What an awesome year in the `Best College Town in the Pac-12!’
I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of Beaver Nation and what our amazing student-athletes and coaches have achieved since last August.
When I was presented the opportunity to return to the Oregon State and the Corvallis community I did so without hesitation. I know what is possible at OSU – I see it every day on campus; the enthusiasm, the pride, the success and the leadership has never been stronger than it is today.
Beaver Athletics is a huge part of the fabric of this University and it is my vision for it to become even stronger through competition, community service and developing leaders of tomorrow.
We have refocused our attention on having a considerable presence in Portland. There were more than 20 athletic competitions alone in the Portland Metro area during the last academic year, including the successful return of the Far West Classic and our initial Dam City Showcase. We have reached out to business leaders in the area to secure avenues for our student-athletes to obtain professional opportunities as part of our relaunched Everyday Champions program. The Metro area will continue to be a strong emphasis moving forward.
Our student-athletes have been involved in a record number of community service hours, and achieved high academic success across the spectrum, including having 136 Pac-12 Conference academic honorees.
On the field and courts of play, nine of our teams advanced to postseason, highlighted by conference titles for our women’s basketball and wrestling teams. The Final Four appearance by Coach Scott Rueck’s team was an incredible run, and Coach Wayne Tinkle has guided our men’s basketball program back to relevance with its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1990.
I want to assure you that these types of successes will not be rare occurrences and the expectations I have for all of our teams is to compete in the postseason on a regular basis. The Beavers are no longer underdogs – we are here to win championships, compete in the postseason and represent ourselves with class on the national stage that Beaver Nation can be proud of.
Our football program, with the leadership of Coach Gary Andersen, is rebuilding the right way with high-character young men. With back-to-back solid years for recruiting the foundation is being constructed for great success in the near future. I’m very excited about the direction of Coach Andersen’s program.
Excited might be the key word for me because that is what I feel every day I step on campus. I’m honored to be the leader of one of the best intercollegiate athletic programs in the nation. People across the country are taking notice of what we are doing at all levels to develop student-athletes: our leaders of tomorrow are what I like to say are the ‘best of the best’ in this country.
In closing, I firmly believe there is no better experience for a young man or woman than attending Oregon State University. The atmosphere on this campus and in this community is second-to-none; truly the Best College Town in the Pac-12.
I want you be proud of what our student-athletes, coaches and staff have accomplished in a short amount of time. However, this is just the beginning!
Go Beavs!
Vice President & Director of Athletics
• Damien Haskins (football), Natalie Hampton (softball), Ruth Hamblin (basketball), KJ Harrison (baseball) and Jack Anderson (baseball) earned CoSIDA Academic All-District. Hamblin later became the first Academic All-American in the sport since Chelle Flamoe in 1989.
• Ruth Hamblin and Seth Thomas received the Pac-12’s Tom Hansen Medal for athletics, academic and community service achivements.
• 136 Pac-12 All-Academic team members.
• The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honored a co-league high 19 track and field athletes to the all-academic team.
• Ruth Hamblin was one of 10 finalists for the Women’s Basketball Senior CLASS Award, which focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
• Ruth Hamblin was recognized with the NCAA’s Elite 90 award for having the top GPA of any student-athlete in the Final Four.
• Bev Miller and Ruth Hamblin nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
• Monica Anderson (cross country), Kindel Bailey (track & field), Joely Hannan (rowing), Jeff Jagielski (rowing), Marie Kopecek (cross country), Katie Low (rowing), and Jaime Wright (gymnastics) are included as University Honors Scholars.
• Morgan Anderson (cross country), Olivia Ashby (rowing), Jesikah Cavanaugh (swimming), Lihani du Plessis (rowing), Will Hopkins (football) and Alissa Kummer (rowing) are included as University Associate Scholars.
• Football posted a 2.91 cumulative GPA for fall term; the highest on record for the sport. The sport has a 2.81 overall cumulative GPA since Gary Andersen was introduced as the head coach in December 2014.
• The women’s basketball program was recognized by the NCAA for having a perfect Academic Progress Rate scorecard.
• Monica Anderson (cross country), Kindel Bailey (track & field), Joely Hannan (rowing), Jeff Jagielski (rowing), KALA Kopecek (cross country), Katie Low (rowing), and Jaime Wright (gymnastics) are included as University Honors Scholars.
2015-16 saw the relaunch of a landscape that Oregon State pioneered- - Everyday Champions is a set of philosophies, ideas and practical programming designed to enhance the well-being of Beaver student-athletes.
It is comprised of clubs and groups, workshops and speakers, events, and industry pipelines, all which give Beaver student-athletes an opportunity to grow holistically, both personally and professionally, while developing the leadership skills to enter into the real world with poise, conviction and a drive to succeed.
Learn MoreHealthy Lifestyles
Nutrition
Life Skills
Decision Making
Community Service
Athletic Identity
Multicultural Awareness
Academic Support
Leadership Institute
Leadership Certificate
SAAC
Beyond Football
Post Graduate Scholarships
Beavers Without Borders
Job Networking
Industry Pipelines
SportUp
Internships
First Round Draft Picks
Transition Team
AD's Leadership Circle
Varsity OSU
As part of the Everyday Champions program, Oregon State launched SportUp, college athletics' first start up incubator. With the help of the program, former student-athlete Maureen Tremblay has launched her own business – Revive, an app that tracks workouts for elite athletes to prevent injury.
We renewed our emphasis on Portland as a central part of our strategic plan for success. "Dam City" is home to more Oregon State alumni than any other place in the world. The commitmenet to PDX included over 1,000 visits by OSU Athletics staff, 20 athletic competitions and special events like the Far West Classic, Signing Day Celebration, Dam City Showcase and the launch of SportUp.
Dam City Scorecard
Our Beaver Nation recently completed its most successful two-year fundraising period with approximately $63M raised in support of OSU Athletics. The previous three-year total was $43.26M with an average of $14.42M. In addition, Our Beaver Nation special event attendance rose 11.7 percent year-over-year. Thank you, Beaver Nation, for making it happen!
The Victory Through Valley campaign has raised 96 percent of its goal towards the expansion and renovation of the Valley Football Center.
Men’s Basketball individual sport support has seen a 65 percent growth over the past three fiscal years.
Our Beaver Nation Advisory Board is more engaged than ever and focusing on an enhanced priority point system.
Our Beaver Nation office has realigned to better serve our internal and external partners, while also engaging and cultivating our donor base.
• Former and current student-athletes Tayla Woods, Laura Schaudt, Arica Nassar, Haley Clarke, Storm Woods, Larry Scott and Will Hopkins began a non-profit organization Believe In Better to help fund children in their pursuit of sports by offsetting costs associated with participating.
• Will Hopkins was nominated for the American Football Coaches “Good Works” team for community service endeavors by football student-athletes.
• Beavers Without Borders returned to the Dominican Republic. Deven Hunter from women’s basketball made her third trip.
• Ryan Nall, Katelyn Driscoll, and Bev Miller each earned the Play It Forward, presented to one college student-athlete per month in the state of Oregon for community service and assisting youths in being active through sports of physical activity.
• Taylor Ricci received OSU’s prestigious Waldo-Cummings Award for academic excellence and superior extracurricular achievements.
Our student-athletes and sport programs are at the core of what we do. 2015-16 was a year like no other, including three Pac-12 Championships, five All-Americans, nine programs reaching the postseason, and 136 Pac-12 All-Academic selections.
Sport-by-Sport
