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Boren will leave OU a transformed place
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D“We’ve always had a great relationship. He’s always been a great mentor, adviser in many ways. On top of a great friendship. That’s always been important to me, that the leadership and the direction of not just the university through President Boren, but it infiltrated through to the athletic department and to me directly.” Bob Stoops, Former OU head football coach
avid Boren strolled onto the Holmberg Hall stage Wednesday. Wasn’t the first time.
This was where Boren, as a Seminole High School student back when the world was young, competed in debate and performed saxophone solos.
This was where Boren was introduced as OU’s president in November 1994. The man who had been governor and was a sitting U.S. Senator resigned from Capitol Hill to take his dream job.
And this is where the 76-year-old Boren announced he would retire from that dream job, effective June 30.
Boren will leave behind a transformed university. Transformed in looks, in status, in reputation, in quality of students and instructors. He’s proud of the Honors College, instituted in 1997, and the studyabroad program, which included about 2 percent of students back in 1994 and includes more than 30 percent, with an OU campus in Arezzo, Italy, and the National Merit Scholars program, which attracts some of the brightest minds in the nation. Proud of the $3.1 billion raised in private donations over 23 years, which has invigorated the campus even in tough financial times.
OU is a different place, a better place, because of David Boren.
And you can say the same thing about the athletic department. In November 1994, the athletic department was in severe debt and severe slump. Football was anemic, basketball had stagnated and women’s athletics were an afterthought.
But Boren eventually hired Joe Castiglione as athletic director, Castiglione eventually hired Bob Stoops to
coach football and today the Oklahoma athletic department is as good as any in America, both on the field of play and on the ledgers.
“I think our athletics program is incredible,” Boren said. “That’s a great tribute to Joe Castiglione. His leadership is incredible. One of the best hires we ever made.”
They were quite the team, Boren/Joe C./ Stoops. Together an unfathomable 18 years. That kind of stability doesn’t happen in the high-stakes world of college football. But it happened in Norman, and the Sooners are the great beneficiary.
“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Stoops said. “He’s
always been a great mentor, adviser in many ways. On top of a great friendship. That’s always been important to me, that the leadership and the direction of not just the university through President Boren, but it infiltrated through to the athletic department and to me directly.
“One of the primary reasons I’ve been here 18 years. Because I so trusted the leadership and the direction that he provided for us as well as the university. Look at the facility enhancements with all our athletic teams over the last 15, 18 years. Everyone’s been financially impacted. New facilities, new dormitory, new stadiums across
campus.”
And Boren is walking away in the manner that Stoops walked away three months ago. With the university in splendid shape, the state budget crises be damned.
“When is it the best time to step away, when is it the best time to step off the stage?” Boren
asked. “To me, it was when the university was as strong as it could be. Maybe it’s strongest.”
Boren hasn’t always taken the right steps with athletics. In many ways, he’s the face of Big 12 instability. Boren famously said in August 2011 that OU “would not be a wallflower,” and Missouri was alarmed enough that soon enough Mizzou was in the SEC. Boren has sent mixed signals across the Big 12. Heck, in some
ways, he did the same Wednesday.
“The right things are going to happen,” Boren said of the Big 12’s future. “We don’t really have a crystal ball. The current contracts for media, which is the main source of athletic revenue now, will be coming due in about half a dozen years. What will that situation look like?
“One year, the Big 12’s not even in the picture anymore. The next year — thanks to two Oklahoma teams this year, we’re carrying the Big 12 in so many ways — it’s a lot stronger. It may be stronger still. The shared values of the people in the region covered by the Big 12, the traditional rivalries and friendships of the school, are strong.
“If it’s able to flourish and have good athletic records … it’s doing well very well financially, within striking distance of any conference, ahead of two or three of the other
Power 5 conferences. I think there’s still a possible bright future for the Big 12 Conference.”
But when it comes to OU athletics, and OU in general, the future is bright with no qualifiers. As bright as Holmberg Hall, which in 2002 underwent an $18 million renovation. The 750-seat performance hall was restored to its original design, including a replication of the original domed ceiling.
Boren walked across
Holmberg Hall’s stage 60 years ago, and you could call it his pet project, except that really describes the entirety of the University of Oklahoma.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok. com/berrytramel