Behind Beavers’ season of tumult
When Gary Andersen resigned as head football coach at Utah State in 2012 to take the Wisconsin job, he did something almost unheard of in coaching circles: He called every one of his Aggies players to tell them of his decision.
When he stepped down as Oregon State’s head coach Oct. 9, he did something even more unusual: He walked away from $12.4 million remaining on his contract, which ran through 2021.
Assistant coach Cory Hall, a former NFL defensive back, was named interim coach, becoming the first African American head coach in Oregon State football history.
Under Hall, the Beavers (1-6, 0-4 Pac-12) looked decidedly improved but lost 36-33 to Colorado on Oct. 14. They’re heavy underdogs Thursday night when they host No. 20 Stanford (5-2, 4-1).
Andersen evidently thought he couldn’t win at Oregon State and told OregonLive columnist John Canzano
weeks ago that he wouldn’t want the school to pay him millions if that was the case. He turned out to be a man of his word.
Although he had led Utah State to the WAC title in 2012 and guided Wisconsin to two bowl games — he quit before the second bowl game, in 2014 — he floundered in Corvallis, going 7-23 in 2½ seasons.
“The problem was within his staff,” said Jim Wilson, Oregon State’s radio analyst. “They weren’t working together. They were doing things behind each other’s back. Everybody wasn’t on the same sheet of music.”
Wilson said Andersen’s predecessor, Mike Riley, had left the cupboard bare when he left for Nebraska. Andersen seemingly had the team going in the right direction, Wilson said. His successor next year “can win six games right away. His best year was going to be next year.”
When athletic director Scott Barnes told Andersen that he could get rid of the assistants, according to Wilson, Andersen felt it would be impossible to find effective replacements. “Who are you going to get to sign up for the Titanic?” Wilson asked.
Andersen probably made a mistake in going public with his complaints. In a series of angry text messages to Canzano — which he knew would be published — he criticized assistants for, among other things, promoting themselves at the expense of the players.
“Self promoting ... that’s what this business has become!!” he wrote after his team barely beat Portland State 35-32. “That’s the biggest reason I am not long for this (expletive)!! Kids are a second thought or third or fourth!!”
After losing 48-14 to Minnesota, he fumed, “It’s on me and I get that and right now I hired the wrong guys!!”
Following a 52-23 loss to Washington State, he threatened to quit. “If these (expletives) can’t get it right I will not just say fire them and start over!! That’s not the way to go about it. If I (expletive) it up that bad I will take the bullet and ride off into the sunset!”
After a 42-7 loss to Washington: “That offense is embarrassing!! On me I hired the (expletives)!” Then came a 38-10 loss to USC, and Andersen had seen enough. He quit the following Monday.
“Andersen is unique,” Canzano wrote. “He knew fans deserved better. He died a little with every loss and obviously wasn’t in this for the money. Even as his mindset shifted from fighting through the end of the season, to deciding he simply wasn’t going to be able to fix it, that never changed.”
The pressure on head coaches to win can be overwhelming. “Even Bill Walsh had some insecurities and fears,” former Stanford sports-information director Gary Cavalli said. “I remember we were in his suite at the Bluebonnet Bowl in 1978, watching the Gator Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson.
“I was standing next to Bill when Woody Hayes punched the Clemson player. Bill went white as a ghost. He looked at me and said, ‘Gar, this job will eat you up. You’ve got to know when to get out.’ ”