As you may have seen in the press, the University of Oregon wrestling team and its alumni, friends, and prospective members reluctantly filed suit against our university Friday afternoon. We asked Marion County Circuit Court to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent the athletic department from dropping wrestling while we argue legally for our continued existence. We also need time to continue our fund raising, in hopes of endowing our sport, so as to no longer impose a burden on the athletic budget.
This action culminates eleven frustrating months during which we tried to reverse Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny’s decision to end our 95-year wrestling tradition in Eugene. We started as a club sport in 1913 and became a full-fledged intercollegiate team in 1953.
We regret suing our own school, which we dearly love. We had no choice. We hope you will read our press release, in the article below, and then click on this link: Seven Great Myths. The press release discusses our legal case. The link is a our plea for understanding in the court of public opinion.
We hope you will understand that our lawsuit is merely a plea for outside adjudication of a formal dispute with our university that we have not been able to solve by alternative means. We ask for your understanding in these difficult times.
Go Ducks!
Jeremy McLaughlin ‘09
To the Duck Family from Your Wrestling Team
Nice work guys.
Keep it up guys!!
Jeremy,
Very well stated; we are all very proud of you and your teammates!
To all those involved in this difficult process…STRONG WORK.
Coach Fin, you continue to be the example to all of us of what it means to “GO ALL OUT”
I am excited to think of how STRONG the Duck wrestling family is going to be when this is over and we have won!
Glenn Jarrett ‘89
Jeremy,
We think the world of you! We are all on the same team when it comes to these trying times.
YOU ARE OREGON WRESTLING!!!!!
You must remember you are part of a BIG Team that is bigger, meaner, and more established than you can ever think of.
Stay Strong Jeremy! If you or our current teammates have any questions/issues/etc. let us know.
WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT YOU! Just say you need something and we are here and we are family!
Keep in touch!
As the youngest head coach in the state at what would now be a 6A high school, I didn’t fully appreciate that the most important work I needed to do to build my program was outside of the wrestling room. I wasn’t stupid and I wasn’t lazy, but I thought I had more to give to my athletes and that training them would eventually build success. If only that were so. Championship high school wrestling teams are built in kid’s clubs and middle schools and assemblies and classrooms and homes and newsrooms and everywhere else in the community. Promotion is the key. The minute you stop selling is the moment when your program starts dying. I came to understand this fairly quickly, but I didn’t believe it in my bones with the driving conviction that was necessary until I was years out of the game.
I look around at the wrestling community and I see lots of guys who know how to work hard, but fewer seem interested in selling the story of wrestling. This is critical. The Oregon wrestling team was dying from neglect long before Kilkenny put a bullet in it. We didn’t promote it. We didn’t support it. We didn’t cherish it.
Chances are, if you’re a wrestling person reading this blog, you’re probably pretty engaged and motivated. You’re an active ambassador for the sport. And chances are, you know many more wrestling people who aren’t. Wake them up. We need everyone.
If wrestling wins this injunction and gets a new lease on life, everyone is going to have to pitch in to make this go. David Nelson mentioned the motivated group of UO alumni and friends that have come together to fight for reinstatement, but the fortunes of this team truly depend on all of us. Wrestlers need to be avid wrestling fans. We can’t assume that someone else is going provide the support. We all need to keep fighting for what we love. If we don’t, most assuredly, they will take it all away from us again.
Hank’s comments should be taken to heart by anyone engaged in our sport at any level. You can’t just leave it all on the mat. Today’s wrestler has to have a bit of public relations practitioner in him (or her).
On another blog, I shared my memories of Ron Finley’s efforts to promote Duck wrestling some 30 years ago, when I was a student in Eugene. Ron would search out any group who’d give him a forum. He went to fraternity houses to drum up support for an upcoming meet. He sought out invitations to speak to civic groups at their weekly luncheons. If there was an empty podium anywhere, he’d grab it to spread the gospel of Oregon wrestling.
One Christmas shopping season, we rolled up the mats and relocated them to Valley River Center. While folks scurried about the mall chasing gifts, and little kids jumped on Santa’s lap, the team put on a wrestling exhibition.
