Duck coach Dana Altman finally decides on the right time and place to talk about #BlackLivesMatter

Dana in the Oregonian in 2014, after the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner:

12/10/2014: Coach Dana Altman thinks National Anthem is the wrong time to protest racism

Our fool of a basketball coach thinks he owns those players. They shouldn’t protest when he’s trying to collect his $2M paycheck, off their free labor.

Fortunately we’ve still got people who can hear someone sing “O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave” and actually understand what it means.

Want to ask the players what they think? No. Duck AD Rob Mullens and his PR flack Craig Pintens have a rule about players talking to reporters without permission, and “Benjamin and Bell have not been made available to comment.”

Screen Shot 2014-12-10 at 11.03.11 PM

Dana yesterday, on Twitter:

 

Updated with coaches’ gift to Uncle Phil: Rob Mullens lays off janitors, groundskeepers to pay greedy Duck coaches

4/30/2020 update: A few hours after this post, the Duck’s strategic communicators responded:

In light of the ongoing challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, all University of Oregon head coaches have voluntarily agreed to take a 10 percent salary reduction for the 2020-21 academic year … Additionally, all UO head coaches have also agreed to forego all academic, Pac-12 and postseason performance incentives for the 2020-21 academic year.

“We appreciate the leadership role taken on by our head coaches as we deal with this unprecedented crisis,” said Mullens. “This speaks to the selfless nature of our Oregon coaching staff and their desire to help us navigate the current challenges and those on the horizon.

“Our goal is to accelerate from this situation well-positioned to continue to achieve our goals of broad-based excellence and of providing an exceptional student-athlete experience, and we are thankful to our head coaches for their collective and consistent actions in supporting our mission.”

It’s a strange plan. For example, Assistant Football Coach Moorehead keeps all his $900K plus bonuses, while $160K Head VB/Beach VB Coach Ullmer gives up $16K and his bonuses.

Where will these savings go? Presumably not to rehire staff or reduce the subsidies from the academic budget. Instead they will reduce the amount that Mullens takes from the sinking fund that Phil Knight set up for the Knight Arena bonds and other athletic expenses, when he was lobbying the legislature to issue $230M in debt financing. Last I looked that fund was down to $60M or so.

So, assuming Knight keeps filling it up, these pay and bonus cuts should be thought of as a gift to Uncle Phil from his grateful head coaches. For that matter the money Mullens saved by laying off the staff is also ultimately a benefit to Knight, who is the Duck’s “residual claimant”, to use the Coasian term.

4/29/2020: Rob Mullens lays off janitors, groundskeepers to pay greedy Duck coaches

Earlier this year Duck AD Rob Mullens gave Coach Dana Altman a $25K bonus, to top off his multi-million contract. This month he laid off 75 classified staff, saving maybe $70K each in pay and benefit costs.

Where’s the rest of the money going? Here are the Duck’s big earners – note that these numbers leave out millions in bonuses, car stipends, country club memberships, and other perqs:

LAST_NAME FIRST_NAME ACADEMIC_TITLE PAY_DEPARTMENT  BASE_SALARY APPT_PERCENT
Altman Dana D Head Men’s Basketball Coach Athletics  $2,900,000 100%
Cristobal Mario Head Football Coach Athletics  $2,700,000 100%
Moorhead Joseph M Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $900,000 100%
Avalos Andrew Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $815,000 100%
Mullens Robert A Dir Intercollegiate Athletics Athletics  $798,133 100%
Graves Kelly L Head Women’s Basketball Coach Athletics  $700,000 100%
Salavea Joseph Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $650,000 100%
Heyward Keith Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $600,000 100%
Stubblefield Anthony G Assist Men’s Basketball Coach Athletics  $500,000 100%
Williams Donte A Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $450,000 100%
Mastro James E Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $375,000 100%
Johnson Robert A Head Coach M&W Track Field Athletics  $350,000 100%
Mirabal Alejandro J Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $350,000 100%
Williams Robert Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $350,000 100%
Wilson William K Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $350,000 100%
Bouknight Jovon M Assistant Football Coach Athletics  $335,000 100%
Lombardi Melissa K Head Softball Coach Athletics  $335,000 100%
Wasikowski Mark P Head Baseball Coach Athletics  $325,000 100%
Feld Aaron W Strength & Conditioning Coord Athletics  $310,000 100%
McKenna Kevin R Assist Men’s Basketball Coach Athletics  $300,000 100%
Mennenga Michael M Asst Men’s Basketball Coach Athletics  $300,000 100%
Roedl Eric L Deputy Athletic Director Athletics  $280,836 100%
Davis Lorraine G Special Assistant to AD Athletics  $239,350 10%
Martin Casey M Head Men’s Golf Coach Athletics  $235,000 100%
Campbell Mark J Assoc Head Women’s BB Coach Athletics  $216,000 100%
Peterson Lisa L Deputy Athletic Director/SWA Athletics  $208,719 100%
Davidson Craig J Director of Athletic Medicine Athletics  $200,004 100%
Cohn Henry J Sr Assoc AD for Development Athletics  $200,000 100%
Duncan Michael P Sr Assc AD Operations & Events Athletics  $184,870 100%
Radcliffe James C Head Strength Coach Athletics  $184,800 100%
Berry Jodie R Asst Women’s Basketball Coach Athletics  $179,152 100%
Stanton James T Senior Assoc Athletic Dir Communications Athletics  $172,001 100%
Hawkins Jeffrey N Ar Assc AD/HDC Admin & Ops Athletics  $164,671 100%
Ulmer Matthew D Head VB/Beach VB Coach Athletics  $160,000 100%
Yamanaka Herbert S Associate AD Athletics  $151,213 100%

