Viking Tales: 3-Part Interview w/ PSU President Wim Wiewel

[ScottHood]

Some of you may have seen this already, but I recently conducted an extensive interview with Portland State president Wim Wiewel on a variety of topics related to FB and athletics in general. Here is the 3-part series:

Part I: http://psuvikingtales.com/psu-president-eyes-broader-support-of-athletics/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Part II: http://psuvikingtales.com/wiewel-welcomes-changes-to-football-program/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Part III: http://psuvikingtales.com/part-iii-wiewel-optimistic-on-athletic-finances/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for reading!

Scott Hood
E-Mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @PSUVikingTales
Donate: http://psuvikingtales.com/donate/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[BroadwayVik]

As an alumnus of Oregon, Oregon State and Portland State, I can tell you that there is very little pride when you don't own your own stadium. Oregon created Autzen Stadium by bulldozing up a berm from the center of the stadium to create a flattened depression where the field would be. They placed it on land they had on the opposite side of the Willamette River, so a flow of fans could walk to the game by crossing over the foot-and-bicycle bridge.

Oregon State had essentially cold aluminum seats atop plain reinforced concrete for regular fans and students and good and proper seating for the donor alums. Originally Parker Stadium, it was not a great stadium when it began, but it got better.

I think what's needed is a stadium for Portland State, so Portland State has its own stadium too. Both the city and the state need to clear pathways, make accommodations and provide financial support to get this started, the same way the state did to help Oregon and Oregon State in their day.

The PDC can identify lands very near the university appropriate for stadium siting and perhaps parking. I like the wild idea of building it on Ross Island. The very idea fires the imagination of possibilities and epic tailgaing. On an island ... in the city!

The good news is we can start relatively small with room for expansion along the way. Maybe we can follow the Autzen berm model and build our stadium on the cheap this way too. We could build the first tier to accommodate, say, 15,000 and call that Phase I. Hopefully, this would begin to generate the kind of pride we need at the university.

We need to be paying our rents instead into investment for pride in our own university. Why rent and throw money down the drain when you can buy and have for yourself? But we have to hold accountable to us the hands of the city and the state to ensure we're getting the help we deserve to have like UO and OSU had before us. Now it is our turn. We held up our end by getting the enrollment numbers up. Now comes athletics. City help is a bonus needed because things are much more costly in the city. We need creative financing, perhaps rezoning, perhaps taking over abandoned property, distressed property, etc. We have to have a way to make it work.

 

[VikHoops]

In my opinion, some of the most wonderful news to come out of PSU football in the past month...

"As PSU strives to find ways to increase football attendance in 2015, the Viking Athletic Partnership will likely not be involved in those efforts for much longer. The failed joint venture between the PSU athletics department and C-Level Sports Management headed by David Hersh is ending soon after less than two years, Wiewel said.

“That is going away,” said Wiewel when asked about the status of the VAP. He quickly replied “a lot sooner than that” when asked if the Viking Partnership was simply fading away and would be gone within a year."

:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[Pounder]

In reading the first two parts, it sounded like Wiewel was absolutely the driver behind hiring Hersh. So to read the third part to find out that's ending is worth a chuckle.

So here's the thing: being a soccer fan in this country and having lived a while, I always arrived at the understanding that you can't simply promote a team by winning for exactly the reasons Wiewel stated. You have to have a reason to go. The PROBLEM is evident, however... Wiewel completely approaches athletics as an accountant would. Try asking the recording industry how that's going.

Well, check that. It's only a problem if Wiewel is a micromanager... and he makes it sound that way in this interview. That may not actually be happening. He might have looked at those results and just parroted them before the interview, trying to sound smart. The president of a university like Portland State really has to prioritize academics. The ideal is to hire the AD, give direction (basically on whether extra resources are forthcoming or need to be generated in house), and let that AD do that job. Can I say 100% that this is happening?

Can I?