I hate the Ducks. Always have, always will... and this interview doesn't improve things. So the Schmucks think they did OSU a "non-trivial" favor by scheduling us in football? Gimme a break. We're doing them a favor by saving them a flight to East Piscataway. AND I guarantee you that it will be their biggest TV audience of the season. Sheesh.
John, I'm a bit disappointed you did not question Oregon President on the Title IX lawsuit brought against the school by Women's Beach Volleyball and Club Rowing teams (filed on Dec 31 '23). I do note that you asked him about his family, and older sister and discussion that you each have 3 daughters. Seemed like an appropriate time to ask about how Oregon plans to treat its women's sports teams moving forward. Your former employer reported that the Oregon beach volleyball team was the only team, regardless of sport or gender, at a Power 5 public school that received no scholarship funding in 2021-22. He probably would have toed the University line of 'nothing to see here' but at least you could put him on notice that how you treat the girls is important to us Dads
Many Beavers would simply rather put a fork in the Civil War at this point. It's now an ugly shell of what it was in a multitude of ways. Nothing fun left about it whatsoever. So thanks, but no thanks.
If people know enough to go CW, Ron, Oregon at Oregon State will be the most-watched game OSU plays this season.
I would have preferred keeping a home game against Power 4 Texas Tech on the schedule instead of playing 2 G5 teams but at least Boise State is a conference champion.
Oregon didn't have to pay money for Texas Tech to play Oregon State and also pay money to move/abbreviate the Boise State and Hawai'i games in order to put the Beavers on the schedule. Oregon funded the rearrange, and it wasn't cheap.
You're the kind of guy who when he went off to college complained his parents only paid for his cell phone and car insurance, but not his college tuition; when they didn't have to pay for any of it.
If the game is on The CW it will definitely not be the biggest TV audience. The highest viewership last season for a CW game in the ACC was 1.3 million, and most were under 400,000. Now if Fox makes an offer to OSU, perhaps. But even then, it will be competing with more compelling early season games for viewership in the same time slot.
From this interview you can see how F-d up Div 1 sports is in America and for that matter, University leadership. Universities all over the country are collapsing amid political, sometimes violent, protests that the college leadership encouraged, with its embrace of DEI. Now the genie is out of the bottle and they can't get it back in. This is much worse than the 1960s-70s, which I am old enough to remember. Then, it was just a few fringe loon students. The faculty and staff were not in the mix. Now, the faculty is leading the protests and encouraging violence, in some cases. But nothing is done to them (they should be fired and tenure removed, if they have any). Scholz was at U Wisconsin and that has always been a hotbed of the radical Left (as has Oregon, for that matter)
John, I appreciate your interview with Scholz. I thought many of your questions were insightful and revealing...frankly, to be completely honest, the early ones were niceties with very little substance but allowed Scholz to get comfortable.
Regardless, I came away continuing to believe Scholz is a backslapping, smiling bullshitter. He lied on that Thursday evening before the "Fateful Friday" when he gave his colleagues (and his own AD) the signal that he was going to approve and sign the Apple deal and Oregon would remain in the Pac-12. He lied. He also didn't have the courage to personally participate in the conference call the next morning and announce he's changed his mind and offer the reasons.
I'm an Oregon fan. Always have been. Former football season ticketholder until I left the state. Until Scholz's antics, a donor. However, Scholz's deplorable behavior has created an atmosphere where I would advise no one to ever trust this guy. Ever.
I also have complete empathy for Oregon State and their alums and fans who will never trust their relationship with Oregon again. Never. And justifiably so. What Oregon (Scholz) did was equivalent to the back-stabbing behavior of Washington when they aligned themselves with the California schools in 1959 and kicked Oregon, OSU and Washington State out of the Pac-12 (then called the Pacific Coast Conference). Not to mention Washington's despicable behavior in the 1949 Rose Bowl voting, also stabbing Oregon in the back. My level of bile for everything Washington is immeasurable - they've earned their reputation as totally untrustworthy - they're elite at playing games with the truth. Now, Oregon State and Washington State rightfully have the same bitterness towards Oregon...because one guy - Scholz - lied to them (and Utah, ASU and Arizona) because he believes Oregon's reputation and academic reputation is enhanced by simple proximity to the Big Ten - where he made his living for 35 years.
