Post by spook on Jun 10, 2008 8:16:55 GMT -5
Wrestlers not the first to get the runaround
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
RYAN WHITE
The Oregonian
There must be days when Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny stares out his office, across Kilkenny Field, and wonders why he ever left San Diego. The weather was good. The insurance business was great. He was the boss.
He didn't have to do interviews. He didn't have to adhere to some slow, stupid process to get things done. He made business decisions and moved that business forward.
Except he's not in San Diego anymore, and he's not in the private sector. There is a process, and it's public. And the basketball arena is snagged on a land-use issue, and the baseball stadium is eating up football parking, and the wrestling team he'd like to kill won't die.
Not only won't the wrestling program die, the wrestlers lawyered up, filing suit against the university, alleging the school has violated procedural requirements and is discriminating on the basis of gender.
Larry Joseph, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer working with the group Equity in Athletics, which has joined the Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation's cause, spent more than an hour on the phone Monday attempting to make it all make sense to reporters.
It took an Oregon spokesman less than 10 seconds to say the university had no comment. "Ongoing pending litigation," you know?
If the wrestlers win, what'll be amazing is how easily Oregon could have won. More accurately, if the wrestlers prove they're right, what'll be amazing is how easily Oregon could have avoided this altogether.
"They made a lot of mistakes along the way by handling this in-house and secretively," Joseph said.
Sounds like the arena planning.
"We're just tired of the runaround," former UO wrestling coach Ron Finley said. "We need to get some things said here and get them taken care of, because everyone keeps changing their word all the time."
And the stories. First wrestling was being cut for Title IX reasons, and then a whole bunch of other reasons.
"At some point, they've lost credibility," Joseph said.
Interesting story: In January, Joseph sent a letter to Melinda Grier, UO's general counsel. Nothing. He followed up with a letter to UO president Dave Frohnmayer, copied to Grier and Kilkenny. Then, Joseph said, there were phone calls and e-mails to Grier. Those went unreturned. He actually faxed her a copy of an e-mail.
Finally, she said she got it, and that it didn't change a thing.
Again, Oregon declined comment. UO officials surely have their side, but Joseph wouldn't be the first person to have a hard time getting a return call or e-mail from Grier.
And the wrestlers wouldn't be the first to get the runaround when pushing the athletic department on something it didn't want to be pushed on.
Whatever happens next, there's at least one more date on the wrestling team's schedule. It's July 7, the first court date.
Ryan White: 503-412-7024; ryanwhite@news.oregonian.com
©2008 The Oregonian
www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/tailgate/index.ssf?/base/sports/1213066508305990.xml&coll=7
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
RYAN WHITE
The Oregonian
There must be days when Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny stares out his office, across Kilkenny Field, and wonders why he ever left San Diego. The weather was good. The insurance business was great. He was the boss.
He didn't have to do interviews. He didn't have to adhere to some slow, stupid process to get things done. He made business decisions and moved that business forward.
Except he's not in San Diego anymore, and he's not in the private sector. There is a process, and it's public. And the basketball arena is snagged on a land-use issue, and the baseball stadium is eating up football parking, and the wrestling team he'd like to kill won't die.
Not only won't the wrestling program die, the wrestlers lawyered up, filing suit against the university, alleging the school has violated procedural requirements and is discriminating on the basis of gender.
Larry Joseph, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer working with the group Equity in Athletics, which has joined the Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation's cause, spent more than an hour on the phone Monday attempting to make it all make sense to reporters.
It took an Oregon spokesman less than 10 seconds to say the university had no comment. "Ongoing pending litigation," you know?
If the wrestlers win, what'll be amazing is how easily Oregon could have won. More accurately, if the wrestlers prove they're right, what'll be amazing is how easily Oregon could have avoided this altogether.
"They made a lot of mistakes along the way by handling this in-house and secretively," Joseph said.
Sounds like the arena planning.
"We're just tired of the runaround," former UO wrestling coach Ron Finley said. "We need to get some things said here and get them taken care of, because everyone keeps changing their word all the time."
And the stories. First wrestling was being cut for Title IX reasons, and then a whole bunch of other reasons.
"At some point, they've lost credibility," Joseph said.
Interesting story: In January, Joseph sent a letter to Melinda Grier, UO's general counsel. Nothing. He followed up with a letter to UO president Dave Frohnmayer, copied to Grier and Kilkenny. Then, Joseph said, there were phone calls and e-mails to Grier. Those went unreturned. He actually faxed her a copy of an e-mail.
Finally, she said she got it, and that it didn't change a thing.
Again, Oregon declined comment. UO officials surely have their side, but Joseph wouldn't be the first person to have a hard time getting a return call or e-mail from Grier.
And the wrestlers wouldn't be the first to get the runaround when pushing the athletic department on something it didn't want to be pushed on.
Whatever happens next, there's at least one more date on the wrestling team's schedule. It's July 7, the first court date.
Ryan White: 503-412-7024; ryanwhite@news.oregonian.com
©2008 The Oregonian
www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/tailgate/index.ssf?/base/sports/1213066508305990.xml&coll=7