Foundation to save Oregon wrestling speaks out.

With the lawsuit scheduled to be heard by Oregon judges in Salem during the second week in July, the question of the trial emerges why? Why is wrestling suing the University of Oregon? Why was the Program cut? What is the long-term effect of the removal or reinstatement of the program going to be?

Ron Finley from Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation was able to answer a few questions on the topic. When asked why wrestling ended up having to sue the UO he said, “It’s the only choice we’ve been given”.

“We are taking the UO to court using a law suit because of the wrongful processing of termination” explained Jeremy McLaughlin a current wrestler at UO.

Athletic Director Pat Killkenny has been getting most of the blame for the cutting of the wrestling program and rightly so to some fans and people close to the program.

If you look at it the first real influence he had as athletic director you would find it being on July 13, 2007 with the cutting of wrestling and the addition of baseball and completive cheer.

“It’s pure and simple… it’s the Athletic Director fault,” said Finley.

Now the reasoning that Pat Killkenny used for dropping wrestling is the Title IX which states that there needs to be a even balance of men’s and woman’s sports within each college’s athletic department.

However, after angry booster argued that title IX does not require Oregon to drop wrestling the UO came out in response saying that their title IX belief was flawed.

According to the press release from the Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation these are the four reasons Oregon’s athletic department is cutting the program:
“(1) UO lacks a wrestling facility;
(2) The Eugene area lacks a dedicated fan base;
(3) The opportunity to capitalize on an investment; and
(4) The lack of support in the Pac-10 and NCAA Division I.”

This information was released only after Pat Killkenny’s special assistant Neal Zoumboukos acknowledged that Title IX did not require UO to drop wrestling according to an article inside the latest issue of Ducks Illustrated magazine.

Finley said “Donors have offered to pay for a new facility instead of the UO having to pay for it.”

A student poll conducted by the foundation shows that the overwhelming majority of students at the university wanted wrestling to stay a at the UO.

So how can it be said that the area lacks a fan base if the numbers clearly state that they want wrestling back?

McLaughlin stated that “They(UO) keep switching reasons why we(Wrestling) were terminated. First with Title IX and then with funding.”

When asked if Phil Knight who is one of Oregon’s largest donors Finley stated Mr. Knight was no where to be seen.

“Phil Knight has been completely out of the picture when it comes to giving money to the program,” said Finley.

So he will pay for how many football jerseys? Pay for a new law building on campus, but not put anything down for wrestling? Not to take away from anything that Phil Knight has done but it just seems weird.

Now we can’t forget the same thing that happened at Arizona State where the wrestling program was cut but then reinstated after ASU wrestling fans and boosters pledged $8 million to save the program. But the situation in Eugene is that the athletic department is not behind the effort to raise money to reinstate Oregon wrestling.

In fact, according to Finley, they (UO) have told people to not waste their money on this and going so far as to not allow fundraising for the Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation at the state high school wrestling tournament.

McLaughlin said, “It is two different situations with us and ASU because they (ASU) gave the wrestling program a goal to reach but no such thing has happened at the UO.”
“If Killkenny set a money goal that had to be reached for the reinstatement of wrestling it would be reached very fast,” stated Finley.

Now only if the UO and Killkenny could have the same view on this that ASU did maybe things would have gone down a different path. Killkenny has been very reluctant to answer questions on the subject of wrestling to all the media as of now while Finley has been open to discuss this situation with anyone who will listen.

With the hearing approaching the wrestling program won’t settle for anything less than the reinstatement of the program at the UO.

“Money doesn’t help us, a program does. We just want to wrestle here at the UO because we love this place. Why transfer somewhere if we can have a great program here, all we need is a little help from the school,” said McLaughlin.

-AJ Untermeyer
Auntermeyer@gmail.com

Ducks Attack Launching Newsletter

Ducks Attack is pleased to announce after popular demand an online newsletter that will be sent out via email.

If you would like to sign up for this newsletter which will contain information that is left out in my posts as I edit them, Links to other Oregon material online, pictures from practices, and any other type of information that might be interesting to the avid Duck fan but not enough warrant by itself to land a post on the blog.

So if you'd like to sign up please email us at Oregonsportsreport@hotmail.com or visit the message board and click this link to sign up.

Link to sign up

Chat4Quacks or C4Q as we like to call it is a free message board that we have created thats the hottest Duck Community online with over 820 members in only 6 months with an active board that sees over 50 new posts a day.

Rosario Making Plays

Dante Rosario came to Oregon from a small town of Dayton, Oregon as an athletic diamond in the rough type recruit. When He got to Oregon he quickly made it known he was a player to be reckoned with and as a fullback/Tight End/H-Back made the rest of the Pac-10 realize they missed a Pac-10 star. Now Rosario is showing Carolina Panther coaches they made the right choice in selecting him in the 2007 draft.

