Talia, Timea, Jordan, Tyler, Damien. The hits just keep on coming. As Bill Oram put it, being a Beav has never been easy but what has happened this past year is just cruel.
What needs to happen is for us to go through a football season and a basketball season with our new conference partners so fans can see it might not be the same world, but it's not the end of the world, and that the new world might just work out fine.
I feel for OSU and WSU, but marketing, is not going to solve their myriad of problems. You can do all the creative marketing you want about a broken airplane, but it's still a broken airplane. The first priority is to fix the plane. Until then, marketing dollars are mostly a waste, unless you are marketing the repairs that will enable safe flight you can rely on. Martinez may have had every intention of staying when he said he would, but then did not see a path forward he was confident with and hit the portal.
Marketing is all about selling the sizzle. Until OSU and WSU put steaks on the grill there is no sizzle to sell. Winning players will look elsewhere until then. Now is a time for bold moves, not Las Vegas meetings. Square one is a vision, and so far there isn't one.
John: I have gotten to know former coach Jackie Sherrill. In addition to him being a hall of famer in Alabama, Texas A&M, Pitt and Mississippi, he is a wealth of stories and is still heavily involved in football in the South. I had dinner with him last night in Houston and we were discussing College Football and the PAC 12. He told me something that makes the PAC 12 President’s/Chancellors turning down the ESPN offer and requesting more money, even more outrageous/ridiculous. He said that the West, in general, for TV purposes, approximately 17% of the population is considered to be “Football Fans”. He then rattled off the “Football Fan” statistics for Birmingham, Texas and other major football locations in the SEC and in the Big 10. All of which made the West’s statistics pale in comparison. The institutional leaders of the PAC 12 should be more than embarrassed at their lack of understanding their own markets and TV value in negotiating a TV deal and for letting 108 years of incredible sports and traditions simply blow away in the wind. How likely do you think it is that some of the soon to be former PAC 12 members will come back to rebuild the Conference?
Warning: Getting emotionally attached to a college athlete or athletic program may be hazardous to your mental well-being.
And so Oregon State loses Martinez and it hurts! Get used to it and I am not talking to,Beavers I am talking to all college sports fans. At some point all will suffer the pain coming from the transfer portal.
And this pain will eventually erode support of college sports. There needs to be more rules enacted before it is too late otherwise the big will get bigger and the small smaller and the pain for fans greater. Why cheer on your favorite this year knowing he will be gone next year!
The song asks “ where have you gone Joe DeMaggio?” I ask ask where has loyalty and commitment and honor gone?
Let me get something off my chest regarding Jonathan Smith. Smith was an undersized quarterback
That became a fan favorite basically because he was small,he was an underdog. Underdogs are never villains. We judge them not on character but size. Jonathan because of that size and the ability to maximize his skills became fan favorite yet we knew little about him as a person. As head coach he was welcomed at Oregon State given the legacy he left as a player. Again we new little of him as a person. To listen to him in his quiet monotone delivery was not the delivery of most football coaches.
Yet he succeeded. I think his delivery was not that of a snake oil pitchman and his deliberate style again was consistent
I don’t think anyone would call him a charming personality but our like for him was more record based
Than personality based.
However, we now learn or should have learned that maybe, just maybe Jonathan Smith was a bit more devious and slimy than we had originality thought.
Jonathan Smith knew he was leaving Oregon State and he knew it sometime before the end of the season. He also knew he wanted to take his freshman quarter with him. And knowing this, he did not want to risk an injury to his freshman in last game of season, a bowl game, So he held him out.
Do you think Smith would have played him in bowl game if returning to Oregon State?
Absolutely! Conniving, cunning,deceptive Jonathan Smith, the little guy everyone thought so good and honorable. Sorry I see a different guy, not little but small
I love your suggestion, John! I am always a bit skittish about downtown Portland. I am in town right now for a trade show at the Convention Center. Downtown Portland is not what it was 20 or even 10 years ago when I would stay at the Embassy Suites (112 year old Multnomah) hotel between 3rd and 4th. No more. Now I stay in Vancouver.
Our opinions differed, hope we can agree on one thing though. Michigan State now has the only coach in America that would attempt a fake field goal 20 yards out with 4 seconds left in the half
I'm trying to put the OSU football woes into the proper perspective. What helps me remain calm is remembering how the Beavers did not have a football season, where they won more than 4 games, from 1971 to 1999. We're nowhere close to that level of futility!!! I'm praying that the combination of new leadership, a hungry attitude, and having a chip on their shoulder will transfer into another winning season.