Here are the jobs of the people Mullens laid off, with their date of hire:

Trades/Maintenance Worker 2 11/24/14
Refrigeration Mechanic 3/10/14
Food Service Worker 2 10/31/16
Laborer 2 8/5/91
Office Specialist 2 1/28/08
Office Specialist 2 7/9/18
Custodian 3/18/08
Accounting Technician 10/2/09
Custodian 10/15/15
Administrative Program Assist 1/20/04
Trades/Maintenance Worker 2 8/20/90
Electrical/Control System Tech 9/18/17
Laborer 2 8/14/17
Athletic Equipment Coordinator 7/3/17
Laborer 1 10/14/88
Grounds Maintenance Worker 2 3/16/98
Maintenance Electrician 8/20/07
Trades/Maintenance Worker 2 6/26/17
Food Service Worker 2 7/15/13
Cook 1 1/9/20
Info Technology Consultant 7/3/17
Electrical/Control System Tech 11/15/10
Food Service Worker 3 6/11/05
Laborer 2 1/12/11
Electrical/Control System Tech 11/18/06
Cook 2 6/9/15
Accountant 1 6/1/15
Videographer 1 2/19/19
Grounds Maintenance Worker 2 10/31/06
Food Service Worker 1 8/29/16
Laborer 2 11/17/09
Custodial Services Coordinator 1/8/13
Administrative Program Assist 1/7/19
Trades/Maintenance Worker 2 6/24/19
Program Technician 1 7/23/18
Laborer 2 5/10/17
Custodian 7/23/15
Office Specialist 2 12/17/07
Info Technology Consultant 1/22/14
Custodian 11/1/18
Administrative Program Assist 9/13/94
Cook 2 2/27/20
Laborer 2 1/14/11
Hvac Control Technician 2/18/20
Office Specialist 2 6/16/16
Custodian 10/15/10
Custodial Services Coordinator 7/9/13
Laborer 1 4/29/15
Office Specialist 2 8/22/94
Athletic Equipment Coordinator 1/2/10
Videographer 1 4/15/19
Trades/Maintenance Worker 2 11/4/19
Equipment Systems Specialist 1/15/97
Custodian 10/6/06
Athletic Equipment Coordinator 10/9/17
Custodian 8/14/13
Custodian 9/24/12
Custodian 6/22/17
Videographer 1 8/26/19
Oper Systems-Network Analyst 9/20/12
Custodian 4/1/13
Food Service Coordinator 9/1/10
Trades/Maintenance Worker 1 12/14/09
Office Specialist 2 6/11/12
Custodian 3/10/16
Grounds Maintenance Worker 2 8/16/10
Office Specialist 1 9/22/08
Office Specialist 2 6/2/15
Custodian 1/20/04
Warehouse Coordinator 8/20/15
Laborer 2 2/10/10
Cook 1 7/1/13
Administrative Program Assist 6/22/15
Trades/Maintenance Worker 2 1/10/11
Custodial Services Coordinator 1/5/04

Beaver coaches 7% pay cut is weaker than a decent Oregon IPA

The Duck’s Dana Altman now makes more than 3x as much as OSU’s basketball coach. John Canzano has the news on the 7% cut here. Details on Altman’s most recent raise, which Pres Schill and our Trustees gave him during the 2019 budget crisis, is here.