Rosario first came on strong late in the 2007 season when the Panthers were eliminated from playoff contention and started playing younger players. Week 13 saw Rosario snag his first touchdown catch against San Francisco. Week 15 against the Seattle Seahawks the Ex-Duck caught his season long catch for 54 yards. The last game of the season during week 17 saw Rosario catch 3 balls for 36 yards and one touchdown against Tamp Bay.

Now, according the the Charlotte Observer's Sports Reporter David Scott, Rosario is impressing Panther coaches and fans alike.

The Panthers ran several plays for tight ends during Tuesday's summer school practice and backup Dante Rosario made the most of them. Rosario looked athletic and fast as he went up high to grab a few passes over the middle. With catches like that, Rosario might become a go-to guy on third downs, although Jeff King will likely continue to start and rookie Gary Barnidge could also see playing time.
http://blogs.charlotte.com/panthers/

The chances of landing a starting spot for Rosario is there however the Panthers do have other available options in Rookie Gary Barnidge and also ofrom veteran Jeff King.

With Rosario impressing coaches and rookies Jonathan Stewart and Geoff Schwartz the Panthers are looking like a hot team to follow for Duck fans on Sundays.

Montana State Re-Confirms Kempt Transfer

University of Oregon quarterback Cody Kempt, whose father played for the Bobcats from 1985-89, signed scholarship papers to transfer to Montana State on Wednesday, MSU coach Rob Ash announced.

A 6-2, 210 lb sophomore, the Bozeman native redshirted at Oregon in 2006 and played sparingly last fall. Originally from Westview High in Beaverton, Kempt was 6-for-26 passing last fall with for 52 yards. He also rushed eight times for 21 yards.

At Westview, Kempt completed 55 percent of his passes and threw for 1,800 yards and 23 scores to earn honorable mention all-state honors as a senior. He accumulated over 4,000 total yards as a junior and senior, earning PrepStar All-America honors and standing among the top seven quarterback prospects on the West Coast as ranked by one publication.

"The first thing we're excited about is that Cody is familiar with the Bobcat program because of his family connections," Ash said. "That should allow him to come to Bozeman and plug into MSU easily. Second, his familiarity with the type of offense we're running is exciting. He should be able to make a smooth transition to our program in that regard easily, as well. Most important is that we really like Cody Kempt as a person. He's an excellent student, a tremendous citizen, and he's transferring for all the right reasons. He wants a chance to play. He's a first-class person, and it was an easy decision to welcome Cody to our program."

Mychal Kempt came to MSU from Aloha, Ore., in 1985, and started at linebacker for the Bobcats as a junior and senior. Kempt rolled up 175 tackles in his Bobcat career, adding five sacks and three fumble recoveries.

Cody Kempt is expected to compete for quarterback duty when fall camp starts in early August.

Gaddy and Bradley Not Package Deal Entirely

This past week high school basketball standout Abdul Gaddy of Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, WA pulled his commitment from the University of Arizona because of coaching changes and announced he was opening up his recruitment for 8 schools. The list included Oregon for the #2 rated PG in the nation for the class of 2009.

There was one catch apparently, he wanted to play with best friend and teammate Avery Bradley who is the #9 SG in the nation according to Scout.com's basketball recruiting rankings.

This isnt true however as Gaddy and Bradley discussed with Jon Natio of the Seattle P-I.

"It would be great if it ended up that way," Bradley said Monday night. "We know what we can do together, and I'm confident that if you put us on the same team again we could compete for a championship."

However thats not the final decision for these recruits as they quickly made it know they are going to do whats best for each other first and then try to see if they can play together.

"What was said before got mixed up," Gaddy said. "They asked if I would like to play with (Bradley) in college, and I said that would be cool. But he's going to sit down and do what's best for him, and I'll do the same. If it ends up we're on the same page, that would be great."

Gaddy who is the nation's #2 PG in the entire nation has Oregon in his list of schools he is interested in along with Texas, Memphis, Washington, Arizona, Gonzaga, and Kansas.

Gaddy averaged 23 points and five assists last season, and was the first underclassman to be named the state's Gatorade player of the year. He and Bradley teamed to lead the Lions to a third-place finish at the 4A state tournament.

With 4 current point guards on the current roster the Ducks seem full at that position. However when Gaddy would enroll at Oregon 2 players would be Seniors and another being a Junior thus allowing Gaddy a great chance to be a starter by his sophomore year.

Bradley's situation with the Ducks is a total different story. He didn't tell Natio of a current Duck offer and didn't list the Ducks in his collection of offers. What makes things even more difficult in seeing Bradley come to Oregon is the logjam at both wing positions.

If Bradley is looking for immediate playing time by his second season Oregon won't be his best choice as the Ducks have a boundless amount of talented youth at both wing spots.

Both players said their parents, along with their AAU coach, Gary Ward, would aid in their decisions, though they would have the final say.

Whether they play together after next season remains questionable. Finding a program to appease a pair of top recruits in concert might be too tall a task





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