Is OSU coach’s job at a ‘crossroads’?

By Kerry Eggers

The Portland Tribune, Dec 6, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Is Oregon State football coach Mike Riley on the hot seat? One would think so, judging from a recent article in the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Athletic Director Bob De Carolis told the newspaper that the football program is at a “crossroads,” and he didn’t back away from it in an interview last week with the Portland Tribune.

“We need to improve in a number of areas, including off the field and in the classroom,” De Carolis tells the Tribune. “I am confident we are going to do that. On the field, a 5-6 or 6-5 season was where we were predicted to finish. The frustrating thing was how we got there (after a 4-2 start).

“I don’t want to jinx myself, but it looks like we have the off-the-field stuff taken care of. We’ll see about academics. If we don’t show improvement in all areas, we have some tough questions to ask ourselves.”

Cliff Kirkpatrick of the Gazette-Times wrote, “De Carolis knew this was going to be a difficult season. It’s on what happens in Riley’s fourth season (2006) of a seven-year contract that he will be judged. He received a pass this season, and now the pressure is on to produce.”

“There is always pressure to produce in every program,” De Carolis tells the Tribune. “We did a lot of positive things last season. We had some great production. We have a lot of talent coming back, and I know how much that extra year’s experience can make a difference. But we need to prove to ourselves we’re going to work hard in the offseason, then improve during spring ball. Then we have to do it on the field (next season).”

Is he happy with Riley’s coaching job?

“It depends on what you define as coaching,” De Carolis says. “If you look at the X’s and O’s, (his staff is) doing a good job. Can we improve? If you base it on wins and losses, yeah. But coaching is more than X’s and O’s. It’s the management of the program. We have certain question marks on the academic side. We know about the off-the-field stuff. We’re making improvements. If we continue to go in the right direction in all of those things, then we’re OK.”

Is Riley’s job on the line next year?

“That might be your assessment, but I didn’t say that,” De Carolis says. “Every coach’s job is always on the line.”

That’s not true. Is baseball coach Pat Casey’s job on the line? Softball coach Kirk Walker’s? Basketball coach Jay John’s? Mike Bellotti’s at Oregon, a year removed from a 5-6 season?

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit