WEDNESDAY, with OSU athletics:
Several media members took part in a teleconference call with athletic director
Bob De Carolis
this afternoon. Here are the highlights:
On the search for LaVonda Wagner's replacement:
asked who the finalists were the last time OSU was looking for a women’s basketball coach, De Carolis said, “not sure I want to divulge that information. I don't know if we had a back-up plan (and if we did) I can't remember who it was. But (right now) speed is of the utmost. We’ve asked for an accelerated search, which allows us 10 days to post (the job), and obviously, there’s some pretty genuine interest from a number of legitimate coaches and we feel good about that. Obviously, we (would) go back to a couple of the people we talked to in the previous search. The key is to move as quickly as possible, but to make sure we get the right person because it’s really for the long haul.’’
On OSU losing its greatest benefactor to athletics, Al Reser:
I asked De Carolis about potential impact on OSU sports and he said that while Reser was a “transformative philanthropist to the institution, it wasn’t just Al on the athletic side, it was Al and the rest of his family. The Reser family is very strong in their history of supporting the university. We’ve got a great relationship with everybody in that family and we’ll continue to have that relationship and see where it goes. They’ve been very supportive of athletics and other parts of the university and I don’t see that changing. … but obviously, we miss Al tremendously.’’
Could the fact OSU owes Wagner $1.2 million
because De Carolis fired her Tuesday “without cause’’ have a negative impact on efforts to build the basketball practice facility that men’s coach Craig Robinson deems so necessary to Pac-10 contention? “That’s a separate issue,’’ said De Carolis, repeating what he said Tuesday, that OSU could use some creative financing (a back-loaded contract) to pay for the new women’s coach. But above all else, the Wagner firing does not impact the school’s efforts to raise the $15 million necessary to built the basketball practice facility behind the Sports Performance Center.
Where does the school stand on the basketball practice facility?
How quickly could this project happen?
De Carolis said “I don’t know if we have anybody to go with a leadership (donation) of 50 percent of the project.’’ He said more donors might have to get involved. He said that soon, he and Robinson and university president Ed Ray will be “going out and talking to people’’ about the project, which may have a lot to do with how long Robinson stays in Corvallis. … We asked De Carolis when this could be built in a best-case scenario and he said, “unless somebody drops $15 million on us’’ the earliest something could get started is “next summer.’’ And only then if the money is in place. He said the (money) commitment would have to be in hand, not necessarily all of the cash. “The tail wagging the dog is the fund-raising piece,’’ said De Carolis.
We told De Carolis he's getting killed in cyberspace
for firing Wagner “without cause’’ and creating a situation where OSU might be required to pay Wagner the remaining $1.2 million of her contract. I told him there seemed to be strong evidence – at least from what has been printed – that the school could have fired Wagner “with cause.’’
“I don’t know that I can believe everything in print, no disrespect to you guys,’’ said De Carolis. “As I mentioned yesterday, there is a number of issues for the employment side (in the state of Oregon) that makes it very complicated to go down the “for cause’’ route. This wasn’t my decision alone. It was made in consultation with the university leadership, with legal counsel, human resources. There were a number of people that batted these things around and at the end of the day, for a lot of reasons, it was determined that while (this way) is expensive, other options could potentially be way more expensive. This was the best route to go.’’
What kind of reaction
to what happened with Wagner is De Carolis getting in his office?
“To be honest, I’ve maybe gotten one or two emails. That’s it. Sure, there’s a sentiment out there that this should have been done a long time ago. It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback now that we know all of this stuff and why didn’t we know it before. And there’s another group out there wondering, ‘Why are you paying her?’ It’s not easy, it’s always pretty complicated, and we’re just trying to do what we think is in the best interests of the university at this point in time.’’
Is it fair to say that De Carolis got more feedback on golfcart-gate
than he did the firing of the school’s women’s basketball coach? “I didn’t really get any e-mails on the overturned cart. I don’t read blogs anymore, and I really don’t read many of the papers anymore. … sorry for not supporting you guys.’’
On the rash of athlete misbehavior at Oregon State
of late, ranging from minor in possession charges to hijacking an athletic department golf cart, to boating DUI, to Pac-10 wrestling champion Colby Covington’s recent citation for fourth-degree assault. Did De Carolis have any flashbacks to the fractious time in 2004-05?
“You know, as we say all the time, you’ve got 500 young adults running around out there and sooner or later the odds are something’s going to happen. … people make mistakes. Things happen. You hate to say it this way, that it’s just your turn for bad stuff to happen. You can go however long, and nothing happens and all of a sudden a rash of things happen. I’m not trying to pooh-pooh what went on but thank God it was not (more) serious than what transpired.’’
Notes:
De Carolis said that when BASF donations are figured in, OSU's deficit - which has been reported several times of late at $5.9 million - is actually $4 million. ... He said the aim is to keep it no higher than $4 million as OSU waits for the new Pac-10 TV contract to kick in. ... De Carolis said, "We're always concerned about the budget'' and he mentioned "treading water'' until the new TV contract (which is expected to bump up OSU's take) comes into play. ... He said football season tickets sales (with the new structuring) are going well. ... On possible Pac-10 expansion, De Carolis said, "if expansion means a significant increase in revenue, I mean significant over and above staying at status quo, then I think we should be looking at it.''
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