I don’t know how many tickets we sold that day, or how many kids saw what was going on and said: “Hey, I want to do that.”
But Ron’s efforts paid off several times a year. We had several crowds in excess of 4,000 each year that I worked for the sports information office. When the Beavers came to town, or when Iowa State or Oklahoma State visited Mac Court, all of the seats on the floor level and mezzanine were filled. When I returned this past year for the NWCA Classic in November, the attendance of 4,380 reminded me of those nights. Of course, since it was the Ducks on the mat against a dual-meet opponent, often the hated Beavers, the crowd was a lot more passionate.
Hank has spoken often of the misperceptions we wrestlers and wrestling fans have about what will sell with the fans. They don’t want to hear about how hard we work, how much we sacrifice, or how physically demanding the sport is. They want to be entertained.
Ask an ordinary sports fan, somebody who doesn’t go to wrestling matches, to name a famous amateur wrestler. You’d be hard pressed to come up with somebody other than Dan Gable. The modern sports fans follows athletes and their stories, coaches and their stories, and storied teams. How much we sweat doesn’t interest him. Every ball coach has a story of sacrifice and of boys and girls who grew into men and women playing his sport. Fans get tired of hearing them.
If you’re a wrestler or wrestling coach, your first job it to leave it all on the mat. Then get off that mat and go out into the community to promote your sport. Otherwise, some day you might return to the wrestling room to find the mats gone.
I’ve always felt that if you’re not actively promoting your program, you’re not doing your job as a coach. The fans will not just show up because you’re there.
Every head wrestling coach has got to make sure that his whole organization is promoting wrestling. At the college level this is even more important–as we all are observing Oregon’s surprise use of Fan base to suddenly drop wrestling.
Finn had a great concept he shared two years ago to enhance wrestling communication and fan base: Wrestling Rotary in the Metro areas. Once a month during the wrestling season, an early morning breakfast meeting centered upon communication, comradery, and promotion. Each meeting would feature another head coach/wrestling program and two of his/their wrestlers.
Central location, cental theme- promote wrestling-what’s happening when, where and why–Encouragement and growth of wrestling programs. This model would work well in Portland Metro area, Salem, Eugene, Medford, Grants Pass, Central Oregon. In isolated one high school towns, a similar downsized model might be successful enhancing communication between middle school, club and high school programs. In the metro areas Wrestling Rotary would help bridge connections between all levels–especially to our college pregrams.
I remember seeing on TV, Ed Burton, the Oregon City Head Football coach going up into the stands after each home game to socialize with fans and parents. Now that approach wins parents and converts them to fans and then brings them back to games/matches even after their athletes have graduated.
For years at the high school level, I would print up wrestling results and tape them to the inside doors of the faculty bathroom stalls (men’s and women’s). Every staff member knew who was wrestling and had no excuse to not say-”hey, great match last night” to their students.
We must come together and promote wrestling.
Question a little off topic-Has anyone thought about picketing in front of the Athletic Dept offices yet? Just wondering if that will make any difference.
Or even in front of the Nike main office in Beaverton.
Also, has anyone thought about contacting Nathan Tublitz?
People have somewhat visceral reactions to picketing. To some it’s the consummate display of orderly protest in a democratic society. For others, it reminds them of disorder and discontent, and of a recent era in American history they saw negatively.
Public opinion is finally swinging to our side, now that most who have bothered to notice know an athletic department spokesman has negated the originally stated Title IX rationale for cutting wrestling, and that it doesn’t boil down to a false dilemma posing baseball versus wrestling.
Honestly, the time to picket was during football and basketball games, when a large cross section of Ducks returned to the pond. The Kesey bus rally was a success, but we missed other opportunities. I’d have loved to have seen a large number of clean-cut, orderly pickets outside of the elevators that take the well-heeled up to their Autzen luxury suites. One Save Oregon Wrestling sign behind Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit wold have sent our message to a nationwide audience on ESPN Game Day.
There may come a time in the near future for some kind of demonstration. I’m thinking of the scenario, suggested on some blogs, where the judge orders the athletic department to redo the contested case hearings they either botched or didn’t bother to accomplish before cutting the team. An orderly show of force, both inside and outside of the hearing room, may take our message to the world again.