A snippet. This is contract year 4:

Thanks to a generally reliable source for the link.

Did Dana Altman stiff Duck’s Bol Bol on the customary emoluments?

Say it ain’t so!

The Daily Emerald’s Michael Tobin reports that UO General Counsel Reed is not investigating, but he is interested in going to LA to meet Michael Avenatti and receive more information from him. But not to investigate. UNLV is investigating, but Reed is just probing the situation.

I hope Mr. Avenatti and Mr. Reed will resolve their semantic differences and provide the public with documentation showing that the Duck’s $3.5M Dana Altman did indeed provide Mr. Bol Bol with the customary emoluments that a Duck basketball player should reasonably expect as compensation for their service:

“Now the question is, did Bol Bol receive this money or not, what has the university done to look into it and what’s the university’s explanation for these payments?” Avenatti told the Emerald. “This really isn’t complicated. The only reason that it becomes complicated is if the university is trying to cover it up.” …

“I’m going to be frank – this smacks of a coverup,” Avenatti wrote in a May 18 email to Reed. “If you haven’t opened an investigation, why not? What have you opened – a probe, an inquiry? Why the word-smithing?”

Reed responded the same day, writing: “I have taken care not to characterize your conduct. I would appreciate it if you would similarly refrain. I am, however, interested in facts. If you have facts to share, I would appreciate the chance to receive them. Let me know if you have further evidence.”

Reed also told Avenatti that he could be in Los Angeles on May 30 or 31, saying that, at the time of writing the email, he was still interested in meeting Avenatti and receiving more information that what Avenatti had previously shared on social media.

Avenatti declined to share information with Reed.

“Let me know when and if the University gets serious about getting to the truth by hiring an unbiased third-party to lead a real investigation,” Avenatti wrote.

In an interview with the Emerald, Avenatti said that the UO is “playing games” and that the question of whether UO opened an investigation comes down to semantics.

“So is there an inquiry? Is there a probe? Is there an investigation? I mean this is ludicrous; they’re acting like they don’t want to know the truth,” Avenatti said. …

Avenatti claims Nike paid Dana Altman’s Bol Bol

Which is good, because someone should pay college basketball players, and apparently Dana Altman refuses to give them a cut of his bloated salary and bonuses. Jeff Manning and Brad Schmidt have the story in the Oregonian here:

Earlier this week, Avenatti accused Nike of paying “large sums” to Bol, a California Supreme alumni and prized recruit who is joined the Oregon program in 2018. The Ducks, a Cinderella story in the NCAA March Madness tournament, tip off against Virginia at 6:59 p.m. Thursday. But Bol, who is injured, has been watching from the sidelines.

Oregon coach Dana Altman told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Tuesday that he didn’t have any information about the allegation against Bol. Altman said he had “no reason” to believe the accusation against Bol was accurate and a university spokeswoman echoed that sentiment.

“We are unaware of any evidence that would support these allegations,” Molly Blancett said in a statement. “Diligent inquiry last summer into the amateur status of our student-athletes revealed no indication of improper payments made to any student-athletes or their families.”

Board of Trustees holds emergency meeting to discuss budget crisis

Just kidding, of course they won’t meet about that. This is about our greedy basketball coaches.

Two days after President Schill announced that UO is facing an $11M budget crisis which will likely lead to layoffs for instructors and OAs, our Board’s executive committee will be phoning it in on Thursday at 1PM, to give fat raises to Dana Altman and Kelly Graves. Full packet with contracts here.

New contract for Dana Altman will not play well in Salem budget talks

$3.5M in salary plus bonuses for 2021-2.

Talk about bad timing. UO’s lobbyists are at work in Salem, trying to get UO a bigger share of the state budget. If they fail, UO will have to cut staff, limit hiring, and/or raise in-state tuition.

The legislature is already asking why a university with such an expensive athletics program can’t pay the academic side’s costs without a bigger state subsidy or raising tuition. This news is not going to help:

The University of Oregon has agreed to terms with head coach Dana Altman on a contract extension, athletic director Rob Mullens announced on Thursday:

According to the school, Altman and Oregon are finalizing a deal that would run through the 2025-26 season.

