"What a strange, bittersweet day it was at the Casanova Center. Because you figured that ageless Neal Zoumboukos would somehow always be an Oregon football coach, and that hell would freeze before Tom Osborne coached at Oregon again, as in never. Yet there they were Tuesday, ships passing, Zoumboukos announcing that he's leaving coaching to become a special assistant to the Oregon athletics director, and Osborne being introduced as his replacement.
A simple notice in transactions won't begin to tell this story.
The Oregon football program lost an icon Tuesday - a coach and mentor and leader and conscience for 27 years - and regained one of the best special teams coordinators in the country, who presided over some of the best special teams ever seen here.
And none of this could have been easy, really.
Zoumboukos and Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, old friends, go back to UC Davis, where Zoumboukos, as the freshman coach, gave the recent UCD graduate his first job in coaching.
Bellotti and Osborne go back to Osborne's not-all-sweet departure from the Oregon coaching staff in 2000 for Arizona State.....
Suffice to say Zoumboukos was adamant Tuesday that he did "NOT" want to be responsible for special teams - and he pretty much said it in capital letters - and that "we needed a special teams coordinator."
That the Ducks have been without a coach in that role the last two seasons seems, in part, to be a reflection of how much Bellotti cares about his friend; Zoumboukos, as the tight ends coach, was the logical and traditional choice, but Zoumboukos didn't want the responsibility.
Of all the grenades Zoumer has launched himself upon at Oregon, of all the tasks performed by this ultimate company man, he wouldn't do that. He lacks, he explained, the suitable tolerance for kickers, and the confidence in his expertise for that particular job......
So, Zoumboukos, 60, is leaving coaching for now - I'm not convinced this is forever - to serve as a special assistant to new AD Pat Kilkenny, full-time through the end of June, and then on a part-time basis. He'll be an advocate for athletes, and for assistant coaches. He'll be the link to the days when the Ducks had the Pac-10's worst facilities, and some of its lowest expectations.
He'll be a conscience for Kilkenny, and a devil's advocate, and a friend, as he was for Bellotti and for Rich Brooks.
Because Zoumboukos was there when Oregon had no choice but to be humble, and the underdog; he was there, too, when UO reached the Rose Bowl, and won the Fiesta Bowl...
Tuesday, Zoumboukos became emotional, as he talked about his "best friends" on the Oregon coaching staff. He thanked Bellotti, and Brooks, who hired him at Oregon, and who gave him more and more duties, ultimately naming him associate head coach. He'd made his announcement to the Oregon players on Monday.
It's the end of an era, really. The stepping away of one of the last Old School guys...Zoumboukos, his bald head roughly at lower-chest level with an offensive lineman (the position he coached most in his Oregon years), giving the wayward kid what-for; and those same linemen, at their final banquet as Oregon seniors, hugging Zoumboukos and wondering where the time went....
"But by and large, you ask any player who has ever played under him, and they have tremendous respect for him. Because he truly does take young kids and turn them into men by the time they walk out of that program."
Gary Zimmerman, nominated several times for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, played four years for Zoumboukos at the beginning of the coach's tenure at Oregon and credits Zoumboukos for instilling the intensity, and teaching the techniques, that helped him achieve a 12-year career in the NFL.....
"There was no one more intense than Zoumer was, back in the old days," Zimmerman said. "He was really intense, and almost anal, I guess. The stuff he did was hilarious. He used to hide in the bushes to try to catch people after curfew. He used to take a hammer out to practice, and if you lifted your head up he'd hit you with a hammer. He shot people in the rear with a starter's gun because they were too slow.
"Just stuff like that, that coaches would get sued for today. ... "
....For Zoumboukos, some of those memories, and the long relationships at Oregon, came spilling back Tuesday; he stopped once, in his news conference, overcome with emotion. "I'm blessed to have been here as long as I have," he said. "I'm blessed to have been doing something that I love doing, and I'm going to love doing this administration thing, too."
Well, I'm not sure he sounded truly convincing about the last part, but he was about the rest of it. Blessed was Oregon, too, that he's worked here."
The 60-year-old Zoumboukos has instilled a work ethic that has benefited his pupils long after their football careers have ended. He possesses a passion that has prompted many of his former players to follow in their mentor’s footsteps into the coaching profession.
Zoumboukos, who has accumulated 27 years as an Oregon assistant coach -- the longest continuous tenure of any assistant coach in the Pacific-10 Conference -- will assume the title of special assistant to the director of athletics.