Let’s see what happens on June 7. As I understand it, the judge has set a date in the last week of June for the UO to answer our lawsuit. We’ll know what their strategy is then. We’ll coordinate with the lawyers, to make sure nothing we do on the outside hurts our case inside the courtroom.
June 14, Pacific Coast Time 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Coach Ron Finley will be talking on KFYI in Phoenix, AZ., about Oregon Wrestling. It would be a good time for all our fans and alumni in Arizona to listen in and maybe make a few comments. Thanks for the help. Ron Finley
Save Oregon Wrestling gets a shout out on live webcast of the Olympic Trials.
Richard,
What’s a shout out?
Is there any reason not to picket now? Lets here it. This is your time friends . Obviously the best location(location is everything!) is Ferry street bridge (botth sides) . Tons of easy coverage and new donation hype/help.Do not leave “low hanging fruit” on the trees Who is running the show here? That is almost free and everyone I am talking to seems to think your program is pushing up daisies. Its time to rock-n-roll damnit!
The courts will decide if the program is pushing up daisies. Where were you back during football season? One picket at ESPN College Game Day, with a big Save Oregon Wrestling sign behind Lee Corso, would have equaled 3,000 on the Ferry Street bridge.
See my response at the end of the following article.
Believe me, nobody in the Save Oregon Wrestling program has called it quits. We had quite a lull in publicity between the end of the season and filing the lawsuit, but I can attest to the busy behind-the-scenes work that was necessary to get this lawsuit filed.
if you’re going to picket, why wouldn’t you picket at the olympic trials?
i’d at least have people wearing SOW shirts handing out informational fliers at every entrance. i’d enlist high school and college kids to establish a presence.
some people are going to be put off no matter what you do. some already are. others will continue to be impressed by the commitment. if it really is in the court’s hands now, picketing isn’t going to hurt you.
there aren’t too many events that have the potential exposure of the trials in eugene, particularly given nike’s relationship to all of this.
Maybe that’s not a bad idea. If everything is peaceful and non confrontational, why not? Certainly every effort on behalf of the wrestling community doesn’t have to be channeled centrally through S.O.W.
Whatever you do, however, take the high road.
The ferry street bridge location specifically because we all know how lazy the media is. They will give much more air time if they can do a live feed and there are cars passing and yelling support(there will be lots at that particular location). Consider free hot dogs and tofu dogs even. You people have that great fighting and community building spirit time to put it on display (for cheap) front and center. Bring instruments or whatever. Its all about that bridge though. The cities main bridge can display our Save Oregon Wrestling pride free of media bungling spinning and overall laziness. Simple appraoch now because too many duck lies in the water now act perfectly as chum for coming shark media big time investigators(will arrive with trials).A little rally to redouble and refine and reiterate top 15 talking points(the local medias dog ate their homework on first try). Save me a tofu-dog! If you do a rally give supporters enough lead in TV tips to get em out(KEZI HOLLY MENINO can sometimes be helpful here). Give her a ring . She is quite nice(it is KEZIs overlords/producers I wonder about).
I guess I just don’t want to see you guys get into any negative confrontations that could lead to a backlash. It’s seems we’ve avoided that with the lawsuit, so far, as many Ducks are either supportive or take a wait and see attitude.
Also, I’d like to avoid the image of a few lone zealous out on the bridge with signs, warning of the Rapture. You know what I mean.
But if you can organize enough people, that group may indeed be helpful down the road if the judge orders the contested case hearings accomplished or re-done properly.
The key is to someone have someone get on air with a Save OR Wrestling shirt and spread our message. The more media coverage we get in our favor, the better. The radio stuff is fine, but getting on the 10 o clock news would be better.
