Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Friday, December 8, 2017
College Football
Mike Riley returns to Beavers as assistant coach
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Mike Riley is returning to
Oregon State.
The former Beavers coach
was named an assistant on new
coach Jonathan Smith’s staff on
Thursday.
Most recently head coach at
Nebraska, Riley was coach at
Oregon State twice, from 1997-98
and 2003-14. He will serve as
an assistant head coach with
a “to-be-determined” position
assignment under Smith.
Smith, a former Beavers’ quar-
terback, was a graduate assistant at
Oregon State under Riley in 2003.
Also joining Smith’s staff are
assistants Jim Michalczik, Brian
Lindgren, Jake Cookus, and Mike
McDonald.
Michalczik, who has been an
assistant at Arizona for the past
five years, was named associate
head coach, serving as the run
game coordinator and offensive
line coach. Lindgren, an assistant
at Colorado, will serve as the
Beavers’ offensive coordinator and
quarterbacks coach.
Cookus was promoted from
within the program to special
teams coordinator and McDonald,
who comes to the Beavers from
Washington, will be strength and
conditioning coach.
Dan Van De Riet, who was
Nebraska’s director of football
operations, is also returning to
Oregon State as the chief of staff
AP Photo/Troy Wayrynen, File
Former Oregon State coach Mike Riley was named an assistant
on new coach Jonathan Smith’s staff on Thursday. Riley, most re-
cently head coach at Nebraska, was coach at Oregon State twice,
from 1997-98 and 2003-14.
and director of football operations.
Nebraska dismissed Riley last
month after three seasons. The
Cornhuskers finished this season
4-8 for the program’s fewest wins
since going 3-6-1 in 1961. Riley
was 19-19 overall with the Huskers
and lost 12 of the last 18. Nebraska
had losing records two of Riley’s
three seasons.
During his time with the
Beavers, Riley developed a
reputation for developing quarter-
backs and pulling the occasional
big upset. With a stint in the
NFL as coach of the San Diego
Chargers, he also showed a knack
for recruiting players that were
successful at the pro level.
“Current and former players
thriving in the NFL and in life are
proof of Coach Riley’s tremendous
ability to recruit outstanding young
men,” Smith said in a statement
released by Oregon State. “He
understands what it takes to win in
this conference, and how to eval-
uate and develop student-athletes.
There is no one better to have
represent OSU in the homes of
recruits as we build this program.”
Over 14 total seasons at Oregon
State, Riley had a 93-80 record and
wins in six of eight bowl games.
His Beavers famously knocked off
No. 3 Southern California at home
in 2006, No. 2 California on the
road in 2007, No. 1 USC at home
in 2008 and No. 9 Arizona on the
road in 2010.
Riley grew up in Corvallis, and
his father Bud was an assistant at
Oregon State.
Smith came to the Beavers from
Washington, where he was quar-
terbacks coach under coach Chris
Petersen. A walk-on at Oregon
State, he helped lead the Beavers
to a Fiesta Bowl victory following
the 2000 season.
Smith filled the vacancy left by
Gary Andersen, who surprisingly
parted ways with the Beavers in
early October after a 1-5 start.
Cornerbacks coach Cory Hall
served as interim head coach for
the rest of the season, and the
Beavers finished 1-11.
Could regional flavor of playoff cause fans to tune out?
By ERIC OLSON
Associated Press
Hardcore college football fans
across the country undoubtedly will
be tuned in for the College Football
Playoff. But what about casual
fans outside SEC, ACC and Big 12
country?
With the Pac-12 and Big Ten not
represented in the four-team playoff,
a TV sports viewership analyst said
interest could be tempered on the
West Coast, upper Midwest and
Northeast.
The campuses of Clemson,
Georgia and Alabama are in close
proximity in the Southeast —
Clemson and Georgia are just 75
miles apart. Oklahoma is the outlier,
a good day’s drive west of Alabama.
