Athletic director Bob De Carolis talks about the 2005-06 campaign

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

It was a relatively smooth year at Oregon State with great success on the field, and just as many disappointments.

Academics and off-the-field issues improved, but there were some problems, including the alcohol-related death of a minor visiting a friend on the football team.

The unveiling of the expanded Reser Stadium occurred, with other building and improvements planned or happening.

Athletic director Bob De Carolis sat down with the Corvallis Gazette-Times on May 24 to talk all things OSU athletics, from football to construction plans and cheerleading.

This “State of OSU” interview is two parts, with the second one being posted on www.gazettetimes.com/sports on Monday.

How has the year gone from you prospective?

“I think it has shaked out very well. Baseball got the Pac-10 title. Softball made a significant step forward. Gymnastics came back on track as far as their benchmark getting back to nationals. We had a very successful NCAA gymnastics championship here, which ran very well. Our staff did a great job. The city and university were very embrasive to all who came. We had a number of teams that had a great season. The track and cross country teams had more PRs. Across the board we can talk about everybody making improvements.

“Academically, last term we had the highest GPA that we ever had for all students, which was 2.98. That’s great. We continue to make improvement there. Community service, we raised the bar there.”

And how about off the field?

“Some of the issues we were talking about a year ago as far as off-the-field stuff, knock on wood, those things have subsided. Our kids have rallied to the message of responsibly and accountability. For the most part that’s been going well.”

What’s the highlight of the year?

“It’s hard to pick one, but if you had to pick one I think it was the stadium. The fact that seven or eight years ago you had the longest losing streak in the NCAA with 28 years of losing and have some-odd 26,000 friends of the program dig deep and contribute what they contributed to have an emotional tie, an investment, to this department is pretty remarkable. And that we can talk about a Phase II and Gill (Coliseum), it gives me tremendous hope that we can make it to where we are trying to get to.”

What was the biggest disappointment? The death in the dorm before the first football game?

“If you go beyond athletics, yes. Any time there’s a death, there’s no doubt about that. It was tragic. If you look back more germane to athletics, we were all disappointed how the football season ended, but I think we saw with spring ball this year, there’s tremendous promise. I think we were all disappointed in how basketball went on the men’s side. But we understand what we have coming back, a great nucleus with some unbelievable new energy with the entering freshman class and some of the kids who were redshirting. Both of those programs, the future is very bright. I feel very good about the direction. Both those two teams were disappointed, but I feel good about where we are going. Both coaches have my full confidence and with the kids they recruited and the kids we have coming back, we can turn the corner with those two programs.”

Is there pressure to have a winning season for either or both of those programs?

“No, there’s always pressure to win. If you don’t win, you are not working. We know that. I think in both cases, no, it’s not the case that if they don’t win they are going to be out. I think the programs they built, there is a foundation for the long-haul. I think this year we will begin to see the fruits of their labors.”

How has the code of conduct worked the first year?

“I don’t know if it’s the code of conduct or was it the coaches and student-athletes saying enough is enough. And we have to be accountable and responsible. If the code of conduct helped get them there, great. But we also ramped up our education program. We had six mandatory sessions throughout the year. That was a piece of it. The attitude of the coaching staff, starting with Mike Riley, and the team itself didn’t want to be an embarrassment to the university. It was a combination of factors and some of it may be just luck. Let’s face it, before it was bad luck. Maybe this was good luck. You can only control so much, but we have a different culture and attitude toward being accountable and being responsible and what your actions have to the bigger picture.”

Any football nonconference updates?

“Scheduling is always delicate. We’ve had inquires as far as teams trying to get out of a contract with us. We are working on people to take their place. Everybody is looking for wins. It depends on what people are looking for. We do have two openings next year (2007) and still one in 2008. Football scheduling is every day with a phone call here and a phone call here. I will say (playing Division) I-AA is something that’s going to happen more often. With a 12-game schedule, you have to go 7-5 to get to a bowl game. You have to position yourself. There’s a balance playing ‘lesser competition’ to top-flight competition. Last year, half the 64 BCS schools played a I-AA, so we are not the only one doing that. And you are going to see more of that from all the schools.”

