Good work @Brenden Slaughter
You've been coast to coast. What are some challenges you see Oregon State facing that might not be as apparent in the East?
Barnes: “We all deal with the same challenges around finance, revenue generation, personnel issues, but I think generally, conference alignment, television, coaching salaries, student athlete issues, etc. We all deal with the same group of issues. The extent of the issues and nuances are different. If there is a difference that I’ve come to realize since I’m back home in the Pacific Northwest, it’s that our fans are more forgiving. There are only two universities in the country that have sold out their four main revenue sports, (Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, and Baseball), South Carolina and Oregon State. I thought that was a nuance difference that it exciting. It gives us an unbelievable foundation to work from.”
What are your thoughts about the Pac-12 Network? In what ways do you want to see it improve, and in what ways is it helping Oregon State?
Barnes: “Where we sit now, is that we have to figure out how to grow the distribution and the revenues. We are all looking for that next pop. That next pop isn’t readily available or in front of us. The expansion of the olympic sports coverage has been huge. We all want additional distribution, because that comes with additional revenue and exposure. There is new leadership that will be coming on board at the Pac-12 Network, and I think we all view that as an excellent job that was done, but always a chance to put fresh eyes on it. DIRECTV is an opportunity that as athletic directors, and the conference office are chomping at the bit to see that materialize, because of the revenue and exposure.”
Oregon State has struggled in getting home-and-home games with big time programs, like Michigan and Ohio State. Are you looking to change that? If so, how?
Barnes: “We’ve got Minnesota coming in this year as part of a home and home. That’s a really sweet spot for us. You can talk both sides about going to play an Ohio State. One of the nuance’s in football scheduling is, where is your football program now and where is it going? Because we schedule so far out, in some cases a decade, you can’t always match that up. The balance is around thinking of six to seven home games, thinking about is there a year you're going to go play a top-5 program and not a return, or a two-for-one. We want to be able to deliver to the fans an interesting rivalry, and games and yet we want to bring balance to our schedule with our program and not get punched in the face as we are growing. I think once we get where we are going, which is an opportunity to vie for a Pac-12 Championship, than that looks different and our scheduling philosophy changes.”
What are your plans in improving the fan experience for athletic events?
Barnes: “I think it can always get better. We are challenged with different ways to consume sporting events, digitally and otherwise. It’s important for us to understand what the fans want. We put this fan committee together to make sure in a formal way listening to our fans. We’ve challenged them to bring new initiatives to us around how to improve the fan experience. For a guy who’s never been to an OSU football game, and for all of our staff, we are looking for some feedback from them. And not just the 20 on the committee, but there are over 300 that applied for the committee, and they become a focus group for us. With that we’ve developed priorities that we will roll out soon.”
What are the plans in renovating Reser, specifically the west side?
Barnes: “We need to finish the projects that we have in the cue first. We have a men’s basketball locker room project, the Valley Football Center, and the track and field complex. As we put those to bed, we are starting a process right now to write and put out a request for proposal for a design firm to help us with a 10 year facilities master plan. That master plan will not only prioritize what’s next across all of what we do, but we will take 2-3 projects and take a deep dive and understand what the cost and ramifications of those projects are and the impact they will have. So yet to be determined, and certainly lead gifts and dollars that we can attract are key to getting these projects of the ground. I believe there might be project or two that isn’t quite as taxing in terms of the size, and can impact all of our student athletes. We will want to look for those as well, while looking at the big significant projects, west side, Gill, and want to look to make an impact right away. With something like the west side, we have to understand what we are really trying to accomplish. That one could be likely be a non-traditional funding model that might include other program pieces to it that just take six or seven saturday’s. Gill, I can tell you, that while we are looking at larger projects, some of the smaller projects that we think we can get done in a more timely fashion is what we call “Phase 2” of Gill. That would be center hung scoreboards, and some more work on branding in the upper areas, and perhaps the restrooms upstairs. In Reser, other than the west side, we’d like to work on some fan experience areas, potentially LED scoreboards, are things we are looking at right now before the big one.”
Is there any thought to relocating the video board to the top of the Valley Football Center?