This may all turn out just fine for Oregon over time. Maybe the athletics will improve, maybe more students will have access to and use the Big Ten's "Big Library" (I hope the sarcasm comes through right about here) and maybe eventually Oregon's athletic department has a better revenue stream benefitting the entire institution. Maybe.
However, whatever happens in the future, Scholz's legacy and reputation will forever be trashed because of his despicable behavior and complete untrustworthiness in August of last year.
As for recovering his personal integrity, as Scholz would say, that's a long, long, long, long, long way off.
Actually Rich doesn’t “get it” because he wasn’t in the room that night. Nobody knows for certain exactly how it all went down that night. To be that hateful is misguided at best.
Quack...you're right, I wasn't in the room, I have to rely on the media. On the other hand, Scholz wanted no part of speaking with JC about anything that went down. Doesn't that make you just a bit skeptical?
Secondly, I don't "hate" anybody...but I do despise Scholz. There is a difference.
Actually his response wasn't about what "happened in the room." His "11th hour" was addressing the failure of Commissioner K to deliver what the 10 schools expected in the last weeks/days for the 10 who were still around. To him, the 11th hour was a longer time frame. Commissioner K had strung them along then came with a wholly inadequate "deal." John probably should have phrased it differently to pin him down. There were a lot of phone calls going on between university presidents/chancellors in the weeks prior to that meeting too and he may have felt rehashing that would violate their "privacy."
There was a column(s) in which UW President Ana Mari Cauce discussed the "11th hour" issues. “In the end, we did not have a deal which was viable in terms of securing our stability and our future. … It was not the deal we had been discussing just days before,” Cauce said. Can't find the link for the column at this moment.
Great insight, Rich, and excellent demonstration of emotional intelligence. It shouldn't be so hard for Duck fans to understand why Beaver fans feel the way they do about UO. While most of your fellow Ducks fail to even attempt anything like empathy or understanding, you accurately describe the bitterness and the reason for it.
If I were him I wouldn't comment on the last minute breakup of the Pac-12 either. It's an ugly story and people will only snipe at him...and for good reason.
USC>UCLA>Colorado>Arizona secretly headed to Big12>Washington>Oregon. Oregon probably benefited a bit from UW's departure, but the BigTen was monitoring what happened in Boulder and Tucson before making an offer. With those 4 leaving, UW/UO didn't have much of a choice. Especially for linear TV.
The Networks decided it was more profitable to break up the Pac-12 than it was to pay for it.
Add up what FOX/ESPN is paying the Four Corners and Bay Area plus what FOX is paying Oregon/Washington and you get about 280 million. They could have kept the 10 remaining schools together for that amount and gotten the Beavers/Cougs for free.
Had FOX/ESPN offered the 10 schools $28 mil per year per school and a couple games a week on national TV they would have signed it. Instead they decided to only pay them if they divided themselves among other conferences.
Nothing can really be said. He showed up too late to do anything.
It also sounds like he's a Stanford guy with deep connections at Wisconsin and Nebraska. Maybe he can influence the conference to add Stanford/Cal in the future and at least have 6 of the original Pac-8 in the Big Ten.
"Your campus has exploded with growth and new buildings."
There's a straight line from this to the student debt crisis in this country. EVERY campus in the country is experiencing similar growth. They're ALL funding it the same way. It's unconscionable.
A lot of growth we have seen around campuses, including Oregon, are private apartments/dormitories that have nothing to do with the university. But, adjacent to campuses they look like U of Whatever owned. Much of the growth along Franklin Blvd in Eugene comes from money donated by the Knights for science and research facilities.
