS, as a result of some very unusual accounting tricks.

Wisconsin wasn’t afraid to give me a 4 year guarantee. Of course that was just for graduate school, not something that would bring in millions for the coaches and the athletic director. And I wasn’t a naive 17 year old prohibited from hiring an agent to look after my interests. Nice scam these guys have got going.

UO ad for new football coach

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Posted here. Weird, the word “win” does not appear. And still no word from Randy Geller or OUS Counsel Ryan Hagemann on docking Chip Kelly’s pay for lawyers and other NCAA costs. Are they really going to fumble this, and let Kelly walk away with another $500,000 or so in UO money, as explained here?

Head Football Coach
Athletics

Posting: 13013
Location: Eugene
Closes: Open Until Filled

POSITION:  Head Football Coach
SALARY RANGE:  Commensurate with experience
PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT:  Full time, twelve month position

QUALIFICATIONS:                        
Bachelor’s degree required.  Minimum 5 years’ successful collegiate/professional coaching experience.  Excellent written, interpersonal and oral communication skills required.  Knowledge of NCAA rules and interpretations required.  The successful candidate must have the ability to work effectively with faculty, staff and students from a variety of diverse backgrounds and a demonstrated dedication to the full academic and social development of student-athletes.  Preference will be given to candidates who effectively communicate a plan of action for program improvement, have been affiliated with highly successful elite program(s), have demonstrated knowledge and implementation of offensive and/or defensive strategies, have demonstrated understanding of the University of Oregon Football program and can highlight consistent and significant skill development of student-athletes both individually and collectively.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Responsible for the management and administration of all phases of the Football program in a manner that upholds the philosophy and objectives of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Promotes an atmosphere of compliance.  Adheres to and enforces all policies and procedures of the Department and University, as well as the rules and regulations of the Pacific-12 Conference, the NCAA and other authorities that may legitimately influence the intercollegiate athletic program. …

Live Blog: Senate Agenda and Bean review for Wed 1/16/2013

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Executive Summary:

  • Bean still confused by numbers. 
  • Alex-Assensoh makes friends. 
  • Tublitz’s motion on a performance review of Bean put off until Feb meeting, giving Bean a little more time to find a new job, maybe Rose-Hulman will bite. 
  • Motion requiring Gottfredson to tell Holmes and Eveland to stop stalling and give the IAC data on students and student-athletes, and showing Geller doesn’t know squat about FERPA passes unanimously. 
  • Kyr promised he will, as President of the Senate, formally request that the administration provide documents to the Senate in advance of February’s meeting and vote on the AD’s golf course. In addition, he will request that an informed administrator – presumably Rob Mullens – be present at the meeting to answer questions.
  • Hubin promises to deliver heavily redacted version of Gottfredson’s calendar “soon”.


Live, more or less. Usual disclaimer applies. My impression of what people said, meant to say, or what I wished they’d said. Nothing a quote unless in ” “.

Kyr: Friendly welcome, with strong voice.  Good stuff.
Approval of minutes?  Arrived too late… do it next time.
State of the U: Gottfredson sends regards.  Unable to attend, writes to comment on resolutions (letter available online)
1) prioritization of classrooms in any future expansion: accepts resolution, classrooms a priority
other priorities  
2) increased study space for students: accepts recommendation, looks forward to working on it
3) neighborhood 4J schools: university will not take position on issue
Remarks of James Bean, Provost:
Voice not so strong.  Original academic plan, improve quality of metrics re AAU.  Pres is committed to improving metrics.  Research primary goal.  To compete will require significant progress “of all types.”  Organizational changes coming, to improve competitiveness?
Organizational changes have complicated communication.  The fix?  More organizational changes.

Better support for Center for Latino/a & Latin American Studies (CLLAS)… 
Head counts: data from last month was “correct but wrong.”  Statistical anomalies?  Just used a percent change… not sure if we should believe it.  Librarians/OA classifications, timing off, replacements vs growth… most honest way to count is looking at five years… a “compounded percentage growth”

Student growth 4.2 percent growth in students?
Faculty increase of 3.9 percent per year (2.9 in TT, 4.7 in nonTT)?
Librarians 2.2 percent
OAs come back to this one.
Classified staff… 2.5percent
grad assist 4.?
work study 6.1 percent
OAs… 4.8 percent growth? (4.3 central, higher in schools and colleges)
(Only had this data for 24 hours)

Plans to ask lots of questions about why OA increases are necessary.  (Says that they now all go through his office… so he’s should be accountable for future increases, right?)
Kyr: We need someone to step up… Senate President Elect, anyone?  Anyone?  Please make recommendations.


