Post by wrestlingpublicist on Jan 2, 2008 19:41:03 GMT -5
Minutes of Oregon City Meeting: Roadmap to Save UO Wrestling
December 30, 2007
Grass-roots fund raising emerged as a consensus resolve from a group of Oregon wrestling lettermen and coaches at a year-end meeting in Oregon City. Although Oregon’s decision to drop wrestling occurred among a complex set of circumstances, the road to saving the program runs through fiscal territory. Raising enough money to continue the program, either through endowing certain aspects of the budget or meeting operating expenses for subsequent years, will be the key.
How much? That will depend upon an early January meeting with Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny. Ron Finley and Chuck Kearney will press for a realistic benchmark, offering multiple budgetary options. The athletic director’s willingness to set an achievable figure for salvaging the program will determine whether the Save Oregon Wrestling campaign can work with the university on a cooperative rather than confrontational basis.
Previous suggestions, that wrestling advocates provide enough to fund the entire operating budget, plus enough to endow a gender-balancing women’s team, are unrealistic without the input of a large donor.
How will we raise money? We will turn to those who have the most to gain by continuing an intercollegiate wrestling program at the University of Oregon. Two years ago, 5,072 Oregonians wrestled at the high school level. A greater number wrestled in Washington, which has no Division I-A college wrestling team. Throughout the Pacific Northwest, which includes Northern California, some 33,000 wrestle on the prep level yearly. Furthermore, numerous youth wrestling clubs dot the region, attracting youngsters who dream of wrestling when they go to college.
Organization and technology will determine the success of our effort. Although the Oregon School Activities Association will not allow fund raising at its state wrestling tournament, we plan to carry the effort to district tournaments in Oregon and Washington. That will necessitate a core of dedicated volunteers, whose services we will solicit.
Later this week, readers of the SaveOregonWrestling.com web site will learn the details of how to contribute small, monthly donations charged to credit cards. Five thousand donors contributing ten dollars per month would net an equivalent to the yearly wrestling budget, once gate receipts are added. We plan to seek thousands of small donors on-line and in-person.
That will not negate our effort to solicit larger donors, but we cannot depend upon the appearance of a financial savior. We must work diligently for every small donation.
Other topics covered include:
Attendance: Some 4,380 fans made an impression on Oregon’s athletic administrators on a Monday night for the NWCA All-Star match on Nov. 19. Contrary to rumors, several senior-level athletic department officials did indeed attend. However, great crowds are absolutely necessary to show continued support for Oregon wrestling. Folks, there are five Oregon dual matches remaining in the history of a program that goes back to 1913—that is, unless we convince the administration that there is revenue potential in our sport.
Here’s the schedule, an attractive one that includes three Pac-10 opponents, perennial national power Oklahoma State, and the Pacific-10 Conference tournament. In years past, we drew 4,000-plus for teams like Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Oklahoma, etc. With a sense of urgency, we should be able to pack the Pit this time. All remaining dual meets are on Fridays, and three of them begin at 7 p.m. The second day of the Pac-10 tournament begins at 3 p.m. on a Monday, in the interesting of holding final matches in the evening.
Friday, Jan. 11, Northern Colorado, 7 p.m.
Friday, Jan 18, Cal-St. Bakersfield, 4 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 1, UC Davis, 3:30 p.m.; Stanford, 7 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 8, Oklahoma State, 7 p.m.
Sunday-Monday, March 2-3, Pac-10 Tournament, all day Sunday, 3 p.m. Monday.
Take off from work! Take friends, children, and friends of your children. Take your wrestling teams. It has never been more important to attend Oregon wrestling meets.
Alumni Organization: Bill Nugent, starting with handful of names just a few weeks ago, has gathered contact information for more than a hundred wrestling lettermen. More are coming in daily through email and web site solicitation. Regional alumni meetings are possible. A wrestling alumni gathering is planned for the Pac-10 meet in Eugene on March 2-3. Please refer to the Missing Alumni Section on this web site’s forum. Click to email Bill.
Hank Hosfield is seeking volunteers to head various alumni-staffed committees: Regional alumni chairs for Oregon, Washington, California and other regions; Communications/Web site, Financial, Advertising/PR/Media, Lobbying, Legal/Title IX, Research/Open Records. Click to email Hank.
Public Pressure: This is not the time to quit writing letters to the editor, op-ed pieces, emails to administrators, notes to powerful donors, etc. Do not be discouraged by perfunctory answers from administrators, or no answer at all. They receive every piece of correspondence. Sympathetic sources within the athletic department tell us that upper management is absolutely flabbergasted that all opposition to their decision did not die out after a month. Now is the time to be louder! If you wrote before, write again. If you called, call again. Don’t let them rest.
Title IX: Efforts continue to receive a favorable interpretation of gender-equity issues through the Office of Civil Rights of U.S. Department of Education. Coaches Finley and Kearney are working with Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-Ore.), a high school wrestler whose father coached, and Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), former speaker of the house who began his career as a wresting coach. If a favorable ruling is not obtained, the preferred alternative would be to invite the university to institute a women’s wrestling program. Such a gender-balancing alternative would take advantage of the coaching and facilities infrastructure already in place, and could attract funding from national wrestling groups. Women’s wrestling would be cheaper than any alternative.
Facilities: We reviewed the history of the conversion of the Casanova Center wrestling practice facility into an athletic training room. The current practice facility in the Esslinger Building is more than adequate, both for our current team and for a possible women’s wrestling team. Although it belongs to the Department of Physical Education and Recreation, either a presidential mandate or payment of a rental charge would make it a viable long-term option. Future demolition of McArthur Court would not affect this facility. Meets would then require the use of the new basketball arena.
Fund Raising: Ron Finley gave a precise accounting of money raised, both through donations and pledges. Although it is not in our best interest to divulge that amount here, you may contact Coach Finley if you have specific questions about fundraising. Separate 501(c)(3) accounts will be established for those contributors who may wish unspent funds diverted to different purposes if our effort fails. Finley said the best way to insure you will receive a complete refund, should that be your desire if wrestling is dropped, is to make a pledge rather than a cash donation. Pledges, however, have a discounted value when one enters negations, as a percentage always goes unfulfilled.
Hawaii Raffle: An excellent possibility for raising funds through selling raffle tickets, for an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii for two, will not be possible this year because of complications inherent with Oregon law. Wrestling alumnus Bob Storlie and his wife generously donated a trip costing more than $4,000, but lead time to receive a state permit, combined with the requirement for our 501(3)c certificate to be at least one year old, necessitates our delaying this potentially lucrative raffle until next year. No tickets had been sold while we waited for state approval.
Coaches’ Future: In response to a direct question from an alumnus, Coach Kearney stated that he will become unemployed on July 31 should Oregon wrestling be discontinued. Contrary to rumors circulating among some alumni, no deal has been made for his continued employment if wrestling ends. However, Associate Head Coach Rick Stewart has accepted an additional position as director of summer athletic camps, which he will retain if wrestling is terminated but will hold concurrently if the sport is saved. This frees wrestling of the obligation to pay part of his salary, which will help in negations for subsequent wrestling budget.
Resolve: The groups adjourned with the resolve to continue fighting for the resurrection of Oregon wrestling, even if their efforts to save the program this year fall short.