Good job getting the interview, John, and I loved your questions. Some observations I have:
1. Scholz really, really loves to repeat words like very, very and so on.
2. I never noticed before that Phil Knight wears a UO "Staff" badge at games. Telling.
3. Interesting how Scholz refused to talk about any of those literal middle-of-the-night discussions he had about leaving the Pac-12.
4. Scholz looks a lot chippier than when I saw him in person at our state capitol, when he and his people ripped out of the room in front of Jayathi Murthy so they wouldn't have to hear her speak.
Incredible insight and clarity, John. Amazing piece of work. I had no real opinion regarding President Scholz as I didn't really know anything about him.l. Your interview was excellent, you went right after the important questions in a respectful way, and he answered in the same way, particularly given the sensitivity of his position in this ever shifting environment. I came away both impressed with your work (which we regularly see) and very impressed with President Scholz. For those who may be handicapped by their bias, I would suggest they view President Scholz's comments, answer and opinions in the context of the conclusion of your interview: "- think the best of people until proven otherwise." Well played, John, well played. Charlie
John, you did a good job asking the questions that needed to be asked. Scholz did not have to grant an interview, but he did. Like most university leaders, he answered a lot of the questions from an altitude of about 38,000 feet. And what he didn’t want to talk about was the subject many of us are hungry to know more. That’s his political orientation and right, whether I like it or not.
Great interview John. Thanks for bringing to the forefront some questions I had. Kudos on the first interview with the Prez. Seems like he’s tuned into all the important aspects of U of O, Oregon and the PNW.
I'm an Oregon Alum, architect, huge Oregon football fan. I would like a new emphasis to be placed on improved curriculum and the University's status as an institution. Can you ask the powers at be to concentrate on that idea please?
Well John...You and I had a private conversation, about a conversation I had with The Prez. I see you asked him every which way to clarify that, but no straight answer...Just "I'd rather not say" Wow very aloof....Nice try. Go Ducks!
Too bad you couldn’t grab a few minutes with Dean Wormer to get the real lowdown on the goings on at Faber….oh, and “I find Milton as boring as you do.”
I hate the Ducks. Always have, always will... and this interview doesn't improve things. So the Schmucks think they did OSU a "non-trivial" favor by scheduling us in football? Gimme a break. We're doing them a favor by saving them a flight to East Piscataway. AND I guarantee you that it will be their biggest TV audience of the season. Sheesh.
A) A non-conference game has no impact on the Big 10 conference schedule.
B) I'm sure that will be OSU's biggest TV audience of the season. It won't be Oregon's.
😩😢😫☹️crying won’t help.
John, I'm a bit disappointed you did not question Oregon President on the Title IX lawsuit brought against the school by Women's Beach Volleyball and Club Rowing teams (filed on Dec 31 '23). I do note that you asked him about his family, and older sister and discussion that you each have 3 daughters. Seemed like an appropriate time to ask about how Oregon plans to treat its women's sports teams moving forward. Your former employer reported that the Oregon beach volleyball team was the only team, regardless of sport or gender, at a Power 5 public school that received no scholarship funding in 2021-22. He probably would have toed the University line of 'nothing to see here' but at least you could put him on notice that how you treat the girls is important to us Dads
"biggest TV audience of the season" Oregon State vs Oregon # laughable. maybe Ron is mixing up Oregon State with Ohio State...
Bitter beer face!
Beevur Nation should collectively hit their knees that a Top Ten Big10 program agreed to play at your rinky-dink 36k Mountain West stadium.
Many Beavers would simply rather put a fork in the Civil War at this point. It's now an ugly shell of what it was in a multitude of ways. Nothing fun left about it whatsoever. So thanks, but no thanks.
And oh, the arrogance. You can do better.
the OSU stadium is comfortable and a fine stadium...no need to bash the facility
If people know enough to go CW, Ron, Oregon at Oregon State will be the most-watched game OSU plays this season.