In his new role, Zoumboukos will continue to serve in an administrative role to Bellotti and the football program as well as a liason between incoming director of athletics Pat Kilkenny and the university campus community.
“Neal Zoumboukos has played an integral role in the success of Oregon’s football program for more than two decades and is regarded very highly among numerous university circles as well,” Kilkenny said. “His value to me will be immeasurable, not only within the athletics department but in helping me become familiar with the different constituents on campus. I am extremely pleased and fortunate that Neal has agreed to fill this role.”
“I want to personally thank Neal Zoumboukos for his outstanding service to this university, the athletics department and our football program,” Bellotti said. “He has been an outstanding teacher, coach and mentor to the student-athletes he has been associated with. He also has been a friend, confidant and co-worker to me whom I have trusted and leaned on my entire time as a football coach.
“He will be missed on the football field but I am pleased he will continue his association with this athletics department and help our new athletics director with his efforts to move this athletics department forward.”
"I saw him... at the head of a small band, or rather in its rear, for he was always near the enemy and his countenance and manner made an impression on me which I can never efface. A deportment so firm, so signified,, but yet so modest and composed, I have never seen in any other person"
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
"It's the report that doesn't exist but won't go away - $17,250 worth of research that was delivered orally to the UO but doesn't exist on paper for the public to see....
It's a potentially important review because it offers a snapshot of the department at a key juncture and is part of a series of events that includes last week's surprise appointment of UO booster Pat Kilkenny as the new UO athletic director.
That could make Leland's assessment of the department and the performance of Bill Moos, then athletic director, a valuable commodity. That Moos announced his resignation shortly after Leland delivered the report and that Moos was given a $2 million golden parachute financed largely by Kilkenny only ups the interest factor....
Frohnmayer says Leland delivered his findings orally to himself and Moos. And Frohnmayer wasn't planning on having Leland put the findings in writing until The Register-Guard pressed him for details and he agreed to have Leland create a written version.
But more than a month later, that version has yet to arrive.
Even when it does, the situation raises several issues. One is whether it would have been appropriate for a public university to spend $17,250 for a report and then have no way to show whether it got what it paid for. Another is that without a written report, the UO would have no formal way of sharing the findings with other staff members, including the athletic department's new and inexperienced director.
Also, the absence of a written report has left the university open to speculation that there was something in the analysis that it didn't want the public to see - an issue that might not go away with the release of a belatedly written version. The fact that Leland's contract specifically called for a written report - plus the series of events that came later - only adds weight to that idea.....
Frohnmayer defends the decision, saying he saw the review as a management checkup meant to tell him and Moos whether the department was on course and what it needs to do to succeed over the next five to 10 years.
When asked by The Register-Guard if he was trying to avoid having a record that would have to be disclosed under Oregon's public records law, he answered that he had assumed from the beginning that Leland would deliver only an oral report and did not know the contract called for a written one.
Frohnmayer said he called Leland in January and asked him to prepare written findings in response to a request from The Register-Guard. Frohnmayer has apologized publicly and privately for the long delay in producing the written report, which he said is due to Leland's workload and an illness.....
But a question that may not be answered is whether Moos' rocky relationship with Phil Knight, the Nike co-founder and the expected lead donor for a new basketball arena, was seen as an impediment in the arena project.
Frohnmayer has said the review was not connected to Moos' resignation. The conducting of the review was never announced outside the athletic department and only became known to the public after its existence was leaked to a Register-Guard reporter after Moos made his resignation public....
Frohnmayer said the Leland report was not meant to provide ammunition for a possible dismissal or a settlement package for Moos.
The UO later agreed to pay Moos almost $2 million over 10 years to buy out the remaining 18 months of his contract. The buyout money was provided by a small group of private donors led by Kilkenny. Frohnmayer has said that at that time no one had even imagined Kilkenny as a replacement for Moos.
Not asking for a written report would have run contrary to standard practice in the consulting industry....."
In a move that appears to be done explicitly to get the university’s basketball arena built, Oregon hired longtime booster Pat Kilkenny as athletic director on Wednesday.
Kilkenny, who sold his highly successful, San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Agency last summer, agreed to a two-year contract. He says “I wouldn’t count it out” when asked whether he would stay longer, but UO President Dave Frohnmayer would not apply the “interim” tag to Kilkenny’s title,....
Kilkenny, a Heppner native who attended the U of O from 1970 to ’74 but did not get a degree,...
