Photo by: Eric Evans Photography
Investment In Women's Programs Continuing To Pay Dividends
04/13/18 | General, Softball, Women's Basketball, Women's Tennis, @GoDucksMoseley, Women In Flight
The UO athletic department has made broad-based excellence a priority under director of athletics Rob Mullens, and impressive results have become the norm.
A year ago at this time, the University of Oregon athletics department was celebrating a "March to Victory" by its women's programs, major steps toward the Ducks' best-ever finish in the Director's Cup standings, at No. 9.
In March 2017, the UO women's basketball team shocked the nation by reaching the Elite Eight, the softball program went undefeated on the way to a 35-0 start to its season, and women's track and field won the NCAA Indoor title, the second jewel in what ended up being an unprecedented Triple Crown of national championships for that program in 2016-2017.
How have the Women of Oregon followed that up in 2018? By raising the bar once again.
The basketball team played its way back into the Elite Eight this spring, after winning the first Pac-12 Tournament title in school history. The softball program was No. 1 in the NCAA's RPI for a time, and is No. 2 entering this weekend's series at Arizona State. Women's track also is No. 2 in its national rankings, tennis is entering the final homestand of a season in which it achieved its highest ranking ever, and lacrosse is coming off a weekend sweep of Arizona State and defending conference champion Southern California. Academically, 20 female student-athletes made the university's winter Dean's List.
Oregon fans have taken notice: Huge crowds packed Matthew Knight Arena to watch the first two rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament, and newly expanded Jane Sanders Stadium for home softball games. Come June, the grandstands at Hayward Field will be filled to watch the UO women defend their NCAA Outdoor championship, the sixth straight year Track Town has hosted the meet after an aggressive bid by UO administration for the privilege of doing so.
That the women's programs at Oregon are experiencing another season of significant success isn't a coincidence. And it sure isn't by accident.
"Philosophically, if we're going to do something, we want to be great at it," UO director of athletics Rob Mullens said. "This is about the student-athlete experience, and an important piece of that is excelling at the highest levels."
For the athletic department's bottom line, football remains the driver; ticket sales, donations, media rights agreements and postseason revenue related to football account for some 70 percent of Oregon's $115 million annual budget. For the sake of context, women's basketball generated roughly $750,000 in gross revenues for the Ducks this fiscal year.
But Mullens' stakeholders aren't a profit-oriented board of directors concerned only with the bottom line. They're coaches and student-athletes who want the chance to compete for national championships, and fans looking to cheer them on to the same end. Kelly Graves recognized as much when he became Oregon's head women's basketball coach four seasons ago.
"We have everything in place, and that's one of the reasons I came here," Graves said. "I knew we had everything in place to compete for national championships. The resources, the facilities, and the support of the administration."
How much support? For Graves, there's been objective backing, including a renegotiated contract bumping up his salary, following the Elite Eight run in 2017. And there's been more subjective support; who can put a price on the decision by Mullens to leave a spring break baseball tournament involving one of his sons, to travel to Spokane for this year's Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight? Or regular appearances around the team by UO President Michael Schill?
"You don't get that at a lot of places," Graves said. "They can talk a good game, but they back it up, too."
Tennis coach Alison Silverio had a sense for the expectations that would be placed upon her when she came to Eugene in 2014. Mullens arrived in Eugene four years before, and in the interim oversaw the softball team's ascension to Pac-12 powerhouse, the volleyball program's first-ever NCAA championship game appearance in 2012, and four straight national championships for the acrobatics and tumbling program.
Silverio interviewed for the tennis coaching job with Mullens and sport administrator Eric Roedl, Oregon's deputy athletic director.
"When I came on my interview, the message was, broad-based excellence," Silverio said. "And, we're going to support and give all our sports the resources they need to be successful. Rob and Eric made that very clear. From the moment our staff came in, we felt welcomed, we felt supported – and certainly motivated, by the atmosphere we're in. Because you're surrounded by amazing coaches."
