How Oregon is changing recruiting

[nmduke2001]

First Oregon had a stroke of genius with their uniforms that draw high school kids to the the program; now, they have the football performance center.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/photos/1307/university-of-oregon-athletic-facility-behind-scenes/#/college-football/photos/1307/university-of-oregon-athletic-facility-behind-scenes/1/

I honestly don't know how other schools are going to compete with this. The facility is 145,000 sq/ft of state of the art football equipment. It makes nearly all NFL facilities look pedestrian by comparison.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/sports/ncaafootball/oregon-football-complex-is-glittering-monument-to-ducks-ambitions.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I know Nike has already started adding money to the basketball program as well. Is it just a matter of time before they become a basketball powerhouse too?

[johnb]

First Oregon had a stroke of genius with their uniforms that draw high school kids to the the program; now, they have the football performance center.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/photos/1307/university-of-oregon-athletic-facility-behind-scenes/#/college-football/photos/1307/university-of-oregon-athletic-facility-behind-scenes/1/

I honestly don't know how other schools are going to compete with this. The facility is 145,000 sq/ft of state of the art football equipment. It makes nearly all NFL facilities look pedestrian by comparison.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/sports/ncaafootball/oregon-football-complex-is-glittering-monument-to-ducks-ambitions.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I know Nike has already started adding money to the basketball program as well. Is it just a matter of time before they become a basketball powerhouse too?

Oregon is a really good place to go to school, and an especially great place to be an athlete... The photos were pretty awesome.

[superdave]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/photos/1307/university-of-oregon-athletic-facility-behind-scenes/#/college-football/photos/1307/university-of-oregon-athletic-facility-behind-scenes/1/


I do not think I would enjoy using the showers in photo #10. The hot tub in #12 looks pretty good though.

Here's Calipari giving a tour (http://www.coachcal.com/16170/2012/09/no-place-like-home-uks-new-gold-standard-in-housing/) of the UK dorm while wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

Super "I'd be more interested in touring the player's parking lot at UK ;) " Dave

[roywhite]

Tennessee recently dedicated their over-the-top football training facility. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw4OdUaVmEA) And they're just an also-ran in the SEC football standings these days. Not to mention their athletic department has a pile of debt.

Hard for us to preach much about lavish expenditures in these areas; our basketball practice area is mighty fancy, too.

Does look like the Oregon Ducks are setting a new standard.

[Henderson]

Oregon, in cooperation with Phil Knight, used a cute little trick to avoid public contracting rules when building this new facility.

If PK had just given the University of Oregon the money to build the thing, Oregon would have been obligated to engage in all kinds of competitive bidding and used prevailing wage rules under Oregon law. They didn't want to do that. So Phil built the thing on land leased to him by the University. His wife took charge of the interior decorating. Then, when it was finished, he donated the whole facility to the University. Clever, eh?

[Billy Dat]

I think it's interesting that Chip Kelly took a huge step down in terms of facilities when he went from Oregon to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Wasn't the hiring of Kevin White partially based on a vision to execute on major facility upgrades to make sure that our place in the arms race was secure? K made sure that his 2004 Laker job offer was used as leverage to get the Mike C Center built. Our major football facility upgrades are part of this arms race. Oklahoma State has become a football power since T. Boone Pickens started dumping money on the program.

Obviously, Phil Knight is a tough dude to outspend. Imagine if Mikhail Prokhorov took an interest in a college program? Maybe Mason can get him to drop $100MM or so on Duke.

Facilities matter in a BIG way.

[hurleyfor3]

Oregon is a really good place to go to school, and an especially great place to be an athlete... The photos were pretty awesome.

I dunno, the campus is nothing special, kind of like NC State. I'd be happy to live in Eugene and even interviewed for a job there once, but it's no better than middle-of-the-pack among Pac 12 college towns. I don't know how you put it above Boulder, Berkeley, Palo Alto, Westwood and the U District.

[77devil]

The facility was featured on a Squawk on the Street segment this morning. Here are some additional facts not noted in the NYT story linked earlier in the thread; Oregon is trying to sell naming rights to create enough annual cash flow to pay for the maintenance.; 75% of the walnut to make the table in the war room was rejected as not being good enough.

Over the top doesn't come close. Phil Knight should sign the Giving Pledge.

[nmduke2001]

Alabama has tried to answer.

Alabama doesn't come close to matching Oregon's Ferrari designed and manufactured theatre seats, but they put up a good fight.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1724284-how-alabamas-new-facility-compares-to-oregons-new-football-performance-center

[roywhite]

On a related topic, there is or was a Duke connection in the Pac-12 TV marketing discussion that DBR has featured on the front page.

Gary Stevenson, Duke grad (http://sportsvideo.org/main/csvs2012/2012/04/25/gary-stevenson-president-pac-12-enterprises/) was President of Pac-12 enterprises until heading over to the MLS a few months ago. Gary has an amazing sports background with stints with the PGA, Golf Channel, NBA, and his own company OnSport, which operated in Raleigh for a number of years.

