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Oregon neverE put [ex-football coach Mike Bellotti's $2.3 million] platinum parachute in writing, giving new meaning to the phrase, "hush money." Because Bellotti negotiated an oral agreement with university President Richard Lariviere, it dodged scrutiny until Bellotti bolted for ESPN.
The cloak of silence is now standard gear in Eugene. As the Register Guard reported, Bellotti spent nine months as athletic director "without a written contract or written terms of agreement," according to UO general counsel Melinda Grier.
When USA Today requested a copy of [the new coach's] contract last fall, the newspaper was told there was no written contract. Ernie Kent went months without a "finalized" deal in 2007 and George Horton's initial baseball contract was parked in Grier's office for nine months before everyone signed off on it.
Why the absurd delays? The contract terms are undefined while they remain in limbo. As the Bellotti deal suggests, the major sports deals at this public institution remain private arrangements between the coaches, the boosters, and the university president, Dave Frohnmayer or Lariviere, who lets them run the show.
And Knight and, to a lesser extent, Kilkenny do run the show. UO has a new basketball arena - and annual debt payments of $15 million - because Knight stepped up with a $100 million pledge, but only after the university replaced Bill Moos with Kilkenny as athletic director.
UO fired track coach Martin Smith when Knight refused to underwrite the program with Smith at the helm. UO has a baseball team because Kilkenny likes baseball, and dropped wrestling because Knight couldn't care less about the sport.
The search to replace Kent as basketball coach? Sit down and shut up: Nike and Knight have it covered.
Given Knight's resources and track record, Duck fans may consider him a benevolent dictator.
But is the privatization of Oregon athletics legal? Defensible? Smart?
When I put the question to the attorney general's office, spokesperson Tony Green said, "As a general principle, the attorney general believes oral contracts are inconsistent with government transparency."
When I put the question to econ professor and activist Bill Harbaugh, he said, "We don't know if this is a good thing for the university. Presidents have to decide that . and about half of the UO president's salary comes from private donations. Most of those are laundered through the UO Foundation, which typically won't say who gave the money."
How cozy is that?
According to documents filed with the NCAA, Oregon's athletic department has gone from a $5.1 million surplus to a $1.2 million deficit in the last two years.
And now, as the recession deepens, Bellotti is owed $2.3 million, the departing hoop coaches another $2.33 million, and the debts on the arena are coming due.
Knight and Kilkenny have their private sports club right where they want it: desperate and totally dependent.
The saddest person in all of this? The latest stooge president.
e Oregonian's sports columnist:
[University of Oregon] Ducks running back LeGarrette Blount .should be kicked off the team today for what he did on Thursday at Bronco Stadium.
Blount punched Boise State's Byron Hout in the face on the field after the game. Then, Blount put a fist to the helmet of Ducks' teammate Garrett Embry, who was trying to play peacemaker. And what we have here is a low moment that can not be greeted with tolerance.
Blount left the field struggling with two police officers, two stadium security guards, and with a Ducks assistant. There was a hostile brush with a Boise State fan, too. In the end, there was chaos and volatility all around this team, courtesy of Blount.
The Ducks running back should be arrested and charged with assault today for slugging Hout, who wasn't even looking. Also, Blount should be served up by first-year head coach Chip Kelly as a reminder of everything the program should never become.
It was cheap. It was embarrassing. It was disgusting. . The game was a waste of time, followed by a nationally televised melee.
[If the university] gives Blount a pass, or slaps him on the wrist, be sure this will become a program that regularly embarrasses all of us.
Who cares if it wins games? Damage like that is devastating.
Every Oregon tax payer should be upset that a thug like Blount is using tax payer resources to attend a state supported University like Oregon.
An unfortunate example of how years and years of PR, marketing and cash can all go down the drain in an instant.
After interviews with "The Owner" Phil Knight who is aided and abetted by "The Commissioner" Clueless Dave Frohnmayer, we now have a team that acts like a professional sports franchise, replete with dumb thug players and a dumbazz morbidly obese coach. I am so embarrassed to say I live in Eugene, but at least we still have the hippies.
Getting a free education, to "represent" your institution.hmmmmm, I don't think that's what they were paying for. [Yeah, uh, where's the statement from the president of the University of Oregon, our old friend and jocksniffer supreme Dave Frohnmayer? Why is he silent? This is one of his students. One of his scholarship students.] [Correction! Frohnmayer is no longer president. It fell to his replacement, the shell-shocked Richard Lariviere, to use words like reprehensible and then let the guy stay at Oregon. He's not being punished, much. He'll stay there on scholarship, attend practices, but not play in any games.]
i've heard from people at the game that the drunk students were using slurs, which is what really set Blount off. [Gets prettier and prettier.]
The way the University of Oregon handles this will truly show if this program has any integrity left. ANY player who assaults another player, no matter what is said to him on or off the field, and then attempts to enter the stands to fight fans who are heckling him, deserves to be kicked off the team and serve at year suspension from the NCAA. Anything less from the Ducks Athletic Dept. is them putting wins, stats, and the almighty dollar ahead of safety and dignity of the program.
If LGB remains on the Oregon team, you will see a revolt from "right-thinking" Duck fans. Trust me, it will be bad. And it will come in the form of season ticket non-renewals and empty seats at Autzen. Folks. This isn't somebody making a first-time mistake. This is somebody with a track record.
I guess thugs are attracted to the thug football that Oregon has become.
And thanks Blount, for making us all look so swell on national television.