Also, re-watching the baseball team's CWS championships from 2006, 2007 and 2018 definitely helps!!! GO BEAVS!!!
OSU and WSU can now recreate and rebuild their entire athletic programs based on their own needs, not PAC-12 demands. Its a unique opportunity. Most of D1 college sports are built based on male mindsets and driven by mass media data. OSU/WSU can now truly rebuild based around what's best for schools, students, and communities. Lots to like.
The story lines were more compelling in the Women's March Madness this year but the ratings do reflect a bit the channels on which they were offered. ABC vs TNT? The Women's games had a better viewing platform than the Men's games.
Beaver football is resilient. I think Coach Bray is an upgrade and I like the staff and new OC Gundy. We embrace the change. Goodbye Martinez and hello to RB Anthony Hankerson, yep. He's the next in line: Nall, AP, Jefferson, BJ Baylor, Dame, etc. You can't stop the run game in Corvallis, only hold it to 200 yards/game.
1. John: having managed brand/reputation for numerous universities, very curious about your describing it as a chronic weakness for OSU and WSU. Can you embellish a bit?
2. Hard to overstate the impact Coach Vandeveer has had on the women’s game. It also was eye-opening to watch up-close (during our son’s playing career) a women’s program totally dwarf its men’s counterpart. (This was post-Mike Montgomery / Trent Johnson, in the early years of what is now a two-decades decline.) It’s a huge moment in the history of the sport; huge challenge for AD Bernard Muir to find a worthy successor.
3. BRILLIANT suggestion to hold the meeting at such an historic venue.
I think the bottom line is the PAC-2 really doesn't have much of a plan, which is why all the players are finally bailing. If there is a plan, it needs to happen quicker, but given the silence and lack of movement, I really don't think there is a plan because they have yet to accept their reality. We are no longer a Power 5 University and if you keep waiting around, both schools are not going to be much of a lower tier program as well.
Talia, Timea, Jordan, Tyler, Damien. The hits just keep on coming. As Bill Oram put it, being a Beav has never been easy but what has happened this past year is just cruel.
What needs to happen is for us to go through a football season and a basketball season with our new conference partners so fans can see it might not be the same world, but it's not the end of the world, and that the new world might just work out fine.
I feel for OSU and WSU, but marketing, is not going to solve their myriad of problems. You can do all the creative marketing you want about a broken airplane, but it's still a broken airplane. The first priority is to fix the plane. Until then, marketing dollars are mostly a waste, unless you are marketing the repairs that will enable safe flight you can rely on. Martinez may have had every intention of staying when he said he would, but then did not see a path forward he was confident with and hit the portal.
Marketing is all about selling the sizzle. Until OSU and WSU put steaks on the grill there is no sizzle to sell. Winning players will look elsewhere until then. Now is a time for bold moves, not Las Vegas meetings. Square one is a vision, and so far there isn't one.
John: I have gotten to know former coach Jackie Sherrill. In addition to him being a hall of famer in Alabama, Texas A&M, Pitt and Mississippi, he is a wealth of stories and is still heavily involved in football in the South. I had dinner with him last night in Houston and we were discussing College Football and the PAC 12. He told me something that makes the PAC 12 President’s/Chancellors turning down the ESPN offer and requesting more money, even more outrageous/ridiculous. He said that the West, in general, for TV purposes, approximately 17% of the population is considered to be “Football Fans”. He then rattled off the “Football Fan” statistics for Birmingham, Texas and other major football locations in the SEC and in the Big 10. All of which made the West’s statistics pale in comparison. The institutional leaders of the PAC 12 should be more than embarrassed at their lack of understanding their own markets and TV value in negotiating a TV deal and for letting 108 years of incredible sports and traditions simply blow away in the wind. How likely do you think it is that some of the soon to be former PAC 12 members will come back to rebuild the Conference?
Any mention of Purdue basketball takes me back to Rick Mount and the shooters of the 60s…….:)
Warning: Getting emotionally attached to a college athlete or athletic program may be hazardous to your mental well-being.
And so Oregon State loses Martinez and it hurts! Get used to it and I am not talking to,Beavers I am talking to all college sports fans. At some point all will suffer the pain coming from the transfer portal.