“I think it’s too regional this
year,” said Jon Lewis, editor of
Sports Media Watch. “That hurts in
every sport — unless it’s the Super
Bowl.”
That said, Lewis expects a
potential loss of viewership could
be offset because the semifinals will
be played on New Year’s Day, the
traditional college football holiday.
The last two years the semifinals
were on New Year’s Eve, when the
games competed with parties and
other celebrations.
An additional boost might
come from the Alabama-Clemson
semifinal in the Sugar Bowl being
a rematch of the last two national
championship games.
But, Lewis said, “I still think the
numbers are going to be well short
of the first year of the playoff.”
In 2015, the inaugural playoff
semifinals matching Oregon-Florida
State and Ohio State-Alabama each
drew better than 28 million viewers
on ESPN, according to the Nielsen
company. The Oregon-Ohio State
title game had 33.4 million.
Viewership the last two years
ranged from 15.5 million to 19.8
million for the New Year’s Eve
semifinals, and the Clemson-Ala-
bama title games drew 26.7 million
in 2016 and 26 million in 2017.
Los Angeles sports radio host
Petros Papadakis acknowledged the
regional flavor of the playoff — “I
hope Oklahoma can at least strike
a blow for the people west of the
Mississippi,” he joked — but said he
didn’t think it would put a damper
on fans’ enthusiasm nationally.
“Call me crazy, but I think we’ve
reached a point in our society where
football fans put football on,” Papa-
dakis said. “If there is live football
and it’s a big game that’s on, people
are watching. ... I really do feel
like the College Football Playoff is
transcendent like the Super Bowl,
where people are just going to watch
because it’s championship-level
football.”
Still, Lewis said it can’t be over-
looked that much of the nation is left
with no rooting interest. He noted
the Big Ten and Pac-12 have larger
geographic footprints (never mind
the Big 12’s eastern outpost of West
Virginia) and there is some overlap
between the SEC and ACC.
“It’s good to have the SEC repre-
sented. I don’t know that it’s good to
have two SEC teams represented,”
Lewis said. “And when you talk
about the conferences, the Big 12,
ACC and SEC are very similar in
terms of their makeup, in terms of
their regions. You don’t want it to be
too regional.”
An interesting test will be the
Rose Bowl, where the traditional
Big Ten-Pac-12 matchup gives way
to the playoff semifinal between
Oklahoma and Georgia.
Papadakis said the Rose Bowl
obviously would have more local
interest if Southern California or
UCLA were participating, but the
fact the game is a playoff makes it
intriguing.
“The key for the Rose Bowl is
that they’re big, blue-blooded tradi-
tional college football programs,”
he said. “As long as it’s a big blue
blood, people will come out to Los
Angeles and the game will feel big.
There are so many transplants in LA,
and I would argue there are more
Georgia and Oklahoma people in
this town than Oregon people who
would come to the game.”
Brandon
Heideman,
who
bartends at The Lodge Sports Grille
in Seattle, said there was stand-
ing-room only at his establishment
last year when the hometown Wash-
ington Huskies were in the playoff.
The absence of a Pac-12 team in this
year’s playoff, let alone the Huskies,
probably will temper enthusiasm.
“As long as someone in the
Pac-12 is playing in a game, we’re
very busy,” Heideman said. “We’ll
have more people than usual in here
for the playoff, but it won’t be like it
was last year.”
Ali Jones, a bartender at Bunkers
Sports Bar and Grill in Dayton,
Ohio, said she and her patrons are
disappointed Ohio State didn’t make
the final four. Still, she expects a full
house for the semifinals and the Jan.
8 final and that folks probably will
be pulling for Oklahoma, which
beat the Buckeyes in the regular
season.
What about Alabama, the team
that edged out the Buckeyes for a
playoff spot?
“We won’t be rolling any Tides
over here,” Jones said.
Soccer
Hope Solo to run for president of US Soccer
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Former national team goalkeeper
Hope Solo has announced that she’s
running for president of the U.S.