How did you like the first season from women’s basketball coach LaVonda Wagner?

“To be honest, I think it was unbelievable. It was coaching, but it was more than that. It was changing the culture. And I think if you talk to the women on that team it goes a lot deeper than what happened on the court. That was all great stuff, but they went through a journey that could change some of their lives in how they tackle things in life. It was great, and next year will be another adventure because we’ll be really young. I really like LaVonda and she has a great staff. I think we’ll be in great shape.”

Where do you stand on Gill Coliseum renovations?

“Right now we’ve gone through conceptual decisions. On the outside, we need to update that in an appropriate way. That means paint, windows and doors. We’re looking at downstairs. With Reser II, we are looking to eliminate the visiting locker room and the weight room in Gill, and it gives you an opportunity to look at a state-of-the-art medical center. That clears up space to do a better job for our locker rooms. As Horner Museum moves out of there in the next two or three years, now you have space that can be renovated. What we did on the first floor, we’d like to do on the second floor. When you talk about the arena, the next logical progression — not necessarily in this order — a video board, lights, PA system. You do those things, and basically you have a brand new arena. It’s a grand old building, but it needs some tender loving care.”

What about the annex?

“The annex is back on the table in its original form, which means and 1,800-seat practice and competition building for wrestling and volleyball. Moving volleyball out of Gill from a practice perspective helps the two basketball teams. Now they can practice prime time in the afternoon, and they have open gym space to work on their game when they are free. It gives more flexibility scheduling classes. As the university’s resources are cut, and sections are limited, (class) times are limited. You have to shoehorn practice around them. The more open times you have in the gym, you have flexibility to work around the academic schedules.”

Where are you with synthetic turf for Goss Stadium?

“The money is fundraised for the scoreboard and synthetic turf. The scoreboard will go up right after the season is over. The turf will happen in the fall.”

Do you need to update the Softball Complex?

“That stadium is pretty new. I don’t know what other need they need right now.”

Any backlash of pricing people out of Olympic sports events now that you are charging admission?

“I was against it. I wanted if for free, but the coaches argued that if you don’t charge there’s no value. So we’ve gone in that direction. I don’t think there has been much of a backlash. It’s interesting. I’ve gone with my daughter in high school to events, and they are charging more for high school events than we are for college events with lesser competition. When you put it in the grand scheme of things, you pay $5 to go to a softball game so that’s a venti latte and a newspaper. My only thing was, I felt there would be a lower attendance but that hasn’t happened. I was wrong. I felt it would be better to have 1,500 people free than 400 who paid. But the price didn’t impact attendance significantly.”

So is the cheerleader thing settled, yet?

“I think it’s settled down. Unfortunately, the process got out publicly before it got going. It was the beginning, not the end. There was a lot of misinformation that got out. We are working through that right now. It’s not just an OSU thing. It’s a national discussion. Before the football season, you’ll see more direction institutionally for sure, but I think there will be conference-wide and NCAA direction. Administrators are very, very concerned about the activity, period. I think the misperception was we were dropping it, and that was never the case. You take that piece of the equation out, we are just curtailing dangerous stunts. If you can get passed the erroneous message that was sent, then you don’t have the ire from fans.”

What’s the goal for the next year?

“If you look at the building perspective, I want to start the Reser project. I would hope that by the end of the year we made significant progress in fundraising for the Gill project. On the field, I don’t know if we can continue the dominance we have in some sports because of the turnover, particularly in baseball and softball. I hope football and men’s basketball can turn the corner. All in all we’ll be fine. Continue to do well in the classroom, like we have been doing. And in the off-the-field stuff, we continue to have accountability and responsibility. Challenge our staff to promote season tickets in football, and we need to take our sports information department and be more pro active in a PR sense. We’ve done more, but we have to be out front and getting our message and story out.”