SPORTS
Bumbling Beavers fumbled Kragthorpe decision
l.ast Wednesday. Oregon State Athletic Director
Dutch Baughman sent the Beavers' football coach.
Dave kragthorpe. home for the holidays permanent
ly
Baughman didn't actually fire kragthorpe. but Ins
forcing of kragthorpe into a resignation was a lousy
finish for the Beavers' poor excuse of a football season
The Beavers' 8-3 loss to Oregon in the Civil War
game left them resting quietly in the Pacific-10 Confer
ence basement with a 1-10 record. As the horn sound
ed to end the Beavers’ season finale, speculation began
that kragthorpe had coached his final game in Corval
lis.
The announcement came at a press conference last
Wednesday that Baughman's decision to find a new
coach was agreeable to both he an kragthorpe. Baugh
man did not label the move as a firing, and The Orego
nian reported that Kragthorpe "was reluctant to dis
cuss the reasons for his dismissal."
That leaves the legacy of kragthorpe to even more
speculation. Why was he forced to step down? It cer
tainly should not have been the Beavers' 1-10 mark.
As miserable as the Oregon State season was. krag
thorpe was the 198!) Pac-10 coach of the year and had
accumulated more wins in consecutive seasons (in the
1988 and '89 campaigns) than the Beavers had accom
plished in two years since the 1972 season.
The marked record of improvement over that peri
od set the Beaver fans’ hopes high for the 1990 season,
but kragthorpe failed to deliver the wins this fall and
is now only a six-year footnote in Oregon State's grid
iron history.
A few bad breaks and having a team that was may
be not as terrific as its "killer Beavs" billing led to a
poor season for Oregon State, but that is no reason to
From the Sidelines
by
JAKE BERC;
fire llif Reavers' most successful coach in recent histo
ry.
If the reason for his departure is the winning per
tentage, then why wasn't he released earlier? brag
thorpe had never produced a winning year for Oregon
State, and the Beavers had won only lfi games in his
first five years Mis poor success rate would seem to la*
an even poorer motive for Baughman's decision, as
kragthorpe did bring a certain amount of respect (as
much as was possible) to OSM.
At the other state l’ac-10 school. Oregon Coach
Kicli Brooks will la* leading the Ducks into their set
ond straight bowl appearance for the first time in the
school's history in December. But like kragthorpe.
Brooks hasn't always been so successful ill Oregon
In his first six seasons. Brooks hati only 21) wins
compared to kragthorpe's 17 victories over his first six
years. Not much difference, but Oregon gave Brooks a
chance to produce (and hi* obviously has) when Ore
gon Stale did not cut kragthorpe an equal amount ol
slack
Now that the Beavers football program is without
a director. Baughman may find that getting a new
head coach may lie as hard as it was to win a game this
year.
Oregon State, following kragthorpe’s abrupt ab
sence. has a football program on the decline It's i oai h
has just left. th«* tiMin is coming off a I 10 nightmare,
and the fans have got to lie irate with the Heavers' in
ability to snare a winning record since 1070.
With that m mind, what coach in ins right mind
lias any desire to inherit kragthorpe's former position?
Kragthorpe had three years remaining on his contract,
and if Baughman had any patience or common sense,
kragthorpe would still he in Corvallis
Instead. Oregon State is dreaming of possible
com lies who have probably never heard of Corvallis
and the athletic department will lie forced to pay oft
kragthorpe's remaining three years This could pose a
problem
Reports estimate that the the OSU athletic depart
ment's defii it is at S2 r> million, and kragthorpe
would have earned roughly $2'it).(MM) over the con
tract's l.ist three years So where is this money going
to i omo from when the Heavers will have to pay anoth
er head com h over the next three years? Baughman
bettor gel to work on those bake sales
Regardless of how bad the Heavers' season looked,
it had nothing to do with the coaching ability of krag
thorpe Oregon State simply did not have good players
in l'itlt) for many different reasons
Sure, it's kragthorpe's responsibility to recruit tal
ent from the high school pool, but the Beavers' miser
able reputation and their lack of decent facilities pro
ceded the coach's recruiting efforts Oregon State did
not provide kragthorpe with the tools he needed to
build a good team
lie did his ties! with what he had on his own. and
the Beavers decided last Wednesday that it wasn't
good enough and let him go lie was never given a
chance
Schedule finished, CSU sets sights on Ducks
F rom stall ana wee repofls
Colorado State, Oregon's op
ponent in the Dee. 2!) Freedom
Howl, ended its regular season
Saturday night with .1 .tU-27
victory over i lawaii.