Yvette A-A:
Broad definition of diversity. Need to be rigorous, attend to methods, success. Need to be iterative, keep trying new things. Big change will be that EI activities will be spread out so as to provide resources to all doing this work. Very relaxed, confident, can’t discuss personnel but does want to involve people in programs and policies.
Q Dellabough: In future how will you improve transparency? Good answer, clear that she will consult on future policies.
Q Bonine: You have made structural changes, is there a way to involve faculty in these in the future? A: Yes, will use faculty on boards.
Q Psaki: Need more than boards, need wide representation.

Kyr and Simonds explain how to do motions. Very helpful.

Kyr: Data Access policy. Snoozer? Yes, admin sent it to us, exec committee said OK as is.

Tublitz: Performance review of Bean. Bean stays in room – good for him. Or is it intimidation? Nathan explains motion, very clear: symbolic, provost needs review. Substantial, Bean has not been reviewed. Precedent is Tomlin, etc.
Q Elliot: Why no reviews? A: just never happened.
Q Martinez: Has …
Pres wants reviews, committee for the previous motion on reviews still has not met.
Sullivan admits he was a messy kid, says so’s this administration, time to grab them by the collar and say now’s the time.
Student rep: Yes, put it in the rules.
Bonine – Can we put this off til next time? Moved, seconded, and approved. Surprise reprieve for Bean.

Harbaugh: Motion to let faculty see student records, even those of student-athletes. Passed unanimously.

Dellabough: IFS Senator reforms. Seems good. Passes unanimously.

Stahl: Faculty and OA’s etc excused from assignments including class for Senate meetings. Need to reschedule work. This is dragging on and on, seems reasonable as it.

Sayre: Fac Union report: Bargaining is happening, union has put up 30 proposals. Admins have put up 5 counters. Read them people! Union has been trying to incorporate existing policies, admins have been fighting this.

Reports:
Students want more study space and classrooms. Working on how to use what we have for now – Carson Hall? PE and Rec?
Drugs: McWhorter asked for extension.
Service: Reform is underway, starting w/ survey.

From the floor:
Harbaugh: In Feb I will be sponsoring Bob Doppelt’s motion on the Athletic Department’s new golf course. Will admin’s be present Feb to discuss golf, and will the AD provide documents?
Kyr: Yes. Provide me with a written request for the documents you need and who you want from the admin side and I will formally request the documents and their body, as President of the Senate.



Agenda 1/15/2013: The highlight will be Nathan Tublitz’s call for a long overdue performance review of Interim Provost Jim Bean. Bean was given the interim job by Frohnmayer without faculty input, promoted by Lariviere without faculty input, given a “health sabbatical”, then given a 2 year contract renewal by Berdahl without faculty input. And now it looks like President Gottfredson will be gone for this meeting, and will miss the faculty discussion on Bean.

I’ll try and live blog this but will miss first part.

Check for revisions here.

Knight Library Room 101, 3:00‐5:00 pm

3:00 pm 1. Call to Order
       1.1 Approval of the Minutes of the November 7 & December 5, 2012 Senate Meetings
3:05 pm 2. State of the University
2.1 Remarks by Provost James C. Bean
2.2 Questions and Comments with Response
2.3 Remarks by Senate President Robert Kyr
2.3.1 Election of Senate President-Elect
2.3.2 Search for Senate Executive Coordinator
3:25 pm 3. Open Discussion
3.1 Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion
3.2 Questions and Comments with Response
3:45 pm 4. New Business
4.1 Decision regarding Policy for Review: Data Access; 
Robert Kyr, Senate President
4.2 Motion (Legislation):Performance Review of Provost James C. Bean;
Nathan Tublitz, Professor (Biology)
4.3 Motion (Legislation): Data and Documents for the IAC and Clarifying FERPA;
Bill Harbaugh, Professor (Economics) [See updated motion here]
4.4 Motion (Legislation): UO Representation on the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate (IFS);
UO Senate Executive Committee, Kassia Dellabough (PODS), SEC member
4.5 Motion (Legislation Resubmitted): Release Time to Enhance Senate Effectiveness;
Frank Stahl, Professor Emeritus (Biology)
4.6 Motion (Legislation Resubmitted): Modification of Fiscal Impact Statement;
Frank Stahl, Professor Emeritus (Biology)
4:40 pm 5. Reports
5.1 ASUO Report; Laura Hinman, ASUO President
5.2 UA Senate Liaison Committee; Gordon Sayre, Professor (English)
5.3 Updates on Motions; Robert Kyr, Senate President
5.3.1  Motion on Faculty Input into Hiring Executive Administrators
5.3.2  Motion on Review of Executive Administrators
5.3.3  Motion on Study Space Prioritization
5.3.4  Motion on Classroom Space Prioritization
5.3.5  Report from IAC (Student Athlete Academic Status re: OAR on
Random Drug Testing)
5.4 Ten-Year Review of University Standing Committees;
Robert Kyr, Senate President
5.5 Report from UO Police Department at February Senate Meeting
4:55 pm 6. Announcements and Communications from the Floor
5:00 pm 7. Adjournment

