Wrestling Article

Thanks for the optimism regarding our chances, Dave. We do think we have a stronger case than many give us credit for mounting.

The magnanimous thing for Oregon to do would be to offer a settlement that avoids a court spectacle and gives Duck wrestling the same opportunity to fund itself that Arizona State is giving its wrestling program. Sun Devil AD Lisa Love declared the program saved. ASU wrestling backers now have a positive environment in which to raise the funds the university requires in order to endow the program. They sill must produce, but now do it with the full blessing of the athletic department. That’s a big difference.

Unfortunately, Pat Kilkenny never created that atmosphere for saving wrestling. While he allowed Ron Finley to keep his desk, computer, and telephone, Kilkenny’s public statements always doubted wrestling’s chances to save itself and, by early springtime, pronounced dropping the sport to be inevitable. Under those conditions, any amount of cash or pledges raised were miraculous. Donors, big and small, are reluctant to contribute to a cause pronounced lost by the adminstration.

I suspect that the athletic department didn’t want fund-raising operations that competed with the drive to build a new baseball stadium, the indoor track facility, among other projects. Our administrators never thought wrestling backers would demonstrate such a tenacious and long-lasting effort. Maybe it’s time to settle this controversy with some good will.

How about a level playing field, Dave Frohnmayer and Pat Kilkenny? In the current bad atmosphere surrounding the Ramos affair, cost overruns on the arena and baseball stadium, parking controversies at Autzen, disagreements with neighbors regarding the arena, and a state of hostility with the Portland press—some peace within the family would be a good thing.