Negative confrontation fear is paranoia here. Not a chance. This aint union busting stuff. Design a shirt with HUGE letters on back JUST DONT cut Oregon Wrestling and have a huge swoosh on the back with a circle and line through it. Leverage the swoosh who called the hit on wrestling. The swoosh can be used as a political pry bar to open the records of the UO foundation and its PHIT LLC B.S. Get tons of anti swoosh shirts into the stands. Human billboards. Just do it!Wrestling Kilkenny is like fighting drunk frat rats-futile. We know who doesn’t want wrestling at UO. Why doesn’t matter(the cult does not use logic). The message is we know Nike is cutting wrestling. I have studied Nike for many years. They are known for “cutthroat” tactics. This is a Nike hit. Fight in court and in public. Your beef is not with NIKE goons or operatives .Nike governance at UO is the issue. It is the corporation and the man working behind the uo foundation puppet show stage. Might sound weird but thats what Phil’s mysterious character is all about as far as I can tell.
Okay, guys, go for it. But use good judgment. It’s quite possible that we’ll win round number one in court, and the judge will then order the university to hold the contested case hearings properly. Those who attend will be treated to the testimony of our wrestlers, telling the university president and the system chancellor why we should keep wrestling. They will testify eloquently and in a compelling manner.
Don’t let anything you do backfire from a public relations standpoint. Since Zoumbouklos admitted Title IX was not the reason for cutting wrestling, public opinion — among Ducks not associated with wrestling — has either shifted to our side or has at least indicated a willingness to let the administrative and judicial process run its course.
Let’s let anything we do bring only credit on these fine young men who want to keep their program alive.
You guys should be discussing your strategy in private. You’re letting the enemy know your plans. The dropout, and his goons probably read this, and are planning counter attacks.
We have revealed nothing that wasn’t included in the original filing or in the press release. We’ll find out soon, no later than June 25, what the other side will argue. There aren’t very many secrets to be revealed in this litigation.
As for proposed action on the Ferry Street bridge, that’s neither a function of Save Oregon Wrestling nor EIA-Oregon. We can’t control our supporters’ desire to express themselves, only urge them to do it responsibly.
I am willing to believe that Nike/Phil is behind this decision, but I struggle to understand the motivation. Certainly the opportunity to sell Nike UO baseball gear would speak to adding baseball, but I can see no logic in how cutting wrestling benefits Nike, even though they are a small player in terms of wrestling gear in a relatively small overall market. I just don’t get it, and would welcome a few crumbs of enlightenment. Al
I doubt that Nike and Phil K. had much of anything to do with the drop wrestling issue-perhaps a bull session with Kilkenny–where Phil might have made a comment about baseball over wrestling–that would logically be the extent of it–Knight is a very smart man and avoids anything that might reflect negatively on Nike. Remember–Phil knows far more about athletics than Kilkenny–and Phil as a college athlete, runner, and college graduate who would have respect for wrestling as a sport. I believe that Phil Knight is a sportsman not a fan. IMHO
His motivation is a mysterious one but it is there . I have read extensively on Nike ethos and tactics.Did you follow the Nike vs Beaverton annexation battle? Did you notice Nike’s 187000 gift to the governor in fall 2006?It is all quite odd but explainable. Making the UO nimble(fewer sports)and more specialized for China trips(and economic development(nano) “partnership” building) and other futuristic marketing gimmicks and other lear-jet related activities- transforming UO NIKE athletes into elite marketing rapid deployment “delta force”like teams but only for select Nike olympics related campaign areas/sports. The best descriptions of Nikes weirdness are available. Use google using the title of the article to find Brandhubs -it is a 50 page essay about Nikes futuristic and artsy integrated branding strategy and architecture related marketing. For even more detail buy the book online titled: Who’s afraid of Niketown it’s about past Nike takeover tactics( very strange pilot-projects that were conducted in Europe) and predicts what they will be trying in the future( a full city “Nikecity upgrade” from the inside out . A amazing and increasingly accurate profile here about this notoriously secretive company is in this book. Nike should be understood to be properly responded to. The real reason the track coach got canned is quite obviuos if you read about Nike and Alberto Salazars Eugene-relocated(from Portland) “Oregon Project” track program(altitude training) in a very revealing article from the New York Times . Use google to find this article title online: the lab animal in pursuit of doped excellence by michael sokolove. You will be amazed. Now these high-tech and controversial gadgets are sprouting up in Eugene(healing center) -right where our