Duck football is below the curve. Mullens’s pay is above.

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Last year was the best ever for Duck football. Perfect regular season, second in the BCS. So good that AD Rob Mullens and Interim President Bob Berdahl argued that it was time to expand Autzen, and that if we did the athletic department might finally be able to follow through on its 2004 promise to start contributing towards academic scholarships:

1. The Task Force and the Athletic Department recommend a voluntary financial contribution by athletics to the Presidential Scholarship fund. This voluntary contribution will help symbolize the mutuality of the relationship between athletics and academics.

But the Ducks have not been doing so well when it comes to profits – the most recent data has them falling well below average, controlling for stadium size. In fact there are only a few AD’s doing worse. Oregon got trounced by places like Washington State, Wyoming, and Florida Atlantic – all with much smaller stadia:

The Duck’s problem is not revenue, it’s spending. So here’s hoping Mullens makes at least some effort to get his expenses under control before he tries to sell an Autzen expansion to President Gottfredson. Of course the Duck’s biggest variable costs are the salary for Mullens and his coaches. And those guys have no problem whatsoever diverting the money that should be going to fund scholarships to fill their own pockets. Rob Mullens is paid $200,000 or so more than his comparators:

Does Mike Gottfredson have the stones to rein in Rob Mullens and his buddies? UO will find out soon.

Thanks to an anonymous UO Matters contributor for the figures. Your bottle is on its way. Any defamation is the sole responsibility of UO Matters. English libel law does not apply, since this post was written under the influence of scotch.

Women just not that into sports

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Former UO student Allie Grasgreen has a story in Insidehighered.com about the potential implications for Title IX:

“Nevertheless, our results do suggest that it may be a mistake to base Title IX implementation on the assumption that males and females have, or soon will have, generally equal sports interest.” 

The report counters that assumption with three sub-studies that found gender gaps of varying and often significant proportions. The sub-study most relevant to college athletics in particular examined who participated in intramural sports participation at 34 institutions (varied in size and location, and listed in the study). Only about one in four participants (or 24 percent) were female. Intramural programs, like all educational opportunities at federally funded institutions, are subject to Title IX.

University president indicted for football coverup

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That would be Graham Spanier, former Penn State President, for perjury and obstruction of justice. Spanier had testified in the legislature in 2007 against transparency and public records access for Penn State – after he knew about Sandusky. What are the chances this will encourage UO President Gottfredson to start forcing UO’s athletic department to improve their transparency? 12/1/2012.

How the Ducks monitor Twitter

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Update: Idaho athletic director Rob Spear suspends quarterback for tweeting that Idaho athletic director Rob Spear is “stupid”. And petty and insecure as well.

Chip Kelly got a lot of buzz for saying, in response to WSU coach Mike Leach’s twitter ban, “If you can’t trust a player with twitter, how are you going to trust them on third down?”:

Nice sound bite, but actually the Ducks don’t trust their players with twitter. Last year they hired a guy named Tom Hart, with this job task:

30% Monitoring athlete-agent activity and perform regular surveillance on campus, in the community and in cyberspace for the purposes of NCAA compliance and state law.

And of course talking to a reporter without permission can really get a UO athlete into trouble. Tom Hart’s full contract is here – lots of other interesting responsibilities. UO has refused to turn over his resume, but a commenter notes he has years of state police experience, including SWAT team and anti-terrorism training. Anyone got a photo of him? 10/26/2012.

