3/25/2020 football Edit

OSU AD Scott Barnes talks Reser west side, football, and more...

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

With Oregon State Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Barnes joining Mike Parker and Jon Warren on the latest edition of the Beaver Sports Podcast to talk about the state of intercollegiate athletics, BeaversEdge.com recaps the most important pieces of information.

Future of sports, COVID-19, & Revenue Loss

With the world of intercollegiate athletics being turned on its head in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping the globe, the immediate future is very much in question.

Winter and spring sports have already been canceled, but the attention is now turned to football and whether or not we'll be on the other side of this health crisis in time to have the gridiron return.

Oregon State Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Barnes joined Mike Parker and Jon Warren on the Beaver Sports Podcast to give updates and the latest on how things are unfolding in the AD.

"This is a dynamic, ever-changing, and ever-evolving situation," Barnes said. "Our AD's in the Pac-12 have daily calls to update each other while also touching base on the national and local level situations as well. Many of our student-athletes have gone home and we're encouraging them to stay home because we simply don't have much available. It's a tough situation, but it's something we're all grappling with and that makes communicating with other people around the conference very helpful."

One of the many questions that people have been asking in the wake of seeing winter and spring sports canceled was the amount of revenue lost and how it would affect a smaller-revenued department like Oregon State's.

Barnes noted that the revenue loss will be sizable and that there's no denying that there will be an impact that is felt for some time.

"It's something we're all trying to get our arms around in terms of the economic impact. That happens at the national level with the NCAA distribution and we've been told it could be as much as a 70 percent loss. Pac-12, sponsorships, and television loss will also be diminished as well. And locally, we didn't play baseball. There's a big number there and despite all of our fans taking a credit for next season, that's still real dollars to our budget. All three of those levels have a huge impact on us moving forward."

Football

With winter and spring sports on the shelf until next season, naturally, the question on everyone's mind is:

Are we going to have football?

Given where we are in the United States at the current moment, it's a fair question and one that still doesn't have a lot of clarity. Barnes said that he hopes that football will be able to go on according to plan, but added that since there is so much fluidity and change in the day to day aspects of living through COVID-19 that nothing is certain.

In the interim, Barnes and his fellow colleagues across the conference have put together a football committee that is going to try and establish what's next for football and how to handle the canceled spring sessions.

"Right now, we've put a committee together that's represented by each of our Pac-12 institutions to really deal with the football issue. You are in one of three spots: You got some spring ball in, you got none, or you got it all in. Does that mean we'll add a summer session or an elongated fall, or both? It's not likely, but no final decisions are being made and the very fluid situation is being accessed daily."

The latest on the west side of Reser Stadium

Despite a lot being shut down in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Barnes noted that the Beavers are pressing on with getting the west side of Reser Stadium rebuilt and redesigned on schedule. The Beavers have begun the early stages of the process and want to remain steadfast in keeping to their schedule as best they can.

"We keep moving as best as we can. We've got to be nimble and creative, but we're absolutely moving forward with our timeframe and plan. I have all the confidence in the world is that this thing will be behind us and what we can't do is let up on the things that are critical to our future term success. We have to keep grinding on those long term plans."

A new wrestling coach on the horizon?

Prior to everything being turned on its head, the Beavers decided to make a change at the wrestling head coaching position, letting longtime coach Jim Zalesky go in search of a new leader and a new face. While the timing of the health crisis made for an unorthodox hiring process, Barnes noted that the search is in full swing, albeit digitally, and that he expects a decision to be made very soon.

"Not having a leader in a time like this is not an ideal situation and it's a real issue, so we've been moving forward with finding our next coach digitally. We likely will be offering the next head coach without that individual coming to campus. We're finding creative ways to get this thing done and we're getting interest from all over the country as they view this as an unbelievable opportunity."