beloved wrestlers used to be. “Just do it” is a religion of just doing whatever Phil says when he says and as quickly(arena no- bid contracts legislature bonding,ongoing Franklin blvd eminent domain and acquisitions ,Westmoreland housing sale,2012 oly trials etc.) as he says. The “legacy” goose-egg gift can not be spent so it can always disappear later if everything isn’t done the Nike way(through Phit llc/uo Foundation). A sustainable duck leash.Keeping the projects labeled “public” by not using the goose egg also eases widespread use of Eminent Domain along Franklin boulevard and other areas by UO in the future(Eminent domain is the holy grail for “sustainable” Nikedevelopment in Eugene). Phil wants a indoor track and has no UO site currently available(yet). Which sport will Phil quietly try to send the trash bin next?He is scared to do it publicly. Just like questions on the workers overseas. A filmed wrong reaction to the wrong question could endanger his entire “built on air” empire and he knows it. Thats why so low profile reputation and mystery. Avoid well informed questions. Some athletes are too wise to take the game over order. Stand your ground and know the source of the forces here pushing you off the mat . Rational decision making left the arguments long ago.UO’s new nationally known infamy for secrecy is Nikes effect. “Phil doesn’t like or get excited by the program” is not a legal response they can give for cutting wrestling so they try a bunch of other crap excuses to see if some might stick. You are dealing with a religion here now. Not long ago UO Nike handler Bartko even mentioned the arena and baseball should be integrated into some kind of megafacility on Franklin Blvd.Nike-governance is the market-model vision of Dave’s Nike endowed “transforming lives”(hand over the keys to Nike and run for cover)scheme for UO future. Also on Nike-governance the expansion of tailgate drinking was clearly Nike ordered.(the “Niketown” book covers that kind of thing)
Very soon the UO will answer EIA-Oregon’s complaint, and then we’ll know what tack the University will take when it argues in court on July 7.
Whatever reasons our athletic administrators advance, you can bet they constitute an after-the-fact justification for an action they now know they didn’t have to take. We have already heard private regrets from some in the athletic department about the whole mess. Baseball is costing a lot more than expected, and nobody at the Casanova Center expected wrestling to put up such a fight.
A few of the individual administrators named in the lawsuit are shook up a bit. Unlike Mr. Kilkenny, who probably became accustomed to being a named defendant in litigation filed against his insurance company, some of these folks are not used to being sued and are taking it personally.
Nevertheless, the act is done and now the state’s lawyers are being engaged to defend the university, billing time that the university will have to pay for.
You can bet there’s a bit of stubbornness involved also. People with big egos don’t like having their decisions questioned.
Maybe Zachary can better explain this Nike world vision better to me in person sometime, but I tried to read Who’s Afraid of NikeTown? and found it somewhat hard to follow. Its European focus on urbanism and architecture was a bit beyond me. As someone who helped Nike create hundreds of athletic displays for NikeTowns around the world in the late 1990s, I worked with many designers who shaped this vision of athletic culture and fashion. There is no doubt that Nike is striving to connect their brand to urban culture, but Nike cities are something else. I’m not saying Zach’s wrong, but I think the answer may be less complex.
Moving on, it seems highly unlikely to me that Phil Knight did not express his consent for dropping wrestling, as he would have been informed of this paln. My hunch is that the issue was explained to him as: “We need to drop wrestling to reinstate baseball.” His likely response: “Okay, do what you have to do.” I doubt that Phil conspired beyond that, however, he certainly had incentive to do so, as the subtraction of wrestling created a future opening for a sport that means much more to Nike, soccer. In this way, it’s entirely plausible that wrestling was sacrificed as part a grander design benefitting greater Nike interests, but this would be hard to prove even when it happens. It would, however, better explain Phil’s silent reluctance to take a stand for an Oregon sport that wrestling fans, and even some who are close to Phil, believe that he would be more inclined to support.
We all share in the bewilderment expressed by Kenny Moore, who wrote to me: “I just can’t believe that Phil and Penny Knight, whose $100 million is to guarantee and expand their university’s sporting legacy, would ever have intended slashing wrestling, and so diminishing it. “
Though the details are a little vague, I seem to remember hearing a story along the lines of wrestling team members helping to man phones when more money was needed to finish Autzen. Calling suporters, etc and helping to raise funds. And something about them woking on building or raising money for Hayward. Does anyone have more detailed info on those events. It is interesting to see how quickly people forget.