UO to build a Golf Course?

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9/21/2012 update: President Gottfredson and Provost Mullens’s double secret faculty salary improvement plan will let faculty pick up summer pay caddying for the boosters and JH administrators. Tips go into a startup money pool for new science hires.

Personally, I don’t know what’s wrong with just using Hayward Field, it was good enough for Otter:

But enough joking, here’s the even more absurd truth. 9/19/2012: The UO Intercollegiate Athletics Committee met today for its annual retreat, agenda below. Part of the IAC’s charge from the Senate says:

As part of its function and in order to carry out its governance function, the IAC shall be consulted by:  

1. The athletics department on: …  

3. any decisions that potentially affect the campus environment, including construction, removal, or remodeling of facilities, changes in the timing of facilities use, or changes in permitted uses of facilities;  

We sat through a 5 hour meeting with AD Rob Mullens. Rob did not once mention a golf course. Neither did spokesperson Craig Pintens. And while they were busy keeping the IAC in the dark, Diane Dietz broke this story in the RG:

… A group of alumni led by Mick Humphreys, who was a UO golf standout in the early 1960s, earlier this month won the Lane County planning director’s approval for a proposed golf course on 796 acres of farmland and forests about two miles west of Creswell. Establishing the course would cost an estimated $25 million, including construction costs and the cost of creating an endowment to defray the cost of operations, said Mike Evans, a Springfield land use consultant. The money would be provided entirely by donors, he said. … The University of Oregon Athletic Department is in discussions with the prospective golf course donors, spokesman Craig Pintens said.

Tax deductible contributions, presumably.

IAC Retreat Agenda

Sept 19, 10-3pm
Johnson Hall Conference Room
  1. 10am – Introductions 
    1. introduction and overview of AD administration and structure
    2. introduction and overview of IAC administration and structure
  2. 10:15am – initial discussion points:
    1. overview of charge
    2. charges, responsibilities, membership, reporting
    3. IAC structure and internal communicative protocol 
    4. overview of our general mode of inquiry this year (where we are/where we are going)
    5. ground rules
    6. internal communication
    7. confidentiality, public meetings law  (Jim O’Fallon)
    8. notes, recording
  3. 2012-13 agenda overview and topics of discussion topics
    1. monthly meetings
    2. 10th year review
    3. Task Force Items overview and delegation
    4. further topics: conversations with coaches, messaging efforts, fundraising, NCAA certification report
  4. 11:15am – Charge: Represent the academic standards of the university as embodied in the University of Oregon Mission Statement in all decisions;
    1. mission statement overview 
  5. 12:00 – catered lunch
  6. 12:30pm – Charge: Promote greater understanding, for the university community, of intercollegiate athletics and the relationship between academics and athletics.
    1. 12:30pm – Dominican Republic Video and report (Katie Harbert)
    2. 12:40pm – Life of a student athlete (James Harris)
    3. 12:55pm – Tim Duy on the economic impact of Athletics on the wider community
    4. NCAA Eligibility (Gary Gray)
    5. Website updates (Dev Sinha)
  7. 1:10pm – Charge: Advise the administration, the senate, and the athletics director on any athletics department policy or program, including the athletics department budget;
    1. what is our communicative protocol with these three parties?  how can we be clear and effective?
    2. overview of departmental policy and programs including Title IX concerns (Mullens)
    3. NCAA Academic Rules, non-academic Rules and Legislation (O’Fallon)
    4. overview of departmental budget, a discussion on the involvement of the IAC in capital projects and hiring, financial situation for this year and projections for the next 10 years (Eric Roedl)
  8. 2pm – Charge: Promote and safeguard opportunities for student athletes to excel in academics and protect and ensure the academic integrity of student athletes; and
    1. overview of the current body of student-athletes – distribution of majors, graduation rate etc: Steve Stolp
    2. report on Student Experience Waddell/Harbaugh 
And thanks to bojack for the link.

DUCK FAQ: UO-IAC and NCAA material

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Some reference documents on the UO Intercollegiate Athletics Committee (IAC) and UO athletics, updated periodically.

Random marijuana testing policy:

… Your allegations about the University’s rulemaking processes are offensive and false , as are the comments made publicly by members of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee. I ask that you apologize in writing to President Berdahl, Rob Mullens, and me. I also ask that you censure the members of the IAC who have published offensive and defamatory comments.

