By Jay Jones, June 23, 2008
Last week, ESPN.com concluded releasing their selections for the “Face of the Program” feature on college football.
As noted right here on Duck Sport News, Phil Knight was named Oregon’s “Face of the Program”. And noted on Beaver Sports News, Terry Baker was selected as the “Face of the Program” for Oregon State.
Since posting those entries,several DSN and BSN visitors requested that we put together a list of all of the Pac-10 “Face of the Program” selections.
So, here you go.
Arizona: John “Button” Salmon - Salmon’s “Bear Down” is Arizona’s “Win one for the Gipper.” This one goes back a ways. When I think of Arizona football, I think of “Desert Swarm”. And I also think of a season-ending injuries at the hands of that defense.
Arizona State: Pat Tillman - Pat Tillman has transcended the sport, and become an American hero.
Cal: “The Play” - An iconic play. The downside to this is that Cal has not had a player rise to that kind of transcended level.
Oregon: Phil Knight - So, who stands out on this list? Or should I say doesn’t belong? Phil Knight has done a lot of good things for the University of Oregon. But his selection as the “Face of the Program” is a swipe at Oregon’s history, its accomplishments on the field, and Autzen Stadium. Or were they saying that Oregon really doesn’t have anything emblematic enough to be considered the “Face of the Program”?
Oregon State: Terry Baker - Good choice. Heisman Trophy winner. Although, this selection is reaching back into history pretty far.
Stanford: Jim Plunkett - Won the Heisman Trophy in 1970 over Notre Dame’s Joe Theisman. That’s good enough for me (That orange man turned me down for an autograph.).
UCLA: The Rose Bowl - An iconic venue. But Bruins’ fans think that ESPN missed the boat on this one. And I agree. Again, what does this say about their play on the field? Even though Troy Aikman started off at Oklahoma, he did his damage at UCLA, and with America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys. How ’bout them ESPN boys!
USC: Tailback U - Five Heisman Trophy winners at the tailback position. USC was named the “Face of the Program” representing the decade of the 2000s.
UW: Don James - “Dawgfather” is about right, with all the good, and bad, that implies.
WSU: Mel Hein - Talk about the way-back machine. An All-American in 1930. 1930! The Great Depression. Speakeasies. Flappers. Call me a young whipper-snapper, but “Jumping Jehosaphat”! Couldn’t they have selected Drew Bledsoe and called it good?
Hmmm…So, what “Face of the Program” doesn’t belong? I’ll give you a hint: Barry Sanders was named the “Face of the Program” for Oklahoma State, not T. Boone Pickens.
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Tags: Beaver Sports News, Beavers, Don James, Duck Sports News, Ducks, espn, Face of the Program, Jim Plunkett, John "Button" Salmon, Oregon State University, Pat Tillman, Phil Knight, Tailback U, Terry Baker, The Play, The Rose Bowl, University of Oregon
Ducksinarow Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I agree, putting Phil Knight as the face of our program is an insult, true he has donated a lot to our athletics program but this just tells espn readers that without him we have nothing. The truth is that most other big name schools have multiple donors that give tons of money to the programs, whereas Oregon mainly has Knight, and I think he gives so much to compensate for those inequities. Is there a way to find a breakdown of total donations given to programs? I would like to see Oregon vs. USC, UCLA, Michigan, Notre Dame, LSU, etc… It is lame that ESPN is perpetuating this uncle phil thing….
Roseanna Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Jay, thanks for the list. It was pretty interesting in that so many chose players, and I liked the USC collage. I enjoyed your commentary.
I haven’t really given it that much thought so seeing each school’s choice (minus ours, that is) was insightful. I was sort of surprised but not surprised by Don James being the UW choice. Seems to me we find ourselves in somewhat the same boat as them. Isn’t there something more iconic after all these years?
Possibly the face of UW and UO programs over the years should be each other..LOL !
Roseanna Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Er…make that to say… ‘UW and UO playing each other’ as the face of the programs.
Jay Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Roseanna -
Thanks. I said I would do it and I had to come through.
Jay
DSN
Roseanna Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Ya did good!