And this pain will eventually erode support of college sports. There needs to be more rules enacted before it is too late otherwise the big will get bigger and the small smaller and the pain for fans greater. Why cheer on your favorite this year knowing he will be gone next year!
The song asks “ where have you gone Joe DeMaggio?” I ask ask where has loyalty and commitment and honor gone?
Let me get something off my chest regarding Jonathan Smith. Smith was an undersized quarterback
That became a fan favorite basically because he was small,he was an underdog. Underdogs are never villains. We judge them not on character but size. Jonathan because of that size and the ability to maximize his skills became fan favorite yet we knew little about him as a person. As head coach he was welcomed at Oregon State given the legacy he left as a player. Again we new little of him as a person. To listen to him in his quiet monotone delivery was not the delivery of most football coaches.
Yet he succeeded. I think his delivery was not that of a snake oil pitchman and his deliberate style again was consistent
I don’t think anyone would call him a charming personality but our like for him was more record based
Than personality based.
However, we now learn or should have learned that maybe, just maybe Jonathan Smith was a bit more devious and slimy than we had originality thought.
Jonathan Smith knew he was leaving Oregon State and he knew it sometime before the end of the season. He also knew he wanted to take his freshman quarter with him. And knowing this, he did not want to risk an injury to his freshman in last game of season, a bowl game, So he held him out.
Do you think Smith would have played him in bowl game if returning to Oregon State?
Absolutely! Conniving, cunning,deceptive Jonathan Smith, the little guy everyone thought so good and honorable. Sorry I see a different guy, not little but small
OSU and WSU feel like your best friends just stabbed you in back ,then rolled your body into the ditch.
I love your suggestion, John! I am always a bit skittish about downtown Portland. I am in town right now for a trade show at the Convention Center. Downtown Portland is not what it was 20 or even 10 years ago when I would stay at the Embassy Suites (112 year old Multnomah) hotel between 3rd and 4th. No more. Now I stay in Vancouver.
Our opinions differed, hope we can agree on one thing though. Michigan State now has the only coach in America that would attempt a fake field goal 20 yards out with 4 seconds left in the half
In low scoring game.
I'm trying to put the OSU football woes into the proper perspective. What helps me remain calm is remembering how the Beavers did not have a football season, where they won more than 4 games, from 1971 to 1999. We're nowhere close to that level of futility!!! I'm praying that the combination of new leadership, a hungry attitude, and having a chip on their shoulder will transfer into another winning season.
Also, re-watching the baseball team's CWS championships from 2006, 2007 and 2018 definitely helps!!! GO BEAVS!!!
OSU and WSU can now recreate and rebuild their entire athletic programs based on their own needs, not PAC-12 demands. Its a unique opportunity. Most of D1 college sports are built based on male mindsets and driven by mass media data. OSU/WSU can now truly rebuild based around what's best for schools, students, and communities. Lots to like.
The story lines were more compelling in the Women's March Madness this year but the ratings do reflect a bit the channels on which they were offered. ABC vs TNT? The Women's games had a better viewing platform than the Men's games.
Beaver football is resilient. I think Coach Bray is an upgrade and I like the staff and new OC Gundy. We embrace the change. Goodbye Martinez and hello to RB Anthony Hankerson, yep. He's the next in line: Nall, AP, Jefferson, BJ Baylor, Dame, etc. You can't stop the run game in Corvallis, only hold it to 200 yards/game.
1. John: having managed brand/reputation for numerous universities, very curious about your describing it as a chronic weakness for OSU and WSU. Can you embellish a bit?
2. Hard to overstate the impact Coach Vandeveer has had on the women’s game. It also was eye-opening to watch up-close (during our son’s playing career) a women’s program totally dwarf its men’s counterpart. (This was post-Mike Montgomery / Trent Johnson, in the early years of what is now a two-decades decline.) It’s a huge moment in the history of the sport; huge challenge for AD Bernard Muir to find a worthy successor.
3. BRILLIANT suggestion to hold the meeting at such an historic venue.
the good, the bad, and the ugly…
I think the bottom line is the PAC-2 really doesn't have much of a plan, which is why all the players are finally bailing. If there is a plan, it needs to happen quicker, but given the silence and lack of movement, I really don't think there is a plan because they have yet to accept their reality. We are no longer a Power 5 University and if you keep waiting around, both schools are not going to be much of a lower tier program as well.