Gary is also the father of Casey Stevenson, Duke 2012, who was a Duke Basketball manager and is Ryan Kelly's long-time buddy; I believe Casey is now in an ahtletics staff position at Duke.

[cato]

Jason Gay at WSJ.com nicely ties this discussion (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579009000024241682.html?m od=WSJ_hps_MIDDLE_Video_Top) in with the others we have been having about big time college football (and its smaller, less flashy sibling, college basketball):


College sports can't have it both ways forever. Days before Manziel became a controversy, the college football world was aflutter about a new, 145,000 square-foot facility for the University of Oregon football team—with its sleek detailing and sumptuous furniture, it looked like Lex Luthor's fitness club. We are told these perks are essential to college sports because they help attract the best athletes—the same athletes we simultaneously expect to be content with a scholarship for their contribution. The dueling comedy of extravagance and hypocrisy is apparent to nearly everyone. Millionaire coaches are summoning the decency to speak in support of some kind of stipend system; to them, this idea is so common sense it has long left the station. This is a debate barreling in one direction . . . .

[g-money]

Jason Gay at WSJ.com nicely ties this discussion (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579009000024241682.html?m od=WSJ_hps_MIDDLE_Video_Top) in with the others we have been having about big time college football (and its smaller, less flashy sibling, college basketball):

Those were my thoughts exactly when I saw the SI pictorial. How long until these training facilities start keeping a fleet of "loaner" SUVs and BMWs on hand to facilitate the athletes' trips to and from practice?

Meanwhile, the athletes themselves are not allowed to sell their varsity jackets. Bass-ackwards...

Hopefully the NCAA dam is about to burst.

[Duvall]

Hopefully the NCAA dam is about to burst.

When's the last time a burst dam was a good thing?

[DukieInBrasil]

Those were my thoughts exactly when I saw the SI pictorial. How long until these training facilities start keeping a fleet of "loaner" SUVs and BMWs on hand to facilitate the athletes' trips to and from practice?

Meanwhile, the athletes themselves are not allowed to sell their varsity jackets. Bass-ackwards...

Hopefully the NCAA dam is about to burst.

UGA already lets the football players drive around on scooters, which they have to give back at the end of the season. Scooters are not BMWs, but the idea of letting students use vehicles to get around campus is already being done.

[tommy]

I'm just glad Oregon is developing a university that the football team can be proud of . . .

[Billy Dat]

It's interesting that Oregon is best known for, perhaps, its oldest athletic facility, Hayward Field, home to the "fastest track in America". That baby is close to celebrating it's 100th Birthday.

In looking up that fact, I discovered that "Animal House" was filmed on the University of Oregon campus. Perhaps that explains why the new football complex has a memorial kiln dedicated to Fawn Liebowitz, and, upon flushing any men's room urinal, the refrain, "7 years of college down the drain" fills the air.

[uh_no]

It's interesting that Oregon is best known for, perhaps, its oldest athletic facility, Hayward Field, home to the "fastest track in America". That baby is close to celebrating it's 100th Birthday.

In looking up that fact, I discovered that "Animal House" was filmed on the University of Oregon campus. Perhaps that explains why the new football complex has a memorial kiln dedicated to Fawn Liebowitz, and, upon flushing any men's room urinal, the refrain, "7 years of college down the drain" fills the air.

Has it really been called that? If so, it's not really true. As a distance mecca, the surface is softer than would be optimal for top times over the short races.

[Billy Dat]

Has it really been called that? If so, it's not really true. As a distance mecca, the surface is softer than would be optimal for top times over the short races.

I should have qualified it as a middle to long distance fast track. Here's a good piece which dubs it, "Track's Carnegie Hall", the crowd pushing runners to new heights:

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=2898193

[uh_no]

I should have qualified it as a middle to long distance fast track. Here's a good piece which dubs it, "Track's Carnegie Hall", the crowd pushing runners to new heights:

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=2898193

haha that makes sense. I have not yet been there, but it's one of the things I want to do in life: be at hayward for a big track meet. They've been trying to position themselves to have a world finals....THAT would be incredible

[Newton_14]

Alabama has tried to answer.

Alabama doesn't come close to matching Oregon's Ferrari designed and manufactured theatre seats, but they put up a good fight.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1724284-how-alabamas-new-facility-compares-to-oregons-new-football-performance-center

Having won 3 out of the last 4 BCS Titles, does Bama even need to answer? All the schools mentioned in the thread so far have zero recent titles. Don't get me wrong, Oregon at least, has improved a lot so it does help, but the power still has not shifted out of the SEC just yet. They have a pretty firm grip on FB at the moment.

[Ultrarunner]

haha that makes sense. I have not yet been there, but it's one of the things I want to do in life: be at hayward for a big track meet. They've been trying to position themselves to have a world finals....THAT would be incredible

If you ever get the chance, definitely go. I had the opportunity to attend the Olympic Trials last year. The place was electric.

Lance Brooks was trying to qualify but still didn't have an 'A' standard throw even though he had won the event. The announcers broadcast the info and asked the crowd to help him over the line. With the crowd cheering for him, he nailed it with his last throw.

The only thing better than watching a meet at Hayward is running on the track.