Silverio's Casanova Center office is directly across the hall from that of softball coach Mike White. When Silverio was hired, White was a year removed from leading the Ducks to their first-ever Pac-12 title, in 2013. Oregon would end up winning four in a row, from 2013-16.
And that was before the softball team moved into gleaming new Jane Sanders Stadium. The first-class facility was the end result of a major fundraising push to recognize and appreciate what White was accomplishing. Softball has also benefitted from the "Women In Flight" fundraising program for UO women's teams, which facilitated the team's trip to New Zealand in December.
When Silverio gazes out her office window, that's a lot of success staring back at her. But Silverio didn't allow tennis to be left behind.
In 2017, her program notched its first-ever wins over UCLA and USC. They claimed their first NCAA Tournament berth in 10 years, and followed that up by being ranked a program-record No. 17 earlier this season, a campaign that will see its final homestand this weekend, Friday against Colorado and Sunday against Utah.
As will happen in the competitive world of collegiate athletics, other schools came calling for Silverio's services, after seeing the success she guided the Ducks to in 2017. Last summer, the UO administration stepped up with a new contract to keep her in Eugene.
"On a basic human level, that's what everyone wants: to feel valued, to feel wanted," Silverio said. "They said, the program is doing amazing things, and we want to keep that continuity and that consistency, to keep the program going in the right direction. That speaks volumes to our student-athletes, too, and the work they're doing."
Like Graves, Silverio has experienced support in ways both big and small. As the sport administrator, Roedl attends as many home matches as possible. But also spotted at the UO Student Tennis Center for women's tennis matches his season have been Mullens, and senior women's administrator Lisa Peterson, and senior associate athletic director for development H.J. Cohn.
"For myself as a coach, but also our student-athletes, it's amazing to say, 'Wow, the athletic director is here supporting us,' " Silverio said. "The administration has been about, we're not only going to support football and men's basketball, where we're visible. We're going to support everyone."
If you're going to do something, be great at it. For Oregon and its support for women's athletics, that's not just a talking point.
"Ultimately our edge is culture: the student-athletes and the leadership," Mullens said. "Identifying the right people who fit who we are, where we are, and the values it takes to succeed. Unprecedented results are a byproduct of a lot of small things, which add up."
In March 2017, the UO women's basketball team shocked the nation by reaching the Elite Eight, the softball program went undefeated on the way to a 35-0 start to its season, and women's track and field won the NCAA Indoor title, the second jewel in what ended up being an unprecedented Triple Crown of national championships for that program in 2016-2017.
How have the Women of Oregon followed that up in 2018? By raising the bar once again.
The basketball team played its way back into the Elite Eight this spring, after winning the first Pac-12 Tournament title in school history. The softball program was No. 1 in the NCAA's RPI for a time, and is No. 2 entering this weekend's series at Arizona State. Women's track also is No. 2 in its national rankings, tennis is entering the final homestand of a season in which it achieved its highest ranking ever, and lacrosse is coming off a weekend sweep of Arizona State and defending conference champion Southern California. Academically, 20 female student-athletes made the university's winter Dean's List.
Oregon fans have taken notice: Huge crowds packed Matthew Knight Arena to watch the first two rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament, and newly expanded Jane Sanders Stadium for home softball games. Come June, the grandstands at Hayward Field will be filled to watch the UO women defend their NCAA Outdoor championship, the sixth straight year Track Town has hosted the meet after an aggressive bid by UO administration for the privilege of doing so.
That the women's programs at Oregon are experiencing another season of significant success isn't a coincidence. And it sure isn't by accident.
"Philosophically, if we're going to do something, we want to be great at it," UO director of athletics Rob Mullens said. "This is about the student-athlete experience, and an important piece of that is excelling at the highest levels."
For the athletic department's bottom line, football remains the driver; ticket sales, donations, media rights agreements and postseason revenue related to football account for some 70 percent of Oregon's $115 million annual budget. For the sake of context, women's basketball generated roughly $750,000 in gross revenues for the Ducks this fiscal year.
