spook
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Post by spook on Aug 20, 2007 19:39:25 GMT -5
blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/08/uo_gets_100_million_pledge_fro.htmlUO gets $100 million pledge from Knights Posted by The Oregonian August 20, 2007 16:36PM Categories: Top Stories Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, have pledged $100 million to the University of Oregon. The gift, the largest philanthropic donation in the university's history, will create the Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund, which will support all of the university's athletic programs. UO President Dave Frohnmayer and athletic director Pat Kilkenny announced the gift Monday afternoon. The university has long been hoping to secure donations for the construction of a new basketball arena. "This is a giant step forward," Frohnmayer said of progress toward making the arena a reality. Fundraising for the arena project has been one of the top priorities for Kilkenny -- himself a prominent UO booster -- since he took the job earlier this year. "This extraordinary gift will set Oregon athletics on a course toward certain self sufficiency and create the flexibility and financial capacity for the university to move forward with the new athletic arena," Kilkenny said. "Now we can roll up our sleeves and get to work on making the arena a reality." The Knights have been long-time supporters of the UO academics and athletics and are now the largest donors in the university's history. Prior gifts have included funding for the School of Law, the UO libraries, more than 15 endowed faculty positions, and a number of other academic and athletic gifts.
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Post by wrestlingpublicist on Aug 20, 2007 22:33:23 GMT -5
And he can't find enough in that amount to endow a $600,000 per year wrestling budget?
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Post by bobstephen on Aug 22, 2007 15:19:29 GMT -5
Publicist, I know that you are well meaning, but have you read the article from today's Register Guard. This is exactly what I meant by Kilkenny not being an honorable man. The 3.5 million that Finley is trying to raise will do nobody any good. Kilkenny says that amount is not even close. I am sorry, but I was absolutely correct when I stated that Kilkenny would not honor the amount that came out of the recent meetings. The link: www.registerguard.com/news/2007/08/22/d1.sp.uowrestling.0822.p1.php?section=sports |
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Post by wrestlingpublicist on Aug 23, 2007 11:32:59 GMT -5
So, Bob, what's your solution? Spend our time grousing about how dishonorable Kilkenny is and accept wrestling's fate? Or get behind Finley, work within the system as best we can, buy season tickets, write letters, and promote the hell out of the East-West all-star meet in an effort to back up our claim: that Oregon is indeed a hotbed of wrestling.
Honestly, what solution do you bring to the table other then enmity for the athletic director who will not be overruled by his superiors early in his tenure, and upon whom the fate of the program rests?
What's your solution?
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spook
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Posts: 8
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Post by spook on Aug 23, 2007 12:28:29 GMT -5
kilkenny appears to answer only to phil knight. knight's donation represents his endorsement of kilkenny's decision-making (and that's giving kilkenny more credit than he deserves i'm sure).
in my opinion, it does not matter how much finley raises unless he miraculously encounters a multimillion-dollar donor. kilkenny will not be inclined to bring back oregon wrestling (and the necessary women's sport) without knight's intervention.
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Post by wrestlingpublicist on Aug 23, 2007 13:20:32 GMT -5
What is happening here is what I feared since this campaign got started. How many "hot" letters from no-so-well-heeled but nevertheless verbose wrestling supporters have our athletic director received?
It has only served to make him dig in his heels. What was once something he considered a business decision has now become personal. Why else would he state that if Finley raised $3 million, it wouldn't be enough. Now he's afraid it will happen and that he will face increased pressure. He doesn't want us to be successful.
I'll stand by my original assertion. It does no good to send a bunch of vitriol Kilkenny's way. Say all you want privately. Do you see Finley saying bad things publically about our athletic director?
Let's follow Ron's lead. It's the best lead we have.
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spook
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Posts: 8
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Post by spook on Aug 23, 2007 14:29:27 GMT -5
I suspect the issue is personal only to wrestling supporters.
Cutting wrestling was and always will be a business decision to Kilkenny no matter how many angry letters he gets and I'm sure he knew he'd get a few.
I don't believe that Kilkenny doesn't WANT Finley to succeed but he knows he won't--because Kilkenny won't let him. Not because it's personal, but because it's not in the plan that he was hired to implement.
No amount of outrage will change the fundamental realities in the minds of Kilkenny and Knight that led to this decision. Therefore, I believe--barring a megadonor--only a change of heart on Knight's part--from ambivalence at best--will make a difference.
I don't think it's impossible. Knight has the financial ability to do it. He only lacks the will. Until then, Kilkenny will do his job.
It is not vitriolic to acknowledge obvious relationships. It should be obvious that, in the minds of the people who matter, Kilkenny is performing his duties admirably.
Therefore, I agree, vitriol directed at him is counterproductive, not only because of the inherent negativity, but because Kilkenny was hired also to deal with disgruntled victims of the larger plan and because Kilkenny is not the one who needs to be persuaded. Furthermore, Knight has shown numerous times how he responds to perceived antagonism.
Nevertheless, how much business does nike do in wrestling gear at all levels? How many collegiate programs wear nike gear?
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Post by bobstephen on Aug 23, 2007 16:31:51 GMT -5
Publicist,
I do not send nasty or degrading E-mails to Kilkenny. My posts on this board are definitely negative towards the man.