UO Athletics governance:

8.026 Cost Containment

The presidents of Oregon State University and  the University of Oregon are
instructed to work with each other and to pursue within the Northwest region, the Pac-10, and the NCAA appropriate cost containment measures such as grants based only on need, fewer grants, reduced recruiting efforts, smaller coaching staffs, and other appropriate measures.

If such efforts, over a five-year period, are unsuccessful, the Board will reassess its position and instruct the University of Oregon and Oregon State University whether or not to implement those cost containment policies even in the absence of Pac-10, NCAA, and regional action.

Duck sports and Oregon politics:

UO’s NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative (currently former UO law professor Jim O’Fallon)

  • FAR James O’Fallon Contracts and contact info.
  • NYT columnist Joe Nocera on the NCAA and O’Fallon’s committee.
  • NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) website and handbook.
  • 2004 Task Force calls for review of O’Fallon’s performance:
    1. We specify reforms in the review process of the Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR).
      These reforms will help make the position more accountable to faculty and staff concerns while not diminishing the President’s role in choosing and evaluating the FAR.

Academic issues:

Player’s health:

NCAA compliance, non-compliance, and reform:

UNC scandal: Tutors write papers, professor runs fake classes

UO’s infractions and compliance efforts:

Duck financial info:

Salary info:

Effect of athletics on donations to academics

UO IAC retreat material. These are annual meetings of the IAC and principals in UO athletics and other UO administrators who deal with athletics issues. Typically held in September.

  • 2005 retreat minutes. (Some history, Myles Brand, Grier’s role.)
  • 2006 retreat minutes.
  • 2007 not clear if there was a retreat.
  • 2008 retreat minutes.
  • 2009 no retreat minutes kept.
  • 2010 retreat agenda. (No minutes kept.)
  • 2011 retreat was not held.
  • The 2012 IAC retreat was held Wednesday, 9/19/2012. Minutes will be posted when available.

UO IAC meeting minutes:

  • 2012-2013 minutes as available.

Historical athletic reform attempts at UO:

Some misc UO Senate reports:

Books and reference articles:

  • The Shame of College Sports: Taylor Branch won a Pulitzer for his civil rights histories. Here he takes on the NCAA cartel.
  • David Ripath is a former NCAA compliance specialist at WVU who came clean about how he kept players eligible, and was then attacked by the NCAA and its minions. His book is called Tainted Glory.
  • Andy Zimbalist, Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports. 2001. “Zimbalist combines groundbreaking empirical research and a talent for storytelling to provide a firm, factual basis for the many arguments that currently rage about the goals, history, structure, incentive system, and legal architecture of college sports. He paints a picture of a system in desperate need of reform and presents bold recommendations to chart a more sensible future.”
  • Billy Hawkins, The New Plantation. 2010. “Does the NCAA have a rule that black people can’t make money off college sports?”
  • South Park’s take on the NCAA and “student athletes” – apparently based on Billy Hawkins’s arguments.

Big-time college sports loses appeal

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Craig Pintens and UO’s other well paid hypesters are starting to sound a little shrill. Bob Welch of the RG started it off last week with this nicely written column:

The excess. “In a word, that’s how I’d sum it up,” says Darrel Linker, 68, of Springfield, who says the UO is “alienating” its fan base. “New buildings, ticket prices, uniforms. The athletic department is getting ahead of itself.” … “It’s like, ‘We can do whatever we want to do and it doesn’t matter,’ ” Hoard says.

But I believe it’s starting to matter.

On 9/17 Welch added more and explains that reader response to this was 61/62 in support of his argument.

Meanwhile, after fighting the ASUO for months trying to extract a few more $100,000 in student fee money for tickets, the Ducks are now giving them away, to try and fill Autzen for the TV cameras. Rob Mullens has now abandoned his efforts to pretend Matt Court can be self-supporting, slashing many season tickets by 50%.

Maybe the enthusiasm will come back later in the fall, maybe it will drop more when the brain damage news gets worse and we find out more about Kelly’s NCAA violations, but at the moment the meme is not good. Don Kahle followed up the Welch piece with this. And a correspondent sends this, regarding UW:

Transparency is, again, the issue in Pac-12 football, as a 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning institution posits, “UW Football should remember it’s part of a public institution.”

