Post by wrestlingpublicist on Mar 18, 2008 19:36:36 GMT -5
University of Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny misstated the facts in Monday's Statesman-Journal interview with sportwriter Gary Horowitz. Here is the relevant portion of that interview:
Save Oregon Wrestling's Response:
Misstatement No. 1: "We don't have a place to compete."
Fact: McArthur Court will certainly host basketball and volleyball for the near several years. Likewise, it could certainly host wrestling, as it has for decades. The Pac-10 tournament just took place there, and the Ducks wrestled a full home dual-meet season in the venerable old building.
Locker rooms and coaches offices in that facility remain available. After Mac Court is torn down, the wrestling team could compete in the new basketball arena. Provision has been made to play volleyball there. Kilkenny has told boosters that there are no plans for locker room facilities for wrestling at the new arena on Franklin Boulevard. However, certainly there will guest dressing rooms furnished for special events performers whose projected gate receipts will be critical to paying off the bonded indebtedness that the arena incurs.
Save Oregon Wrestling does not believe that the lack of provision for locker room facilities for Duck wrestling would preclude the team from competing there.
As for a practice facility, several years ago the athletic department did indeed remodel the wrestling room in the Casanova Center into a glitzy injury treatment center. That dislocation is discussed in this Save Oregon Wrestling video.
However, with help from the department, Head Coach Chuck Kearney moved his team to a larger facility in Esslinger Hall, just steps from where it competes in McArthur Court. The athletic department pays an annual rent of approximately $35,000 to the Department of Physical Education and Recreation. A mandate from President Frohnmayer would make the Ducks' practice facility a permanent arrangement. Many wrestling alumni have stated the the present facility is superior in many respects to the previous wrestling room at the Casanova Center.
Here is a picture:
Misstatement No. 2: "The conference doesn't support it."
Fact: There are ten strong wrestling schools in the Pacific-10 Conference, as it is constituted for the sport. Only four traditional conference members, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, and Arizona State field wrestling teams.
However, the six other schools take both wrestling and academics seriously. The University of California at Davis is one of these. In the most recent US News rankings, Cal-Davis ranked No. 42 among national universities--some 70 places superior to the 112th-ranked University of Oregon.
Cal Poly of San Luis Obispo, another Pac-10 wrestling school, ranked as the No. 4 engineering program in the nation among non-doctoral degree granting universities, and No. 10 overall among western universities.
Because of Oregon's affiliation with the reconstituted Pac-10 for wrestling purposes, the Ducks enjoy the opportunity to qualify the top three finishers at the conference tournament, plus several wild-cards, for the NCAA meet.
The Pac-10 Conference for wrestling has existed in its current form for at least the last two decades, and has supported Oregon's ambitions for wrestling success as well as any other in the nation.
Misstatement No. 3: "We have potential Title IX (gender equity) issues."
Fact: Mr. Kilkenny should consult with one of his assistant athletic directors.
On Feb. 27, 2008, Daily Emerald[/url] wrestling beat writer Doug Bonham interviewed assistant to the athletic director Neal Zoumboukas. "Zoomer" listed four of the latest reasons for discontinuing wrestling, but Title IX gender equity issues were not included. Bonham concluded:
Then, in the Mar. 6 issue of Ducks Illustrated magazine, Zoumboukas said it outright:
These are not the first hints that Kilkenny's signature reason for dropping the sport, to clear gender-limiting paths for the reinstitution of baseball, has unraveled. We argue that Oregon qualifies under Title IX's "prong-two" interpretation. Simply put, the Duck athletic department has added a women's sport ever few years for the last decade, and will have to continue doing so whether wrestling survives or is cut.
For an explanation of prong two, click here.
Since Zoumboukas's statement in the Emerald, only Kilkenny has continued to make reference to Title IX in his defense of cutting wrestling. Other university officials have backed off of the contention.
Even Kilkenny seems less certain. Notice his assertion that "we have the potential for Title IX issues." Back on July 27, 2007, he was much more sure of himself.
Q: The Save Oregon Wrestling campaign has raised more than $2 million. Is there any chance that wrestling will be back at Oregon?
Kilkenny: Not in the coming year. We're not going to wrestle next year. I can say that with certainty. We could not pull that back together.
Q: What if the program raised enough money to become self-sufficient?
Kilkenny: There was a donor that called me (recently) and I said, 'if you guys came in here with $20 million we wouldn't compete next year.' We can't. We don't have a place to compete. The conference doesn't support it. We have potential Title IX (gender equity) issues. It's just not as simple as money.
It breaks my heart to take away opportunities from our student-athletes. We've effectively not delivered on promises. I had to stand up in front of 25 kids and say, 'Hey, we asked you to be Ducks, but you're not gonna get to be Ducks anymore.' That's a pretty crummy thing to do to anybody, but to do it to young kids ... it's just not right. But we can't be all things to all people.
