CORVALLIS - Scott Barnes’ run as Oregon State’s athletic director officially ends today, closing out a 10-year stretch that brought major wins, painful setbacks and a front-row seat to one of the most chaotic stretches in the program’s modern history.
Barnes, 64, said in March that he would step down, and his retirement date was moved up to July 5 after Kevin Griffin was hired to replace him. Barnes will stay on in an advisory role for the next year.
OSU president Jayathi Murthy praised Barnes for helping guide the department through the collapse of the Pac-12 and the rebuilding that followed.
“Scott will always be somebody that I am immensely grateful for,” Murthy said. “The whole Pac-12 debacle hit when I was not even a year into the game; I was just learning the trade and certainly learning the structure of Pac-12 and athletics.
Here comes this sort of meteorite. I know how the dinosaurs felt.
The whole thing vaporized literally overnight.”
Murthy also said Barnes “could have left” three years ago and not stayed to help rebuild the conference, which officially launched last week.
“That didn’t happen just like that,” Murthy said. “It happened because we had a very seasoned AD sitting right here in this position. I will never forget what he did for us.”
Barnes’ tenure was a mixed bag. Oregon State had competitive success, fundraising gains and facility improvements, but there were also administrative mistakes along the way.
The biggest recent misstep came with the failed Blueprint Sports deal, which became a far larger problem than the agreement itself and ended with the resignation of an executive deputy athletic director. At the same time, Barnes also made two notable hires in his final year: JaMarcus Shephard and Justin Joyner.
Looking back, Barnes said the area he would handle differently was conference realignment, a period that will likely define his tenure for many Beaver fans in the worst way.
“I think we could have done better in our communication on a consistent basis to Beaver Nation,” Barnes said. “In this rapidly changing landscape, finding more ways, better ways, to communicate to the masses on what’s happening and that’s tricky because so much of what we dealt with we couldn’t talk a lot about.
It’s tricky because those things are cloak and dagger behind the curtain. There’s always a way to do better.
How could we have done better in that really difficult environment.”
Barnes said the department made “strategic investments and strategic cuts across the board” after the old Pac-12 dissolved and the new conference formed, with those decisions affecting coaching salaries - including Shephard and Joyner - and even the athletic director position itself. Griffin will make much less than Barnes did.
Still, Barnes said he believes Griffin is stepping into a situation where Oregon State is set up to move forward, especially because of the connection between Murthy and the athletic department.
“Alignment between the athletic director and president is critical,” Barnes said. “Can’t say more about Jayathi’s leadership.
Our fan base is tremendous and one of the best in all of the G6 and that’s an opportunity, to rekindle in some programs that enthusiasm and maintain in others. Facilities will be nearly unmatched by others.
There’s a lot there. Then obviously the people, the coaches that we have in place and I’m super excited about.”