The editorial is a follow-up to an item reported earlier in the week that UW was prohibiting media from reporting on practices. “This continues a trend of
limiting media access to the program, as UW cut this year from four to
two the number of practices open to the media…” Apparently, UW is merely bringing their secrecy standards up to date with other Pac-12 schools, with Oregon included in the list.

Ideally, the only way people will learn about their gridiron warriors is to buy a ticket and show up on gameday. But, really, why would anyone want to know what goes on in a football program outside of gameday…I mean, really?

Gottfredson’s contract language on athletics:

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Brad Wolverton and Andrea Fuller have an excellent piece in the Chronicle on “Who’s in charge of sports” discussing how little explicit control university president’s contracts give them over athletics. Gottfredson’s contract, here, does not mention athletics. The story also notes this:

The contract of Lou Anna K. Simon, president of Michigan State University, goes further: The new chair of the NCAA’s Executive Committee will receive a number of athletic perks as lifetime benefits. Those perks include two premium-seating tickets to home football, women’s basketball, and women’s volleyball games. She also receives free tickets to bowl games and postseason contests.

Many UO administrators also get free tickets and even travel to away games, in some cases including family members. Can these people then be expected to make unbiased decisions about the tradeoffs between athletics and academics? Of course not. 9/5/2012.

Athletics Department agrees to accountability and disclosure

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Just kidding, that’s only at Penn State:

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State announced today that it reached agreement with the NCAA and the Big Ten Conference on the terms of the Athletics Integrity Agreement required under the Consent Decree. The Athletics Integrity Agreement (AIA) provides for the establishment of a program by the University that includes the adoption of the recommendations contained in the Freeh Report and the appointment of an Athletics Integrity Officer and Athletics Integrity Council. The AIA also includes internal and external accountability measures and certifications; implementation or updating of the University’s Code of Conduct; training and education; and a disclosure program. The AIA, which goes into effect immediately, can be found online at progress.psu.edu.

Here at UO, the model has been Frohnmayer and Berdahl’s – make secret deals and gut faculty oversight.

UO athletics department FAQ updates

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I’ve posted some updates to the DUCK FAQ. One tidbit:

Bob Berdahl signed this new contract for AD Rob Mullens, 2 weeks before departing: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/971644/uomatters/IAC/2012%20Mullens%20contract%20and%20update.pdf

The amendment (last page) extends Rob’s contract til 2017. It requires UO to pay him the $450,000 base salary until 2017 if he is fired without cause – i.e. $2,250,000. It removes the previous requirement that he pay UO the amount of his salary if he decides to leave UO while UO has the president that hired him – moot, at this point!

The salary and incentives for NCAA tournaments, the NCAA “Director’s Cup” ranking and (smaller) for APR rates remain the same.

Berdahl and Mullens approved 21.3% raises for coaches

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They got bonuses too. A correspondent points out I missed this report from Rob Moseley in the RG, July 20:

The UO football team’s nine assistant coaches each received a $40,000 raise as of July 1, bringing their guaranteed salaries for 2012 to a combined $2,759,500. … Under the amended contracts, all nine received a $40,000 bump this month, and will get another increase of $16,750 on Jan. 1, 2013, for a total combined raise of 21.3 percent in a year…. Also this month, Oregon’s six longest-tenured assistants — those retained by Kelly when he replaced Mike Bellotti as head coach — earned previously negotiated retention bonuses, totalling $450,000 among them.

Just a few months earlier Rob Mullens was telling the UO Senate Intercollegiate Athletics Committee that his department did not have the money to follow recommendation #1 of the 2004 UO Athletic Task Force and begin helping UO fund academic scholarships. And interim UO President Bob Berdhal was telling the IAC to stop asking questions about Duck finances – or else.

And shortly after the press found out about these raises for the coaches, UO’s interim provost Jim Bean told the faculty they would not be getting raises, unless their new union could negotiate them from the administration with a collective bargaining agreement. I’m not opposed to UO paying market wages. But our administration seems to think the market is just for the faculty – while crony capitalism is for themselves and the jocks. Even Bloomberg Financial News is now calling for university presidents to take control and institute salary reform for coaches.

But in the meantime we should insist on an end to the use of general UO funds to subsidize the athletic department. They should pay a reasonable overhead, pay for the Jock Box, pay for Jim O’Fallon, pay for their own skybox, maybe even – god forbid – pay all the costs of their NCAA lawyers? 8/13/2012.