Kilkenny also donated $2 million to Bill Moos’ resignation fund, begging the question: Did he have eyes on the AD job when he helped ease Moos out the door?
“I know Pat Kilkenny was not thinking, ‘Pat Kilkenny, Athletic Director,’ and I know Dave Frohnmayer wasn’t,” Frohnmayer says.....
Frohnmayer says a “long-term member” of the athletic department suggested Kilkenny as the next athletic director. The university set up a search committee and considered several dozen candidates – no current athletic directors at other universities, Frohnmayer says.
“He was drafted. He did not apply,” Frohnmayer says....
An obvious question at the press conference was not pursued beyond peripheral mention: Can the chief administrator of the department still donate to athletic projects? Apparently, yes.
“I assume the university will still cash my checks,” says Kilkenny, who acknowledges that he wants the arena project to have broken ground by the end of his two-year contract.The university has purchased land for a new basketball arena, but donation promises have been slow to come in. It’s expected that Nike founder Phil Knight, a generous UO booster, will donate a large portion of the cost of building the arena.
Kilkenny will make a salary and voluntarily donate it to the athletic department, Frohnmayer says. Outgoing AD Moos will help facilitate the transition, but he won’t stay beyond his departure date of March 31.
It’s a different move, to hire a booster as an athletic director. But Frohnmayers points to the same type of hirings at Michigan and Purdue. Kilkenny says taking on the AD responsibility represents how the UO has used “incredible innovation” in building it athletic empire....
He has a wife, Stephanie, and no children. Kilkenny says the couple will look to move to Eugene and buy a home.....
. His insurance company did $1 billion in business at the time of its sale.
One Duck who has always been there for The University of Oregon Athletic Department and the Ducks is Pat Kilkenny. It's easy to become cynical about today's world of high finance in college sports but Pat Kilkenny has always been there when the Ducks have needed him and he deserves our thanks. The Oregonian today summarizes the help he has given the Ducks. Kilkenny paid $1.5 million in planning costs for the proposed basketball arena to replace McArthur Court. He did this knowing it could be just a lot of fancy drawings if the arena was never built. He basically did it to help "jump start" the process after the old plan of building an arena next to "The Pit" died. Now the San Diego Insurance executive has put up much of the funding for the nearly $2 million settlement agreement with Athletic Director Bill Moos to as he said facilitate "a fitting ending for a person who served the university well."
Kilkenny said he was not involved in negotiations over the settlement agreement with Moos. He was approached only recently about whether he could help financially.... and as we know he answered the call.(see post below) Kilkenny said "I'm not sure the last two years have been what anybody wanted including Bill" While there is no direct link between Moos resignation and the arena project Kilkenny said "I don't view this as anything other than constructive......I don't see how anybody else could view it as anything other than constructive." Some have said that Nike's Phil Knight would not contribute to the new basketball arena till Bill Moos was gone as AD because of their past disagreements.
The Oregonian sports story by Ken Goe and Rachel Bachman point out the settlement agreement with Moos calls for him to receive nearly twice what he would have been paid had he stayed at Oregon for the remainder of his contract which runs through June 2008.
Regardless, we Ducks all owe a big thanks to Pat Kilkenny and if the new basketball arena is built he will have been a big part of getting it done.
Pat Kilkenny is Arrowhead General Insurance Agency’s, Inc. Chairman Emeritus. He previously was Chairman of the Board and majority shareholder of Arrowhead from 1984 to August 2006.
Kilkenny also currently serves as a board member for the following organizations: Directors Board of San Diego State University, San Diego International Sports Council and the University of California San Diego Athletic Advisory Board. He has also served on the board of St. Vincent de Paul and the University of Oregon Foundation. Pat has also founded the AGIA Foundation, which will raise money for various charities such as the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund Inc. and St. Vincent de Paul Villages in San Diego.
Since today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday I thought I would post the address he gave when he was inaugurated as President for his second term on March 4, 1865. Weeks of wet weather preceding Lincoln's second inauguration and had caused Pennsylvania Avenue to become a sea of mud and standing water. Thousands of spectators stood in thick mud at the Capitol grounds to hear the President. As he stood on the East Portico to take the executive oath, the completed Capitol dome over the President's head was a physical reminder of the resolve of his Administration throughout the years of civil war. Chief Justice Salmon Chase administered the oath of office. In little more than a month, the President would be assassinated.AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