“Dana and Reva Altman are an important part of our community, and we are thrilled at the opportunity to continue to build on the tremendous success we have had over Dana’s nine years as the head coach at Oregon,” Mullens said. “We are thankful for Dana’s commitment to the Ducks, and we look forward to the continued strong performance of our men’s basketball program as well as Dana assuming his rightful place in the Hall of Fame in the future.”

“Important part of our community?”

I assume Mullens means the community of greedy Duck coaches. Mullens, Cristobal, Altman and the other coaches, with a total payroll of ~$23M, gave a total of $50 to the Oregon Community Fund Drive last year:

They’d have to serve fentanyl before I’d watch Dana Altman coach a game

With basketball and event revenue running less than a third of Pat Kilkenny’s liars budget, the Ducks now want a liquor license for Knight Arena, because drunk football fans are just not enough:

But hey, maybe the OLCC will do a better job protecting free speech than UO’s General Counsel Kevin Reed.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for the tip.

Dana Altman can’t fill Knight Arena, even at $2 a seat

Altman’s original contract with UO paid him a bonus if ticket sales went above $4M. He failed, so AD Rob Mullens just rolled this into his base pay, then gave him another raise, then in 2017 still more. Last year Altman brought in $2.6M in ticket sales but cost $2.8M just in base salary and a new “retention payment”. Starting in April that increases to $3M.

So how’s he doing?

Duck coach Dana Altman tells UO GC Kevin Reed he was played by player

This guy always looks so angry. You’d think he’s trying to get appointed to the Supreme Court. At least this time it’s not about his unpaid student-athletes protesting for #blacklivesmatter. The Oregonian has the latest info on the University of Oregon’s second highest paid employee:

By Brad Schmidt and Jeff Manning | The Oregonian/OregonLive

University of Oregon basketball coach Dana Altman and assistant Tony Stubblefield denied offering any payments to land a top basketball recruit last year and contend their Nike-backed program got played to drive up the black-market price for Brian Bowen Jr., according to newly released documents stemming from an internal university investigation.

Altman and Stubblefield told the university’s top attorney in October that a middle-man for the Bowen family used a trip to Eugene to leverage more money from Adidas to ensure the five-star recruit played for one of its flagship programs, the University of Louisville.

“We were never going to get him,” Stubblefield told University of Oregon General Counsel Kevin Reed, according to a summary of facts from the investigation released to The Oregonian/OregonLive on Friday. “The kid wasn’t making the decisions.” …

Yeah, that must make it harder, when the kid you’re trying to exploit is getting advice from an adult.

And here’s an earlier Oregonian story on GC Reed’s lackadaisical earlier investigation of the possibility Altman and Stubblefield were attempting to violate the NCAA cartel’s rules and slip their players a little something on the side:

I wish Altman and his assistants the best of luck in avoiding any difficult questions about reconciling the above with this statement in the latest report:

Oregon entered the competition for Brian “Tugs” Bowen Jr. in the spring of 2017. Christian Dawkins, a longtime friend of the family and an aspiring agent, did much of the talking for the Bowen family.

Stubblefield told Reed on Oct. 3 that he spoke with Dawkins on the phone 15 to 20 times. Dawkins’ phone logs, introduced as evidence at the trial, showed those conversations totaled about two hours.

Good for Dana Altman! Federal prosecutors say Oregon, Creighton basketball programs may have paid recruits

Finally! I for one have been disturbed by the fact that he hasn’t come up in this investigation earlier. Surely a successful recruiter and coach like Dana Altman has figured out a way to pass at least a dribble of the millions UO pays him on to his volunteer “student-athletes”. Surely Oregon isn’t the only school where greedy coaches are able to keep all the NCAA cartel’s profits for themselves!

While the latest report is far from conclusive proof that Altman has been doing the right thing and sharing with his players, the latest news is good. Jeff Manning has the story in the Oregonian here:

Federal prosecutors in the basketball corruption trial that began Monday in New York reportedly told prospective jurors that 12 colleges could come up during the proceedings — the University of Oregon among them.

As first reported by Yahoo Sports, prosecutors wanted to disqualify any potential juror whose allegiance to a school might make them less than impartial. An Oregon-based Adidas executive and two others are accused of paying talented prep players to steer them to certain universities. …

But wait, there’s more. Oregonian reporter James Crepea:

The attorney for Adidas executive Jim Gatto claimed Oregon offered “an astronomical amount of money” in its recruitment of Brian Bowen before he signed with Louisville.

Gatto’s attorney, Casey Donnelly, made the remark, according to numerous reporters, during her opening statement in his trial, which began in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. …