For some time I have heard rumors that former University of Oregon Assistant AD is coming home to the Ducks. Oregonian sports columnist John Canzano is now reporting it on his blog.
Whisper from Eugene is that Jim Bartko will be hired as Senior Associate AD later this week in Eugene. I'm told, if it happens, he'll work under AD Pat Killkenny, who's aim is getting that arena built. Nobody will give official confirmation of this yet, but multiple sources tell me Bartko is a lock.
Remember, he left to help Cal fundraise as an associate AD there, and this ends up as an interesting potential hire for a couple of reasons... A) Bartko knows where the money is buried in Eugene; and B) He's likely the front runner for Killkenny's job when Mr. K leaves his post in two years.
Keep in mind, Bartko was the guy walking around charged with making sure Phil Knight was happy and taken care of all those years.
Jim is a good guy and this is great news. This is what I posted on this blog on February 21 of this year when Pat Kilkenny was hired as AD :"A good hire for Kilkenny would be to get Jim Bartko to come back from Cal in some capacity. I understand they are close." Jim will be a big help in getting the new basketball arena built. I am of the opinion that the beginning of the end for Bill Moos as Oregon AD was when he let Jim Bartko leave the Ducks for the University of California at Berkeley.Many fans saw that as the end of any chance of getting the basketball arena built as long as Moos was AD. Not soon thereafter Moos was given an almost 2 million dollar golden parachute to leave. To read the rest of Canzano's blog click on the title above for a link.