I would have preferred keeping a home game against Power 4 Texas Tech on the schedule instead of playing 2 G5 teams but at least Boise State is a conference champion.
One of the many funny things about Oregon football is, the Ducks have never beaten Boise State! Goes all the way back to Chris Petersen.
That's embarrassing.
True that. 0-3. But 'Sugar Ray' Blount threw one hell of a punch.
The best tackle Frost ever made was keeping Blount out of the stands. That would have been UG-LEE.
Boise State did not help the situation by re playing the punch over and over again on the stadium's big screen. Scott Frost was a hero that night.
Nothing like a trip down memory lane with the Orange one.
Typical beaver. Celebrate Oregon losses more than Oregon State wins.
I, for one, love to watch Oregon lose, whenever I get the chance
Oregon didn't have to pay money for Texas Tech to play Oregon State and also pay money to move/abbreviate the Boise State and Hawai'i games in order to put the Beavers on the schedule. Oregon funded the rearrange, and it wasn't cheap.
You're the kind of guy who when he went off to college complained his parents only paid for his cell phone and car insurance, but not his college tuition; when they didn't have to pay for any of it.
If the game is on The CW it will definitely not be the biggest TV audience. The highest viewership last season for a CW game in the ACC was 1.3 million, and most were under 400,000. Now if Fox makes an offer to OSU, perhaps. But even then, it will be competing with more compelling early season games for viewership in the same time slot.
From this interview you can see how F-d up Div 1 sports is in America and for that matter, University leadership. Universities all over the country are collapsing amid political, sometimes violent, protests that the college leadership encouraged, with its embrace of DEI. Now the genie is out of the bottle and they can't get it back in. This is much worse than the 1960s-70s, which I am old enough to remember. Then, it was just a few fringe loon students. The faculty and staff were not in the mix. Now, the faculty is leading the protests and encouraging violence, in some cases. But nothing is done to them (they should be fired and tenure removed, if they have any). Scholz was at U Wisconsin and that has always been a hotbed of the radical Left (as has Oregon, for that matter)
John, I appreciate your interview with Scholz. I thought many of your questions were insightful and revealing...frankly, to be completely honest, the early ones were niceties with very little substance but allowed Scholz to get comfortable.
Regardless, I came away continuing to believe Scholz is a backslapping, smiling bullshitter. He lied on that Thursday evening before the "Fateful Friday" when he gave his colleagues (and his own AD) the signal that he was going to approve and sign the Apple deal and Oregon would remain in the Pac-12. He lied. He also didn't have the courage to personally participate in the conference call the next morning and announce he's changed his mind and offer the reasons.
I'm an Oregon fan. Always have been. Former football season ticketholder until I left the state. Until Scholz's antics, a donor. However, Scholz's deplorable behavior has created an atmosphere where I would advise no one to ever trust this guy. Ever.
I also have complete empathy for Oregon State and their alums and fans who will never trust their relationship with Oregon again. Never. And justifiably so. What Oregon (Scholz) did was equivalent to the back-stabbing behavior of Washington when they aligned themselves with the California schools in 1959 and kicked Oregon, OSU and Washington State out of the Pac-12 (then called the Pacific Coast Conference). Not to mention Washington's despicable behavior in the 1949 Rose Bowl voting, also stabbing Oregon in the back. My level of bile for everything Washington is immeasurable - they've earned their reputation as totally untrustworthy - they're elite at playing games with the truth. Now, Oregon State and Washington State rightfully have the same bitterness towards Oregon...because one guy - Scholz - lied to them (and Utah, ASU and Arizona) because he believes Oregon's reputation and academic reputation is enhanced by simple proximity to the Big Ten - where he made his living for 35 years.
This may all turn out just fine for Oregon over time. Maybe the athletics will improve, maybe more students will have access to and use the Big Ten's "Big Library" (I hope the sarcasm comes through right about here) and maybe eventually Oregon's athletic department has a better revenue stream benefitting the entire institution. Maybe.