Barnes: “Absolutely. As we dive into the west side, that’s gonna cause us to look at the entire layout again and that west side would impact other pieces as well. Again, I love what the framework of what a long term master plan does for you in terms of your ability in terms of being able to bring in some focus about what you are doing. We are writing the RFP right now and we will go to the street with it and by early summer we will select a design firm.”
It was a tough year for men’s basketball, in your talks with Coach Tinkle, is it difficult to retain optimism from fans?
Barnes: “I’m pleasantly surprised by the support of our fans have to our men’s basketball program. A big part of that is the culture of our fan base, and who Wayne Tinkle is and what he has built and the fact that he’s proven himself. I only got to see five games, and the one thing that I took away that was impactful was the notion that there wasn’t one kid on that bench that wasn’t all in all the time. That speaks to his leadership, coaching level, and the tone he’s set. Now you think about what is next. This is the first time we have signed the player of the year in California and Oregon. What we believe we have coming back, albeit a couple of our student athletes are testing the waters, and I believe they will both be back and ready to go, focused on where we are trying to take this thing along with the other pieces. I’m really excited with where we are going to sit.”
What have you thought about living Corvallis, given that you’re still living over at the Hilton Garden hotel here on campus? What do you like to do in the rare down time you get?
Barnes: “They’ve treated me well over there. With that said, I’m ready for a permanent landing spot. We did buy a house, and my son graduates high school in Pittsburgh on June 9th, and we will sell our house in Pennsylvania. I’ve really enjoyed the friendly, and welcoming personality of Corvallis and it’s people. It’s been special. I look forward to a permanent landing spot here in Corvallis. I am really looking forward to exploring the fly fishing streams of Eastern Oregon, and there will be some opportunities outside of town. I’ve yet to visit the local fly shops, and it’s on my list of things to do one weekend where I don’t have anything just to get a lay of the land. I’ve put my golf clubs off to the side for eight years, and I picked up fly fishing, but I want to get back to golf if I can. I’m horrible at it. When people ask me if I golf, I will only commit to having clubs. I do want to improve that. Fly fishing is a real passion of mine, I love it and I want to get better at it.”
You've been coast to coast. What are some challenges you see Oregon State facing that might not be as apparent in the East?
Barnes: “We all deal with the same challenges around finance, revenue generation, personnel issues, but I think generally, conference alignment, television, coaching salaries, student athlete issues, etc. We all deal with the same group of issues. The extent of the issues and nuances are different. If there is a difference that I’ve come to realize since I’m back home in the Pacific Northwest, it’s that our fans are more forgiving. There are only two universities in the country that have sold out their four main revenue sports, (Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, and Baseball), South Carolina and Oregon State. I thought that was a nuance difference that it exciting. It gives us an unbelievable foundation to work from.”
What are your thoughts about the Pac-12 Network? In what ways do you want to see it improve, and in what ways is it helping Oregon State?
Barnes: “Where we sit now, is that we have to figure out how to grow the distribution and the revenues. We are all looking for that next pop. That next pop isn’t readily available or in front of us. The expansion of the olympic sports coverage has been huge. We all want additional distribution, because that comes with additional revenue and exposure. There is new leadership that will be coming on board at the Pac-12 Network, and I think we all view that as an excellent job that was done, but always a chance to put fresh eyes on it. DIRECTV is an opportunity that as athletic directors, and the conference office are chomping at the bit to see that materialize, because of the revenue and exposure.”
Oregon State has struggled in getting home-and-home games with big time programs, like Michigan and Ohio State. Are you looking to change that? If so, how?
Barnes: “We’ve got Minnesota coming in this year as part of a home and home. That’s a really sweet spot for us. You can talk both sides about going to play an Ohio State. One of the nuance’s in football scheduling is, where is your football program now and where is it going? Because we schedule so far out, in some cases a decade, you can’t always match that up. The balance is around thinking of six to seven home games, thinking about is there a year you're going to go play a top-5 program and not a return, or a two-for-one. We want to be able to deliver to the fans an interesting rivalry, and games and yet we want to bring balance to our schedule with our program and not get punched in the face as we are growing. I think once we get where we are going, which is an opportunity to vie for a Pac-12 Championship, than that looks different and our scheduling philosophy changes.”