Soccer Federation.
Solo declared her candidacy
Thursday night on Facebook. It
comes less than a week after current
U.S. Soccer Federation President
Sunil Gulati said he will not seek a
fourth term. His decision came in the
wake of the October failure of the
U.S. men’s team to qualify for the
2018 World Cup.
“I know exactly what U.S. Soccer
needs to do, I know exactly how to do
it, and I possess the fortitude to get it
done,” Solo said in her post. “I have
always been willing to sacrifice for
what I believe in and I believe there
is no greater sacrifice then fighting
for equal opportunity, integrity and
honesty, especially in an organization
like the USSF that could give so much
more to our communities across the
nation.”
She joins a crowded field of nine
candidates. She is the second woman
to announce a bid for the job.
The 36-year-old Solo anchored
the U.S. team in goal during its 2015
Women’s World Cup championship
run. Her tenure with the national team
ended following last year’s Olympics
in Brazil, when the Americans were
ousted by Sweden in the quarterfinals.
Afterward, Solo called the Swedish
team “cowards” for their defensive
style of play.
She was suspended from the
team shortly thereafter and has not
returned.
For her career, Solo has made 202
total appearances with the national
team, with 153 wins and an interna-
tional-record 102 shutouts.
But she’s also been dogged by a
Former
national
team goal-
keeper Solo
says she’s
running for
president of
U.S. Soc-
cer. Solo
made the
announce-
ment
Thursday
night on
Facebook.
AP Photo/Chris
Szagola, File
number of off-the-field controversies.
Notably, a domestic violence case
stemming from a 2014 altercation at
a family member’s home in Wash-
ington state.
Solo joins Soccer United
Marketing President Kathy Carter,
who announced her candidacy on
Tuesday. Other candidates include
former national team players Paul
Caligiuri, Eric Wynalda and Kyle
Martino as well as USSF vice
president Carlos Cordeiro, Boston
lawyer Steve Gans, New York lawyer
Michael Winograd and Paul LaPointe,
Northeast Conference manager of the
United Premier Soccer League.
The election will be held in
February.
Solo said she is campaigning
on four core principles: She aims
to create a winning culture in U.S.
Soccer, starting with youth develop-
ment; she’ll push for equal pay for
the women’s national team and all
women within U.S. Soccer; she’ll
address the “pay-to-play” model to
make soccer accessible to all; and
she’ll stress transparency within the
federation.
“What we have lost in America is
belief in our system, in our coaches,
in our talent pool, and in the gover-
nance of US Soccer,” she said. “We
now must refocus our goals and come
together as a soccer community to
bring about the changes we desire.”
The 58-year-old Gulati had been
a driving force in the USSF for more
than 30 years. During that time, the
U.S. won the women’s World Cup
in 1991, 1999 and 2015. He helped
put together the successful bid that
brought the 1994 World Cup to the
U.S. and served as executive vice
president and chief international
officer of the U.S. organizers for the
tournament.
He was deputy commissioner of
Major League Soccer from its launch
until 1999; and president of Kraft
Soccer Properties, which operates the
New England Revolution of MLS.
Gulati was a unanimous pick
in March 2006 to succeed Bob
Contiguglia, who served two terms.
Gulati replaced Chuck Blazer on
FIFA’s executive committee in 2013
and continues to serve on the renamed
FIFA council. He also is chairman of
the joint U.S-Mexico-Canada bid
committee, hoping FIFA will pick
North America to host the 2026
World Cup.
Pac-12
addresses
scheduling
issues for
2018 season
By JANIE MCCAULEY
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — No
Pac-12 football team that plays
a Saturday road game will be
required to play away from home
again the following Friday in a
revamped 2018 schedule.
Commissioner Larry Scott said
Thursday that the Pac-12 Confer-
ence has discussed scheduling
changes with its member univer-
sities to find a better solution for
next season given concerns and
scrutiny over the challenges of
2017.
“We’re going to have an
improved schedule next year,”
Scott said in a phone interview
Thursday.