But Mullens' stakeholders aren't a profit-oriented board of directors concerned only with the bottom line. They're coaches and student-athletes who want the chance to compete for national championships, and fans looking to cheer them on to the same end. Kelly Graves recognized as much when he became Oregon's head women's basketball coach four seasons ago.
"We have everything in place, and that's one of the reasons I came here," Graves said. "I knew we had everything in place to compete for national championships. The resources, the facilities, and the support of the administration."
How much support? For Graves, there's been objective backing, including a renegotiated contract bumping up his salary, following the Elite Eight run in 2017. And there's been more subjective support; who can put a price on the decision by Mullens to leave a spring break baseball tournament involving one of his sons, to travel to Spokane for this year's Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight? Or regular appearances around the team by UO President Michael Schill?
"You don't get that at a lot of places," Graves said. "They can talk a good game, but they back it up, too."
Tennis coach Alison Silverio had a sense for the expectations that would be placed upon her when she came to Eugene in 2014. Mullens arrived in Eugene four years before, and in the interim oversaw the softball team's ascension to Pac-12 powerhouse, the volleyball program's first-ever NCAA championship game appearance in 2012, and four straight national championships for the acrobatics and tumbling program.
Silverio interviewed for the tennis coaching job with Mullens and sport administrator Eric Roedl, Oregon's deputy athletic director.
"When I came on my interview, the message was, broad-based excellence," Silverio said. "And, we're going to support and give all our sports the resources they need to be successful. Rob and Eric made that very clear. From the moment our staff came in, we felt welcomed, we felt supported – and certainly motivated, by the atmosphere we're in. Because you're surrounded by amazing coaches."
Silverio's Casanova Center office is directly across the hall from that of softball coach Mike White. When Silverio was hired, White was a year removed from leading the Ducks to their first-ever Pac-12 title, in 2013. Oregon would end up winning four in a row, from 2013-16.
And that was before the softball team moved into gleaming new Jane Sanders Stadium. The first-class facility was the end result of a major fundraising push to recognize and appreciate what White was accomplishing. Softball has also benefitted from the "Women In Flight" fundraising program for UO women's teams, which facilitated the team's trip to New Zealand in December.
When Silverio gazes out her office window, that's a lot of success staring back at her. But Silverio didn't allow tennis to be left behind.
In 2017, her program notched its first-ever wins over UCLA and USC. They claimed their first NCAA Tournament berth in 10 years, and followed that up by being ranked a program-record No. 17 earlier this season, a campaign that will see its final homestand this weekend, Friday against Colorado and Sunday against Utah.
As will happen in the competitive world of collegiate athletics, other schools came calling for Silverio's services, after seeing the success she guided the Ducks to in 2017. Last summer, the UO administration stepped up with a new contract to keep her in Eugene.
"On a basic human level, that's what everyone wants: to feel valued, to feel wanted," Silverio said. "They said, the program is doing amazing things, and we want to keep that continuity and that consistency, to keep the program going in the right direction. That speaks volumes to our student-athletes, too, and the work they're doing."
Like Graves, Silverio has experienced support in ways both big and small. As the sport administrator, Roedl attends as many home matches as possible. But also spotted at the UO Student Tennis Center for women's tennis matches his season have been Mullens, and senior women's administrator Lisa Peterson, and senior associate athletic director for development H.J. Cohn.
"For myself as a coach, but also our student-athletes, it's amazing to say, 'Wow, the athletic director is here supporting us,' " Silverio said. "The administration has been about, we're not only going to support football and men's basketball, where we're visible. We're going to support everyone."
If you're going to do something, be great at it. For Oregon and its support for women's athletics, that's not just a talking point.
"Ultimately our edge is culture: the student-athletes and the leadership," Mullens said. "Identifying the right people who fit who we are, where we are, and the values it takes to succeed. Unprecedented results are a byproduct of a lot of small things, which add up."
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