What are your plans in improving the fan experience for athletic events?
Barnes: “I think it can always get better. We are challenged with different ways to consume sporting events, digitally and otherwise. It’s important for us to understand what the fans want. We put this fan committee together to make sure in a formal way listening to our fans. We’ve challenged them to bring new initiatives to us around how to improve the fan experience. For a guy who’s never been to an OSU football game, and for all of our staff, we are looking for some feedback from them. And not just the 20 on the committee, but there are over 300 that applied for the committee, and they become a focus group for us. With that we’ve developed priorities that we will roll out soon.”
What are the plans in renovating Reser, specifically the west side?
Barnes: “We need to finish the projects that we have in the cue first. We have a men’s basketball locker room project, the Valley Football Center, and the track and field complex. As we put those to bed, we are starting a process right now to write and put out a request for proposal for a design firm to help us with a 10 year facilities master plan. That master plan will not only prioritize what’s next across all of what we do, but we will take 2-3 projects and take a deep dive and understand what the cost and ramifications of those projects are and the impact they will have. So yet to be determined, and certainly lead gifts and dollars that we can attract are key to getting these projects of the ground. I believe there might be project or two that isn’t quite as taxing in terms of the size, and can impact all of our student athletes. We will want to look for those as well, while looking at the big significant projects, west side, Gill, and want to look to make an impact right away. With something like the west side, we have to understand what we are really trying to accomplish. That one could be likely be a non-traditional funding model that might include other program pieces to it that just take six or seven saturday’s. Gill, I can tell you, that while we are looking at larger projects, some of the smaller projects that we think we can get done in a more timely fashion is what we call “Phase 2” of Gill. That would be center hung scoreboards, and some more work on branding in the upper areas, and perhaps the restrooms upstairs. In Reser, other than the west side, we’d like to work on some fan experience areas, potentially LED scoreboards, are things we are looking at right now before the big one.”
Is there any thought to relocating the video board to the top of the Valley Football Center?
Barnes: “Absolutely. As we dive into the west side, that’s gonna cause us to look at the entire layout again and that west side would impact other pieces as well. Again, I love what the framework of what a long term master plan does for you in terms of your ability in terms of being able to bring in some focus about what you are doing. We are writing the RFP right now and we will go to the street with it and by early summer we will select a design firm.”
It was a tough year for men’s basketball, in your talks with Coach Tinkle, is it difficult to retain optimism from fans?
Barnes: “I’m pleasantly surprised by the support of our fans have to our men’s basketball program. A big part of that is the culture of our fan base, and who Wayne Tinkle is and what he has built and the fact that he’s proven himself. I only got to see five games, and the one thing that I took away that was impactful was the notion that there wasn’t one kid on that bench that wasn’t all in all the time. That speaks to his leadership, coaching level, and the tone he’s set. Now you think about what is next. This is the first time we have signed the player of the year in California and Oregon. What we believe we have coming back, albeit a couple of our student athletes are testing the waters, and I believe they will both be back and ready to go, focused on where we are trying to take this thing along with the other pieces. I’m really excited with where we are going to sit.”
What have you thought about living Corvallis, given that you’re still living over at the Hilton Garden hotel here on campus? What do you like to do in the rare down time you get?
Barnes: “They’ve treated me well over there. With that said, I’m ready for a permanent landing spot. We did buy a house, and my son graduates high school in Pittsburgh on June 9th, and we will sell our house in Pennsylvania. I’ve really enjoyed the friendly, and welcoming personality of Corvallis and it’s people. It’s been special. I look forward to a permanent landing spot here in Corvallis. I am really looking forward to exploring the fly fishing streams of Eastern Oregon, and there will be some opportunities outside of town. I’ve yet to visit the local fly shops, and it’s on my list of things to do one weekend where I don’t have anything just to get a lay of the land. I’ve put my golf clubs off to the side for eight years, and I picked up fly fishing, but I want to get back to golf if I can. I’m horrible at it. When people ask me if I golf, I will only commit to having clubs. I do want to improve that. Fly fishing is a real passion of mine, I love it and I want to get better at it.”