Hank,
You may have hit on something. Maybe we are the sacrificial lamb here to bring in mens soccer. Around the world, I see soccer as being dominated by Adidas, definately not Nike.
The UO Athletic department won’t share this revealation in the Courts. I bet their tactic will be money and Title IV. It will be spinned by the lawyers to say, the comment made by Mr. Zaumbokus as it pertained to Title IV was a “mis-informed statement that does not reflect the reasoning behind our decision.”
Dave Nelson mentions that “A few of the individual administrators named in the lawsuit are shook up a bit. Unlike Mr. Kilkenny, who probably became accustomed to being a named defendant in litigation filed against his insurance company, some of these folks are not used to being sued and are taking it personally”. One of those individuals is probably Mr. Zaumboukos as he is probably sweating more than any of us ever did in the Wrestling Room. Mr. Zaumbokos is probably seeing (sweating) his last days as an Asst. Athletic Director. Maybe even with the UO.
One thing the 2004 book strives to do is anticipate the future tactics of the brand . If you take apart deals like the olympic trials, the track coach sack, the wrestling dump, the westmoreland sale,and eminent domain for UO Foundation the common thread becomes a tie in enable to wider nikedevelopment
area in Eugene. It is no coincidence that the athlete learning center is marching along with the arena and there are many more less defined projects shifting around seeking sites and unsuspecting property owners. The main point is the legacy fund is not to build an arena . It is to facilitate and spur the related development of an expansive sport themed mixed-use neighborhood/corporate academic research corridor. The book warns of the potential for a Nikecity branding scheme. The arena related sport entertainment district and related R&D facilities targeted for Eugene meet what the book seems to predict. Much of this is not in the Cashregister Guard. That is because they are in on it . The Eugene city planning office has a document(I think Kilkenny bought it)called the Farkas report. The report outlines the scheme for the arena related mixed use plan I refer to as Nike’s proposed”shadow campus”. If Kilkenny can not implement the Farkas report “vision” he goes to the wolves. That is how it looks from what I have read about Nike’s weirdness the legacy fund and little known Farkas report.Nike hopes to “transform” the entire entrance of east Eugene to their primary architects “vision”(and all with public funds). I wish I was incorrect here but UO is seizing land for Nike and they have more they are after. Students and education and fixing the main campus can all get lost.
The whole soccer deal makes sense as we are seeing more and more Nike soccer commercials. However, why can’t UO have both? That’s what I don’t get. If all this money is just flying through the college and UO wrestling is offering to pay for everything, then why can’t both exist?
Its going to be interesting how UO comes out trying to fight this, as I’m sure Kilkenny’s arrogance will keep him from thinking they have a losing chance with this suit. I’m sure they are gathering every little piece of info they can find and rounding up all the admin to get their stories straight.
Perhaps Hank’s theory has merit from another viewpoint. In the fall of 2006, according to the latest OSAA statistics, some 5,955 boys played soccer in Oregon high schools. That’s about 1,200 more soccer players than wrestlers. In retrospect, if on July 13, 2007 Kilkenny had announced he was dropping wrestling to make way for soccer, in addition to baseball, he might have had a more credible case.
But, I wonder. Aren’t there better test beds out there for Nike’s soccer marketing than Track Town, USA. Where’s the equivalent soccer city in the United States?
Boardman, OR. That’s all we play here. Helps when 70% of your population is Hispanic. LOL
They wrestle and play soccor.
They do now.
For those who want to consider the big picture of specifics of why NIKE hopes to displace wrestling at UO use google with keywords:salazar rupp altitude trials. You should find that a oregonian article from June 22 will appear. The high tech gizmos of NIKE and Salazar’s mentioned in this article are the equipment that took the wrestling room and 86′ed the other track coach. It seems like a simple switch but no one talks about this in the news. Any questions?
Well stated. I’m down in California and a bit late jumping on the bandwagon. I couldn’t believe the news when I first heard it. I’ll do what I can from down here.
Go Ducks!! Go Duck Wrestling!!!
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