The Save Oregon Wrestling campaign has lost momentum because the rank-and-file wrestling supporters have lost interest. There are no updates on this site, and there have been very few newspaper articles on what is happening with the campaign. Any type of positive information will help build momentum. If Coach Finley could actually get some kind of concrete statement from Kilkenny on the amount of money needed to keep the wrestling program going for the long term would be of some value.
The All-Star Classic is supposed to be the focal point of the fund raising. Ron Finley's efforts to raise funds from the well-to-do U of O supporters is commendable. However, the rank-and-file supporters should be involved somehow. Feed the information to guys like Rockwell and I know that he will start building momentum towards getting wrestlers and wrestling fans to attend the Classic. There is no information getting to the people that can help build momentum towards making the Classic the turning point in the campaign.
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Post by wrestlingpublicist on Aug 23, 2007 21:32:37 GMT -5
So, Bob, would you mind getting around to my question?
What's your plan to save Oregon wrestling?
As far as I can see, Ron Finley is the only one trying to so something. He may not be keeping you in the loop, but the Register-Guard story says he's still in action. He and I have certainly spoken on the phone and I'm doing a research project for him.
Obviously, much must be done behind the scenes and that may not involve continued pep talks to keep your spirits up. If you think Ron hasn't done enough, have you telephoned him to say so?
Other than questioning the athletic director's personal integrity and griping about others' inaction, what are you doing?
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Post by pirman on Aug 25, 2007 2:21:16 GMT -5
You have hit the magic button. Who is in the loop. If this battle is to be won it is not by a few people, it is going to take a grassroot group. A great number of people want to help they just need some direction. Who is the leader? Would someone step up and say something?
Do not give me this crap that the current coaching staff cannot say anything because they may be fired. After this year they are fired. Reminds me of that old Johnny Paycheck song " take this job and shove it". I understand that the current athletes at U of O are the primary concern of the coaching staff, as it should be. However these kids want to be Ducks so the coaching staff should concern themselves on saving the program first.
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Post by wrestlingpublicist on Aug 30, 2007 10:16:03 GMT -5
Please page back through my messages and find the "crap" passage where I maintained that the current coaching staff might be fired for publicly opposing the athletic director. I said no such thing.
I did say, however, that it's in the best interest of the program that Kearney remain on good terms with the current administration. He has a team to lead this year, and he needs to be able to knock on the AD's door to seek assistance when it is needed. I don't know what your background is, but if you're in the military or education you need a good working relationship with your commanding officer or principal if you're going to take care of your troops/team. You may think the guy is a schmuck, but you're stuck with him. Make an enemy of him and see how much cooperation you get.
The battle with Kilkenny needs to be fought by non employees. That's why Finley resigned his position with the Duck Athletic Fund.
As for being in the loop, please tell me the last time an email to Ron Finley went unanswered or a phone call not returned. It's as much your responsibility to pick up the phone if you have a stake in the issue.
A grass roots effort is indeed needed, but a lot more will be necessary to save wrestling. If it's up to a grass roots group of wrestlers and wrestling coaches to raise enough money to endow both wrestling and a companion women's sport, good luck! The wrestling community turns out solid people, but its not the most well-heeled community I've ever seen.
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Post by pirman on Aug 31, 2007 18:33:57 GMT -5
I attend the OWA meeting and was finally able to figure out what is going on. Here is my summary of what is going on.
They are doing a raffle for a trip to Hawaii. The idea is to get people around the state to sell tickets for this raffle. Also Money can be donated to the Save Oregon Wrestling website. This money will not be given to the U of O athletic fund. If for some reason our mission fails the money will go to current wrestling programs in the state and possibly help start up a new one. The next thing is to get more people to sign the petition. While signing the petition helps donating money shows a bigger influence because money does talk.The last thing we can do is fill up the stand at home Duck meets. The goal is to make wrestling the third highest attended sport at U of O. This will mean they have to average I believe 3300 people for each home date. We also need to fill the stands for the NWCA meet on november 19th. The night before this meet Coach Fin is organizing a banquet where people will be giving pledges in front of the University President and Athletic Director. This will give them an idea of the support this program has. A chunk of change has been committed but we need more. Hopefully everyone will donate money. Whatever you can afford 5, 10, 100, or more all of it together will add up. Let everyone you know about these things. Les Combs made an excellent speech on the impact of Pac-Ten wrestling and all of the west coast wrestling if this program is dropped there is a good possibility that many schools on the west coast will follow suitere is my summary of what was stated.
I am going to do my part on helping on these things. Wrestling publicist we can disagree on whether Kearney will be fired or not. I have stated that I do not see the administration firing him or not supporting him if he lays out his plans to help save the program. He can do this without attacking people. The bottom line is money. If he lays out a plan to raise money for the program no sane person would fire or not support him. You and I have different ideas on what leadership is which is fine as long as the program is saved. I am not going to debate this issue with you anymore because you and I are not going to change our mind about what Coach Kearney should be doing.
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Post by wowposter on Sept 28, 2008 12:00:07 GMT -5
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Post by wowposter on Oct 4, 2008 9:31:34 GMT -5
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Post by wowposter on Oct 5, 2008 17:10:09 GMT -5
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