Kilkenny: Not in the coming year. We're not going to wrestle next year. I can say that with certainty. We could not pull that back together.
Q: What if the program raised enough money to become self-sufficient?
Kilkenny: There was a donor that called me (recently) and I said, 'if you guys came in here with $20 million we wouldn't compete next year.' We can't. We don't have a place to compete. The conference doesn't support it. We have potential Title IX (gender equity) issues. It's just not as simple as money.
It breaks my heart to take away opportunities from our student-athletes. We've effectively not delivered on promises. I had to stand up in front of 25 kids and say, 'Hey, we asked you to be Ducks, but you're not gonna get to be Ducks anymore.' That's a pretty crummy thing to do to anybody, but to do it to young kids ... it's just not right. But we can't be all things to all people.
Save Oregon Wrestling's Response:
Misstatement No. 1: "We don't have a place to compete."
Fact: McArthur Court will certainly host basketball and volleyball for the near several years. Likewise, it could certainly host wrestling, as it has for decades. The Pac-10 tournament just took place there, and the Ducks wrestled a full home dual-meet season in the venerable old building.
Locker rooms and coaches offices in that facility remain available. After Mac Court is torn down, the wrestling team could compete in the new basketball arena. Provision has been made to play volleyball there. Kilkenny has told boosters that there are no plans for locker room facilities for wrestling at the new arena on Franklin Boulevard. However, certainly there will guest dressing rooms furnished for special events performers whose projected gate receipts will be critical to paying off the bonded indebtedness that the arena incurs.
Save Oregon Wrestling does not believe that the lack of provision for locker room facilities for Duck wrestling would preclude the team from competing there.
As for a practice facility, several years ago the athletic department did indeed remodel the wrestling room in the Casanova Center into a glitzy injury treatment center. That dislocation is discussed in this Save Oregon Wrestling video.
However, with help from the department, Head Coach Chuck Kearney moved his team to a larger facility in Esslinger Hall, just steps from where it competes in McArthur Court. The athletic department pays an annual rent of approximately $35,000 to the Department of Physical Education and Recreation. A mandate from President Frohnmayer would make the Ducks' practice facility a permanent arrangement. Many wrestling alumni have stated the the present facility is superior in many respects to the previous wrestling room at the Casanova Center.
Here is a picture:
Misstatement No. 2: "The conference doesn't support it."
Fact: There are ten strong wrestling schools in the Pacific-10 Conference, as it is constituted for the sport. Only four traditional conference members, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, and Arizona State field wrestling teams.
However, the six other schools take both wrestling and academics seriously. The University of California at Davis is one of these. In the most recent US News rankings, Cal-Davis ranked No. 42 among national universities--some 70 places superior to the 112th-ranked University of Oregon.
Cal Poly of San Luis Obispo, another Pac-10 wrestling school, ranked as the No. 4 engineering program in the nation among non-doctoral degree granting universities, and No. 10 overall among western universities.
Because of Oregon's affiliation with the reconstituted Pac-10 for wrestling purposes, the Ducks enjoy the opportunity to qualify the top three finishers at the conference tournament, plus several wild-cards, for the NCAA meet.
The Pac-10 Conference for wrestling has existed in its current form for at least the last two decades, and has supported Oregon's ambitions for wrestling success as well as any other in the nation.
Misstatement No. 3: "We have potential Title IX (gender equity) issues."
Fact: Mr. Kilkenny should consult with one of his assistant athletic directors.
On Feb. 27, 2008, Daily Emerald[/url] wrestling beat writer Doug Bonham interviewed assistant to the athletic director Neal Zoumboukas. "Zoomer" listed four of the latest reasons for discontinuing wrestling, but Title IX gender equity issues were not included. Bonham concluded:
Contrary to common belief, the decision to remove wrestling is not a Title IX issue; Oregon qualifies for Title IX under history of expansion of opportunities for women, which doesn't require removing men's sports.
Then, in the Mar. 6 issue of Ducks Illustrated magazine, Zoumboukas said it outright:
DI: The perception was that UO was cutting wrestling to make room for baseball. But I understand it really wasn't required to say in compliance with Title IX. So it wasn't necessary to cut wrestling?
Zoumboukas: Yea, it wasn't necessary.
Zoumboukas: Yea, it wasn't necessary.
These are not the first hints that Kilkenny's signature reason for dropping the sport, to clear gender-limiting paths for the reinstitution of baseball, has unraveled. We argue that Oregon qualifies under Title IX's "prong-two" interpretation. Simply put, the Duck athletic department has added a women's sport ever few years for the last decade, and will have to continue doing so whether wrestling survives or is cut.
For an explanation of prong two, click here.
Since Zoumboukas's statement in the Emerald, only Kilkenny has continued to make reference to Title IX in his defense of cutting wrestling. Other university officials have backed off of the contention.
Even Kilkenny seems less certain. Notice his assertion that "we have the potential for Title IX issues." Back on July 27, 2007, he was much more sure of himself.