And while we’re at it, I read in an earlier post that you were involved in the DuckVision of the past. I really enjoyed it in the beginning, but the past few years have been abysmal. So it’s your fault! You brought your creativity here! :)
I agree with your point that ‘the Pick’ needs limited involvement in the pre-game. There are SO many plays that could be highlighted from week to week to build the excitement they want. People look for it now and don’t find much. It needs much more creativity than it’s had recently. And what the hell is it with the sound system at Autzen? It’s not like we can’t afford a decent one (meaning one that works well) In the past two years, DuckVision has turned into a pre-game bore.
Jay Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Roseanna -
I wish I could be completely free-wheelin’ about Duck Vision with this blog and tell all.
But, alas, I can’t…
I will say this, though. Over the last five years, I have played a very minor, if any, role with Duck Vision. At the beginning, though, it was a fun project and I enjoyed my time while working on it.
But all good, and fun, things must come to an end.
One last thing: for a number of reasons (I can’t and won’t get into), I think Duck Vision will be changing over the next few years. And it will be up to the fans to determine if that’s a good, or bad, thing.
As far as the sound system is concerned, Roseanna, it is outstanding that you have noticed its…well…deficiencies.
And, yes, it comes down to money. Ideally, speakers would be distributed all around Autzen. One of the Duck Vision rules is that it’s a bad idea to produce, or broadcast, anything that has people talking on screen because of the speed of sound. Considering there is only one speaker on the East side of the stadium, fans west of the 50-yard line experience Duck Vision like a badly dubbed Kung Fu movie.
As we get closer to the season, I’ll make a Duck Vision-specific entry.
Thanks.
Jay
DSN
David C. Nelson Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 7:10 am
“Or were they saying that Oregon really doesn’t have anything emblematic enough to be considered the “Face of the Program”?
Minus Phil Knight and Nike, ESPN would have found something. However, the Knight/Nike connection dominates the national reputation of Oregon football. To bypass it would be to ignore the elephant in the room.
Autzen Stadium? It’s another loud, intimidating, place to play — and a bit undersized — in a college football world filled with dominating home field venues.
Dan Fouts? A darned good pro player who played on mediocre Duck teams. Many of today’s generation of fans think of him as that bearded television analyst. Ahamad Rahsad? Excellent commentator and a great player in his day, but he was Bobby Moore in his Oregon days. And he looked a lot different then. Which face would you use?
Joey Harrington? Let’s see, he’s the Oregon player they put on that obnoxious billboard in Times Square, right? Kind of an NFL journeyman, wouldn’t you agree?
Bellotti? Knowledgeable college fans might choose him as one of the top ten active college coaches, but he’s really not a national legend–yet.
Rich Brooks? Now, there would be my choice for the face of the program if Phil/Nike didn’t exist. My favorite image has him standing with Miles Brand and Bill Byrne at practice. Brooks obviously dominates the conversation, pointing at something out of the field of the picture as the other two are listen intently. The archivist at the Knight Library penciled the title: Three Wise Men.
Oh, for the days when it was still the University of Oregon, not Nike U.!
Sorry, Jay, I know you’re doing your best to make hay with this topic, but ESPN got it exactly right. The picture of Uncle Phil doesn’t fit with the other nine because no other school in the Pac-10 has this situation. But it certainly fits Oregon.
Zachary Vishanoff Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Lets just have oregon be two faced. That would convey the ideological split at UO. One happy face for the hype-based media and a more veiled phantom elephant man character to represent reality of how we really treat people here.
Dave Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Amazing on how some people can see the truth and others refuse to believe it no matter how much evidence is thrown in their face
UO Wrestler Alumni Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Don’t get me wrong, but I love Phil Knight.
If one compares the choices with that of the other “faces” of the PAC 10, Phil’s picture is the only one that is of a booster.
What kind of message is being sent out here? At the very least, how other PAC 10 schools view our beloved UO. If I were Phil, I would be very embarrased of how they would view me and the university. Isn’t this about sports and education? Or the Univeristy of Nike?
Roseanna Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I was thinking about this in terms of mascots.
Don’t you suppose that, originally, the mascot was to be ‘the face of the program’? And people had enough sense then to realize that ‘a face’ represented where they came from. Their play spoke for itself in the W/L column. Their W/L gave them total credibility.
How much more complicated can we make it? Apparently A LOT!
The KISS principle is lost and costing us a bundle.