The Kants finished the regu
lar season at H 4 overall and l> 1
for a second place finish in the
Western Athletic Conference.
Colorado Slate's onk WAC loss
was a 52-9 drubbing at the
hands of Brigham Young
The Rants' Freedom Howl ap
pearance will Im- mils the set
ond trip to a bowl name in the
school’s history. In the l‘t4H
Kaisiu Bowl, the school's only
other bowl appearance. Colora
do State was a 21-20 loser to
Occidental (College
Colorado State’s win in Ha
waii wasn’t easy as the Rams
had to rally from a 21 to third
quarter deficit and trailed 27-22
in the fourth quarter.
Running back Brian Cope
land scored three tour hduwn.s
for Colorado State, including
the game-winner on a nine
yard pass from qnarterhai k
Mike Cimene/. with only 28
seconds remaining I’.imenez
then ran in for tin- two-point
conversion to give the Kams the
three-point win.
Copeland rushed for 7f> yards
on 1.1 carries, and caught two
passes, both for touchdowns,
for .10 yards.
The Kams had a chance to go
ahead for the first time in the
game earlier, driving to the
Rainbow two-yard line liefore
Copeland fumbled and Hawaii
rec overed with C04 remaining.
Cimenez l«ul a six-plav drive
dial look only r>.l seconds lo gel
Colorado Stale into the end
zone for the win
The win over Hawaii was
Colorado State's fourth in the
last five games, vvhli h helped
the Kams f linch a second-place
finish in the WAC and the free
doni Howl liertli It also kept
them from entering a howl
game with .1 two game losing
streak
Colorado State had lost licit)
to Louisiana l ei h the week he
fori- the Hawaii game, ending a
three-game winning streak that
included wins over Tulsa. New
Mexico and Wyoming
The only losses the Rains suf
fered this season besides the
HYU and laiuisiana Tech games
were a .11 20 sethai k at Arizona
State and a I1 -20 loss at Arkan
sas
The H -I re< ord and a berth
opposite Oregon in the Free
dom Howl mark a complete
two vear turnaround tor the
Ram lootball team
STUDENTS • FACULTY • STAFF
Flu UaccuuUuui
Influenza vaccinations will be given at the
Student Health Center every WEDNESDAY.
THURSDAY. AND FRIDAY FROM 8 00 am
to 9:00 a m. beginning October 24th and
continuing until the end of Fall term Only
one injection is needed
Students $3.50
Faculty and Staff $4.00
Annual flu immunizations ARE
RECOMMENDED for the following
1. Healthy persons 65 years or older
2 Persons with long term heart or lung
problems.
3 Persons with any of the following: kidney
disease, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, anemia,
severe asthma, and conditions which
compromise immune mechanism
Influenza vaccine MAY be given to persons wishing
to reduce their chances of catching the flu, persons
who provide essential community services, and stu
dents or others in schools or colleges
For more information, call the
STUDENT HEALTH CENTER at (346H441
ME5
DAYJ990
rw MBA. Yo^° ^‘nd how to get one.
and ""Here's e chence to /»»' '°RoaRAU
W£DmECX^^TS
curpe»t mba
Wednesday. Nov. 2*19
5 30 « Un»v of Oregon
Gerlinger Lounge. Un.v.