EUGENE — Former Oregon offensive lineman Doug Brenner could assist make the long-term adjustments to the NCAA he hoped for.
Oregon athletics is contemplating bringing a proposal to the Pac-12 and finally the NCAA to lift the accreditation necessities for faculty power and conditioning coaches and to implement an acclimatization interval for winter soccer exercises.
The potential transfer comes within the wake of the civil trial earlier this spring through which Brenner sued UO, former soccer coach Willie Taggart and former power and conditioning coach Irele Oderinde, and the NCAA for negligence as a result of his hospitalization and accidents associated to exertional rhabdomyolysis following strenuous exercises in January 2017.
“We’re having these conversations internally proper now,” Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens informed The Oregonian/OregonLive final month.
Brenner settled with UO for $500,000 previous to closing arguments on the seventeenth day of trial in Lane County Circuit Court docket and dismissed his claims in opposition to Taggart and Oderinde. A jury discovered the NCAA was negligent however that its negligence didn’t trigger damages to Brenner, who was one among three UO gamers hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis because of the exercises. Former Oregon offensive lineman Sam Poutasi settled for $300,000 previous to going to trial and tight finish Cam McCormick, who remains to be at UO, elected to not pursue a declare.
Among the many factors Brenner’s legal professionals argued throughout the trial was that the NCAA’s present bylaw requiring power and conditioning coaches to be licensed by a “nationally accredited” group was too broad and that the governing physique of faculty sports activities has been conscious for over 10 years in regards to the greater chance of soccer accidents, together with exertional rhabdomyolysis, occurring throughout choose intervals of the 12 months, particularly winter exercises.
Oderinde was licensed by the U.S. Monitor & Area and Cross Nation Coaches Affiliation (USTFCCCA), which has far much less stringent necessities than both the Nationwide Energy and Conditioning Affiliation (NSCA) or Collegiate Energy and Conditioning Coaches Affiliation (CSCCa).
Oregon’s proposal would require school power and conditioning coaches to be licensed by one of many two main organizations within the trade and implement an acclimatization interval to winter exercises.
“We’ve got put our coronary heart, soul, and treasure into the hassle to guard gamers,” Greg Kafoury, one among Brenner’s attorneys from Kafoury & McDougal and Eiva Regulation, stated in an announcement. “Taggart was an aberration within the honorable historical past of Duck soccer. There might be no extra acceptable response to the harm wrought by Taggart than for the U of O to hitch the hassle to reform the NCAA.”
Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff stated the convention “is discussing that proposal and we haven’t determined our place on that but.”
Among the many myriad points the NCAA Division I Transformation Committee is assessing features a collection of ideas being reviewed by the Division I Legislative Committee Modernization of the Guidelines Subcommittee, which has advisable to remove caps on the variety of teaching workers members, together with power and conditioning coaches, whereas sustaining the current requirement for nationwide accreditation.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who’s co-chair of the Transformation Committee, stated he wasn’t as acquainted with the nuances of a proposal to alter power and conditioning coach certification requirement.
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer stated he would assist such a proposal and that his power workers adjusted the beginning of its winter exercises in January 2021 after the Gamecocks didn’t play in a bowl sport in 2020.
“You need anyone that’s working with the younger males in our program to be licensed and certified power coaches,” Beamer stated. “Once I obtained employed we thought we had been going to be in a bowl sport and I feel it was round Dec. 22, someplace in there, once they determined to not go to that bowl sport. In order that they ended working towards as much as that time and then you definately primarily had a few weeks earlier than they got here again. So it wasn’t like they performed the final common season sport after which had a month off; it was a few weeks in there, possibly just a little bit extra.
“However you actually needed to be good, particularly in that scenario with us as a result of they’re coming off a break, we didn’t know any of those younger males, they didn’t know us. So it wasn’t like we rapidly went on the market 5 a.m. on a Monday morning and all heck broke free. We had been good as we constructed guys up, and nonetheless attempt to be to today too.”
Washington State athletic director Pat Chun, who represents the Pac-12 on the Transformation Committee, credited Oregon for contemplating bringing such a proposal ahead.
“I can converse to that as an AD at a Pac-12 establishment, which clearly we’re at all times supportive of any sort of guidelines/tips which might be to the advantage of our student-athletes’ well being and security,” Chun stated. “I don’t assume that’s a Transformation subject; that’s extra of a scholar well being and wellness (matter). If Oregon’s going to carry that ahead, credit score to them, clearly they’ve been on the coronary heart of a problem. Something that creates any sort of surroundings that provides extra checks and balances that result in well being and security for our student-athletes — I might be shocked if — it will in all probability garner loads of assist.”
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Four Oregon lawmakers are calling on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to help stop a plan that would kill 450,000 barred owls in an effort to save endangered spotted owls over the next 30 years.
The entrepreneurs were named by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
In a letter sent Tuesday, state Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Stayton, Rep. David Gomberg, D-Lincoln County, Rep. Virgle Osborne, R-Roseburg, and Sen.-elect Bruce Starr, R-Yamhill and Polk counties, asked the incoming Trump administration officials to stop the reportedly more than $1 billion project, calling it a “budget buster” and “impractical.”
Environmental groups Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy in late 2024 filed a federal lawsuit in Washington state to stop the planned killing of the barred owls.