However, whatever happens in the future, Scholz's legacy and reputation will forever be trashed because of his despicable behavior and complete untrustworthiness in August of last year.
As for recovering his personal integrity, as Scholz would say, that's a long, long, long, long, long way off.
Rich, I so appreciate this. You GET it, perhaps more than any Duck fan I've ever read on this forum. Thank you. Very, very, very, very much.
The number of "verys" is duly noted...
Actually Rich doesn’t “get it” because he wasn’t in the room that night. Nobody knows for certain exactly how it all went down that night. To be that hateful is misguided at best.
Quack...you're right, I wasn't in the room, I have to rely on the media. On the other hand, Scholz wanted no part of speaking with JC about anything that went down. Doesn't that make you just a bit skeptical?
Secondly, I don't "hate" anybody...but I do despise Scholz. There is a difference.
Actually his response wasn't about what "happened in the room." His "11th hour" was addressing the failure of Commissioner K to deliver what the 10 schools expected in the last weeks/days for the 10 who were still around. To him, the 11th hour was a longer time frame. Commissioner K had strung them along then came with a wholly inadequate "deal." John probably should have phrased it differently to pin him down. There were a lot of phone calls going on between university presidents/chancellors in the weeks prior to that meeting too and he may have felt rehashing that would violate their "privacy."
There was a column(s) in which UW President Ana Mari Cauce discussed the "11th hour" issues. “In the end, we did not have a deal which was viable in terms of securing our stability and our future. … It was not the deal we had been discussing just days before,” Cauce said. Can't find the link for the column at this moment.
Not much of a difference...splitting hairs.
Great insight, Rich, and excellent demonstration of emotional intelligence. It shouldn't be so hard for Duck fans to understand why Beaver fans feel the way they do about UO. While most of your fellow Ducks fail to even attempt anything like empathy or understanding, you accurately describe the bitterness and the reason for it.
Rich, I'm sure you'll be missed.
Canzano: Your athletic department has sold more than 10,000 new football season tickets for next season. It makes me wonder about Autzen expansion.
Nobody missed me when I had to give up my season tickets, 'Door...but I never gave up my integrity. That's more than Scholz can claim.
I would guess the U of O will be successful in spite of Scholz...most colleges and universities are...
The Ohio State fans who bought most of those season tickets will be in Eugene for one game over the next 6-7 years.
Going to be a flood of tickets on the secondary markets for every other UO home game. Great for the consumer.
We often disagree. This time we don't.
And you are 100% right that no Beaver will EVER trust the UO when it comes to dealing with OSU. Never. Ever.
I probably should reconsider everything I wrote if you agree with it.
BTW - don't turn your back on Washington, either. Ever.
If I were him I wouldn't comment on the last minute breakup of the Pac-12 either. It's an ugly story and people will only snipe at him...and for good reason.
USC>UCLA>Colorado>Arizona secretly headed to Big12>Washington>Oregon. Oregon probably benefited a bit from UW's departure, but the BigTen was monitoring what happened in Boulder and Tucson before making an offer. With those 4 leaving, UW/UO didn't have much of a choice. Especially for linear TV.
The Networks decided it was more profitable to break up the Pac-12 than it was to pay for it.
Add up what FOX/ESPN is paying the Four Corners and Bay Area plus what FOX is paying Oregon/Washington and you get about 280 million. They could have kept the 10 remaining schools together for that amount and gotten the Beavers/Cougs for free.
Had FOX/ESPN offered the 10 schools $28 mil per year per school and a couple games a week on national TV they would have signed it. Instead they decided to only pay them if they divided themselves among other conferences.
Bingo!
Nothing can really be said. He showed up too late to do anything.
It also sounds like he's a Stanford guy with deep connections at Wisconsin and Nebraska. Maybe he can influence the conference to add Stanford/Cal in the future and at least have 6 of the original Pac-8 in the Big Ten.
