[Bumped to the front page. --jake]

With Bobby D's latest AD report (it can be found here: http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/060209aaq.html) talking about the lack of donations and season ticket renewals for the upcoming football season, I was wondering what you guys think we could/should do to fix the problem? Obviously this is a tough economic time for everyone in the entire country but things don't seem to be quite as dire in other parts of the country as they do at OSU. Especially considering the fact that we are coming off a season where we were just one Pac-10 victory away from the Rose Bowl, won yet another bowl game, and had all of our games on national television. If Oregon State and Beaver Nation ever wants to be considered among the elite in college football then we have to find a way increase donations, expand our base, and up ticket sales. There is no way a team that has finished in the top 25 for three straight seasons should not be selling out all their home game and have plenty of revenue coming in. I agree with Bobby D that this is a make or break type of situation for our athletic program. Either we can keep settling for 8-9 win bowl teams, secondary post season basketball tournaments, and first round regional exits or we can start backing our programs and push them to new heights such as the Rose Bowl, the NCAA tournament, and more CWS appearances.

So how do we do it? Thats the question I pose to the rest of you in Beaver Nation.

GO BEAVS!!!

According the yesterday's draft and several NFL scouts and personell, Oregon State is one of the top schools in the country at developing players and sending them to the NFL. There is a great article about this on rivals.com today (link posted at the bottom). I do not know how this can not help Oregon State in recruiting. If we can continue to send one and two star atheletes to the NFL (Slade Norris, Al Afalava, even Shane Morales signed a FA deal already) then imagine what the staff could do with four and five star players? This is just another sign that Mike Riley and staff are one the best in the country and that Oregon State football is about to explode on the national scene.

Here is the link if you want to read the article:  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=rivals-292983&prov=rivals&type=lgns

GO BEAVS!!!

There is an interesting article about the Top 10 Winners of the Recession and with Public Universities coming in at #6 they cite Oregon State University as a school on the uptick with a 12% increase in applicants. This has me wondering if it has anything to do with the growing success of our athletic programs. Studies have shown before that success in sports on a national stage can increase a school's applicant pool because people who may otherwise have not heard of OSU, now see them on TV beating USC or see Coach Rob shout "Go Beavs!" at the DNC. Thoughts? Here is a link to the story if you are interested.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106804/10-Winners-in-the-Recession

Since the beginning of the decade we have seen several of Oregon State's athletic teams go from being a lower to middle of the pack Pac-10 team to competing at the highest level not only in the Pac-10, but in the entire country. While football has no doubt had unprecedented success in the last 7 or 8 years, my question for the rest of Beaver nation is what do the Beavs need to do to reach that next level? The next level of consistently winning 10-12 games a year, finishing in the top 15 or top 10, playing in BCS games, and having a realistic chance every year to win the Pac-10. Do you think we need better coaches? Better athletes? Better facilities? Weaker non-conference schedule? Should we expand Reser again? Or simply keep doing what we are doing and things will happen in time? This post is certainly open to anyone and I am very interested to hear what the rest of Beaver fans out there think we can/should do to reach that next level. I am personally very excited about all of Oregon State athletics and I think that in 3-5 years we have a realistic chance of being very, very good in football, men's basketball, and baseball. Please leave your thoughts....

GO BEAVS!!!

I just got done reading Bobby D's six-part series on the future plans of Oregon State athletics on osubeavers.com. And wow, am I excited. Reading all of that and realizing where the program was 10 years ago and thinking about where the program might be 10 years from now really gets your blood flowing (and takes a little sting away from that loss to Oregon). I really believe that this program is headed in the right direction not only in football but in basketball, baseball, wrestling, volleyball and every other sport. Bobby D really has some great ideas of what to do and I can't wait to see them come to fruition. It is just a matter of time before the Beavs are consistently competing for Pac-10 and national championships year in-year out in every sport!!

GO BEAVS!!!

I just read great news on espn.com that IU has decided to name someone else AD instead of Bobby D. This is great news for all of Beaver nation as we can continue to have this man lead our athletic programs to the forefront of athletics in the Pac-10 and the country. Now we just need to keep Washington's grubby little hands off Mike Riley and company. (dont know why in the world anyone would want that job to begin with but you know they would offer him more than his current contract).

GO BEAVS!!!