Holiday
Bowl-bound
Washington State won a night
game at Oregon on Oct. 7 then
returned to the road and took a
37-3 thumping at California in
Berkeley that following Friday,
Oct. 13 — exactly the kind of
issue the Pac-12 is looking to
remedy. Conference champion
USC also had that happen: the
Trojans won at Cal on Sept. 23,
a Saturday, then lost in Pullman,
Washington, to the Cougars the
next Friday, Sept. 29.
Questions arose about whether
scheduling affected the confer-
ence’s overall success and ability
to land a team in the College
Football Playoff.
USC will face Big Ten champ
Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl
with the Rose Bowl hosting a
national semifinal this season.
Both teams were left out of the
College Football Playoff by the
committee.
In addition, the Trojans played
12 straight games before their bye
leading into the Pac-12 title game.
That won’t happen again either,
Scott said.
“The big thing you’ll notice
differently in next year’s schedule
is no team’s got 12 in a row, No.
1,” Scott said. “And, we agreed
with our campuses that no team
is going to have to play back-to-
back road games if they have a
Friday night game. Specifically,
no one’s going to have to play a
road game on Saturday and then
turn around and play a road game
on a Friday. This past year, most
of those teams lost those games
— Washington State lost at Cal,
USC lost at Washington State, so
I think it was a real hot topic this
year, and that will change.”
————
AP Sports Writer Anne M.
Peterson in Portland contributed
to this story.
GORDON: Has 3 years,
$37 million left on contract
Continued from 1B
They traded a minor leaguer
to Minnesota for $1 million in
additional bonus allocation on
Wednesday.
It just so happened that the
money from Miami also came
with Seattle’s presumptive
new center fielder.
“He’s a terrific athlete and
I don’t think the transition to
center field will be a terribly
difficult one for him,” Dipoto
said. “He’s up for the chal-
lenge and actually doesn’t
live too far from Ken Griffey
Jr., so I think he’s already
planning on reaching out for a
little assistance.”
For his part, Gordon said
he was “shocked” to learn of
the trade and the Mariners
desire to move him from
second base to center field.
Gordon’s agent, Nate Heisler,
released a statement saying
the Mariners did not receive
Gordon’s approval for the
position switch prior to the
trade being finalized.
Gordon said he’ll accept
the position switch, but maybe
not with the most enthusiasm.
“I had honestly never heard
of a situation where a guy who
was a Gold Glove-caliber
player at his position turning
over to a new positon,”
Gordon said. “I was definitely
shocked, but at the end of the
day I’m a team player and if
that’s what I have to do for
the Seattle Mariners, if that’s
what is best for them then
that’s what I’ve got to do.”
Gordon did play center
field briefly during winter ball
in the Dominican Republic
during the 2013-14 offseason
and thought he “played pretty
well,” during the limited
opportunities. Seattle is
adding significant speed and
a knack for getting on base to
its batting order. Gordon has
led the National League in
stolen bases three of the past
four seasons and led the NL in
batting in 2015.
He served an 80-game
suspension in 2016 after a
positive test for exogenous
testosterone and Clostebol,
substances he said he took
unknowingly. Gordon hit
.308 with a .341 on-base
percentage last season, when
he scored 114 runs and topped
the major leagues with 60
stolen bases.
Gordon’s contract calls for
salaries of $10.5 million, $13
million and $13.5 million in
the next three seasons. His
deal includes a $14 million
team option in 2021 with a $1
million buyout, a salary that
would become guaranteed if
he has 600 plate appearances
in 2020 or 1,200 in 2019-20
combined, and he finishes
2020 on the active major
league roster.
“We want to be more
athletic, we want to be faster.
We want to be more dynamic
on the bases,” Dipoto said.
“There are very few players
on the planet more dynamic
on the bases than Dee Gordon.
... We did add an impact force
on the bases here. We did
add a really athletic defender
who has got some gold on his
shelf.”