Here is why the Oregon lawmakers are opposed to the plan, what the plan would do and why it is controversial.
In August 2024, after years of planning, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service came up with a proposal to kill a maximum of 450,000 invasive barred owls over 30 years as a way to quell habitat competition between them and the northern spotted owl.
Spotted owl populations have been rapidly declining due in part to competition from invasive barred owls, which originate in the eastern United States. Northern spotted owls are listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
According to the USFWS plan, barred owls are one of the main factors driving the rapid decline of northern and California spotted owls, and with their removal, less than one-half of 1% of the North American barred owl population would be killed.
The plan was formally approved by the Biden administration in September 2024.
Shortly after it was announced, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy immediately responded in opposition to the plan to kill barred owls. They argued the plan was both ill-conceived and that habitat loss is the main factor driving the spotted owls decline.
“Spotted owls have experienced significant population decline over decades,” a news release from the groups filing the lawsuit said. “This decline began and continues due to habitat loss, particularly the timber harvest of old growth forest. The plan is not only ill-conceived and inhumane, but also destined to fail as a strategy to save the spotted owl.”
In their complaint, the groups argued the USFWS violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to properly analyze the impacts of their strategy and improperly rejecting reasonable alternatives to the mass killing of barred owls, such as nonlethal population control approaches, spotted owl rehabilitation efforts and better protections for owl habitat.
The four Oregon lawmakers are siding with the environmental groups and calling for Musk and Ramaswamy to reverse the federal government’s plan to kill the barred owls. It was not immediately clear how the two could stop the plan.
The lawmakers letter stated the plan was impractical and a “budget buster,” with cost estimates for the plan around $1.35 billion, according to a press release by the two groups.
The letter speculates there likely isn’t an excess of people willing to do the killing for free: “it is expected that the individuals doing the shooting across millions of acres – including within Crater Lake National Park – will require compensation for the arduous, night-time hunts,” according to the press release.
“A billion-dollar price tag for this project should get the attention of everyone on the Trump team concerned about government efficiency,” Diehl said. “Killing one type of owl to save another is outrageous and doomed to fail. This plan will swallow up Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars for no good reason.”
USFWS says they aren’t trying to trade one bird for the other.
“As wildlife professionals, we approached this issue carefully and did not come to this decision lightly,” USFWS Oregon State Supervisor Kessina Lee said in announcing the decision in August. “Spotted owls are at a crossroads, and we need to manage both barred owls and habitat to save them. This isn’t about choosing one owl over the other. If we act now, future generations will be able to see both owls in our Western forests.”
Statesman Journal reporter Zach Urness contributed to this report.
Ginnie Sandoval is the Oregon Connect reporter for the Statesman Journal. Sandoval can be reached at GSandoval@gannett.com or on X at @GinnieSandoval.
A rebound basket with 3.5 seconds left in overtime allowed Santa Clara to escape with an 82-81 overtime win over Oregon State in men’s basketball Thursday night.
The Beavers, looking for their first road win of the season and their third since 2021, just missed when Tyeree Bryan’s tip-in with 3.5 seconds left was the difference.
Oregon State, leading 81-78, had two chances to rescue the win.
Adama Bal, fouled while shooting a three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining, made his first two free throws but missed the third. But Bal outfought OSU for the rebound, then kicked the ball out to Christoph Tilly, whose three-point shot glanced off the rim. Bryan then knifed between two Beaver rebounders, collecting the ball with his right hand and tipping it off the backboard and into the basket.
OSU (12-5, 2-2 WCC) came up short on a half-court shot at the buzzer.
The loss spoiled what was a 12-point second-half comeback for Oregon State, which led by as many as four points in overtime.
Parsa Fallah led the Beavers with 24 points and seven rebounds. Michael Rataj had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Isaiah Sy scored 12 points and Damarco Minor 11.
Elijah Maji scored 21 points for Santa Clara (11-6, 3-1), which has won eight of its last nine games.
The game was tied at 32-32 at halftime following a first half where OSU trailed by as many as 12 points. Fallah and Minor combined to score the final eight points as OSU finished the half on a 10-2 run.
The game began to get away from the Beavers again as Santa Clara built a 60-48 lead with 9:43 remaining. Sy got OSU going with a three-pointer, as the Beavers whittled away at the deficit. OSU eventually grabbed the lead at 67-65 with 5:19 left on another three by Sy. It was a defensive brawl for the rest of regulation, as neither team scored during the final 1:58.
Oregon State never trailed in overtime until the final three seconds. A Sy three with 1:29 left gave the Beavers a four-point cushion. After the Broncos later cut the lead to one, Fallah’s layup with 17 seconds left put OSU up 81-78.
Oregon State returns to action Saturday when the Beavers complete their two-game road trip at Pacific. Game time is 7 p.m.
–Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com or @nickdaschel.
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Cal Mukumoto answers to the Oregon Board of Forestry, a citizen board appointed by the governor that helps oversee and implement forest policy. His resignation was announced Thursday during a board meeting by Chair Jim Kelly.Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
Oregon State Forester Cal Mukumoto has resigned.
Mukumoto’s resignation was announced Thursday by Board of Forestry Chair Jim Kelly during a meeting of the board. Mukumoto answers to the board, a citizen panel appointed by the governor that helps oversee and implement forest policy.
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