April A..D. Report

You’ve all heard the news by now that Coach Riley’s contract extension is wrapped up. I want to share some of the thinking behind the new deal. Clearly, Mike and his staff are winners. They just led our football team to one of the most successful seasons in the history of the program and have won all three bowl games they’ve coached.

Bottom line: long-term commitment for both Mike and OSU is what this deal is about. First and most importantly, Mike wants to be here. Having a person that’s a good football coach, a good fit for Corvallis and a good fit for OSU are priorities when making coaching decisions. As a Corvallis native, Mike understands Oregon State and embraces it. That definitely comes through in his genuineness when he s recruiting.

As I’ve always said, the ability to be successful comes down to facilities and people. This extension is an investment in our people just like we’re investing in our facilities. Given the fluidity of the coaching ranks, it’s important when you have good coaches to maintain continuity.

With a six-year contract that now takes us through the 2012 season, there’s an opportunity to continue building something special here. There’s a lot to be said for consistency, longevity, and stability particularly when Mike and his staff are on the recruiting trail.

I feel great about Mike’s leadership and value what he and his staff have built. There s no doubt he has proven himself by improving the program. Consider these stats:

• Oregon State is the winningest Pac-10 program in the Northwest in the last five years with 38 victories. Only USC and California have won more games in the Pac-10 during that time.
   
• Oregon State has had the second-highest representation behind Stanford on the Pac-10 All-Academic teams the last two years with 20 selections.
   
• Oregon State has the longest active bowl win streak in the Pac-10 at three games. The program has appeared in six bowls in the last eight years, winning four.
   
• Coach Riley has never lost a bowl game, 6-0.
   

To further this success far into the future, we structured the deal with rollover provisions. It’s simple: every year the Beavers go to a bowl game, Coach gets a year back on his contact. So conceivably, as long as we receive a bowl bid each year, Mike could always have a six-year deal.

In recognition of the entire coaching staff’s contributions, we’ve added yearly bonuses for assistant coaches to the contract package. Again, this is tied to bowl appearances and number of wins.

As I’ve written about the last few months, we want to expand Beaver Nation specifically with more football season ticket holders. The new contract significantly increases Mike’s incentive to increase the season ticket holder base. He’ll now gain 25 percent, up from 5 percent, for season ticket sales that exceed 23,000.

In terms of salary, Mike’s base of $850,000 during the first year of the contract will increase by $50,000 a year just as it did in his previous contract. Financial incentives for number of wins, bowl appearances and players’ academic success rate also are included in the package.

Hand-in-hand with great people and facilities, is our ability to expand Beaver Nation via our season ticket holders and BASF donors. Season tickets and donations are vital to the long-term success of all OSU athletic programs, competing in the top tier of the Pac-10 and nationally every year. We have ticket plans for families, fans under 30, and great sideline seats that require a BASF (Beaver Athletic Student Fund) donation. The BASF seats ensure that we fund our programs, hire the best coaches (i.e. Coach Riley) and upgrade facilities. These donations also give the coaches and players of all of our 17 sports the necessary support they need to compete in the toughest conference in the country, the Pac-10.

So please call the OSU Ticket Office at 1-800-GO BEAVS or check out our website. Whether you buy a family plan, under-30 package, or Club seats (some of the best seats and amenities in the country) you’ll help fund all Beaver sports and help ensure we stay on top.

Having stability at the top of our marquee programs is key and there’s no doubt that your donations play a key role in maintaining our staff. Coach Riley’s new contract underscores our commitment to Mike and his staff, and couldn’t be done without our donors support. Stability at the top of our coaching ranks is a proven plan for success. Coach Riley is a great fit and perfect for this environment. He clearly embodies the qualities we value -- grit, guts, perseverance and love of the sport. From my vantage point, you couldn’t ask for more.