"Your campus has exploded with growth and new buildings."
There's a straight line from this to the student debt crisis in this country. EVERY campus in the country is experiencing similar growth. They're ALL funding it the same way. It's unconscionable.
Give the University some skin in the student loan game and let them be on the hook for the loans.
A lot of growth we have seen around campuses, including Oregon, are private apartments/dormitories that have nothing to do with the university. But, adjacent to campuses they look like U of Whatever owned. Much of the growth along Franklin Blvd in Eugene comes from money donated by the Knights for science and research facilities.
...private apartments/dormitories that have nothing to do with the university.
Sure. How do students get the funds to pay the rents in those new buildings?
From the American Taxpayer through vote buying initiatives.
Good job getting the interview, John, and I loved your questions. Some observations I have:
1. Scholz really, really loves to repeat words like very, very and so on.
2. I never noticed before that Phil Knight wears a UO "Staff" badge at games. Telling.
3. Interesting how Scholz refused to talk about any of those literal middle-of-the-night discussions he had about leaving the Pac-12.
4. Scholz looks a lot chippier than when I saw him in person at our state capitol, when he and his people ripped out of the room in front of Jayathi Murthy so they wouldn't have to hear her speak.
The repeat words made it a tough edit. Ha.
Really, really really well done Jean!
Really really
Two things.
First, he can sit behind home plate at Ducks baseball game anytime he wants. In fact, anyone can with all of the empty seats.
Second, I would have asked what it is like going to a university that sold it's academic soul to athletics (football).
Incredible insight and clarity, John. Amazing piece of work. I had no real opinion regarding President Scholz as I didn't really know anything about him.l. Your interview was excellent, you went right after the important questions in a respectful way, and he answered in the same way, particularly given the sensitivity of his position in this ever shifting environment. I came away both impressed with your work (which we regularly see) and very impressed with President Scholz. For those who may be handicapped by their bias, I would suggest they view President Scholz's comments, answer and opinions in the context of the conclusion of your interview: "- think the best of people until proven otherwise." Well played, John, well played. Charlie
Thanks. It was an interesting exercise. He is tuned into sports. Not sure anyone knows where this is headed.
Thanks for the note John; keep us updated on the knee. Charlie
Currently elevated… icing… surgery went well. I may be a little loopy but that’s not new. 😂
Thanks, rub a little dirt on it and hang in.
You asked a guy who has spent his whole life in academia a question about business and expected a straight answer. John, you are funny.
John, you did a good job asking the questions that needed to be asked. Scholz did not have to grant an interview, but he did. Like most university leaders, he answered a lot of the questions from an altitude of about 38,000 feet. And what he didn’t want to talk about was the subject many of us are hungry to know more. That’s his political orientation and right, whether I like it or not.
Good job, man.
I won’t stop asking. Thank you.
Great interview John. Thanks for bringing to the forefront some questions I had. Kudos on the first interview with the Prez. Seems like he’s tuned into all the important aspects of U of O, Oregon and the PNW.
Thanks J
I'm an Oregon Alum, architect, huge Oregon football fan. I would like a new emphasis to be placed on improved curriculum and the University's status as an institution. Can you ask the powers at be to concentrate on that idea please?
Will do
Well John...You and I had a private conversation, about a conversation I had with The Prez. I see you asked him every which way to clarify that, but no straight answer...Just "I'd rather not say" Wow very aloof....Nice try. Go Ducks!
Too bad you couldn’t grab a few minutes with Dean Wormer to get the real lowdown on the goings on at Faber….oh, and “I find Milton as boring as you do.”
Thanks John, great interview! My favorite quote: “Did you know they filmed a scene from ‘Animal House’ in this room? Too funny.
Dean Wormer! lol
Nice interview John; thanks for sharing the insights and for asking some nagging questions! Well done.
Excellent interview. Answered the right questions and moved forward