Pat Casey stays and they baseball story just keeps getting better

Man, every time I go somewhere something crazy happens. I'm in Boston for a conference, and Pat Casey nearly gets lured away to Notre Dame (Anywhere but Notre Dame!).

Then when I come back to read the transcripts from the press conference...all I can say is, I love you Pat Casey!

Casey, De Carolis Talk About Contract Agreement - Official Site of Oregon State Athletics

Bobby D:

[...]
Personal phone calls from Governor (Ted) Kulongoski, OSU President Edward Ray and (former OSU football) coach Dennis Erickson trying to coax Pat to stay.
[...]

That struck me as interesting. That DE is still tied to OSU enough that he would make a call like that. So cool.


Pat Casey:

"One thing that happened to me that’s almost unbelievable is that Susan and I were standing in line to get on the plane in Chicago, and there was this kid standing there – flip-flops, T-shirt, pair of shorts and two bags, and the bags hang down to his ankle. His back was to me, and he was probably from me to (the back of the room), and I thought, ‘Man, where is the kid’s parents? The kid can’t carry those bags.’ He turned around, and it was (2004-06 OSU pitcher) Kevin Gunderson. And Gundy looks at me, and I look at him, and he goes, ‘Coach, where are you going?’ Chicago. He goes, ‘Susan’s with you; I know you don’t vacation there, what are you going to Chicago for?’ I said, can you keep a secret? I’m going to interview at Notre Dame. I said, where are you going? ‘Chicago.’ We road together on the plane, and it was just like it was when we flew to all our away games – he had the headphones on, the head back, turned around and had the big old grin looking at me. When I wasn’t sleeping the last couple nights, that picture kept coming into my head – him jumping into (OSU catcher Mitch) Canham’s arms – and all of a sudden, none of the other things mattered to me. What mattered to me, when it comes right down to it, was our players, our coaching staff – Spence (OSU associate head coach Dan Spencer) has been with me forever; without him, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing. Marty (Lees) is down in Los Angeles recruiting, coach (David) Wong is over at the field taking care of a tournament. But it’s the players, the staff and the people at Oregon State."

"The people of the Northwest and the support we got just blew me away. It made my decision – which was a difficult decision – an easy decision, which was to surround myself with the people I care about and my family.The most popular guy in my family is (eldest son) Jon, and the night I got back I went to bed at 2:04, and at 2:24 my door opened and this 6-foot-5 guy is standing there looking at me, and I said, ‘What, Jon?’ and he said, ‘Dad, I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go.’ You know, all those things come into play, but ultimately it just comes down to people. We have the best people you could find right here in the Northwest, and we are going to continue to really try to bring the players back here who got you excited this year. There’s another Kevin Gunderson out there, there’s another Tyler Graham, and the way they come here and the way they stay here is by who they meet when they come here and what they see when they get here.""

That nearly brought a tear to my eye. Pat is so good for OSU. I really hope this turns into something special here at OSU. A flagship program. A university defining program. And I don't think I could pick a better person to lead the charge than Pat Casey.

Another great quote:

"We haven’t even really had a chance as a club to sit down and think about the national championship. (2004-06 OSU pitcher) Jonah Nickerson was in my office yesterday, and Spence can relate to this, and it almost made me cry – he said, ‘Coach, if you go, I understand, and if you stay, we’ll be better.’ But he said, ‘You know, when I was in high school, I would have signed for $5,000 if I’d gotten drafted. But right now, knowing what I know and going through that experience, I wouldn’t have signed for $500,000 out of high school. And those things, for me ... there’s nothing I can compare to the way those guys feel. Obviously, part of that is because we had such a successful year, but those guys become a part of you."

I hope all the recruits getting draft out of HS over the next few years read that quote.


Thank you Pat for staying and making OSU beaver fans feel special. Now it's time for Beaver fans to step up and show the support that the program needs to grow and continue to stay on top. I know we that we can and will do it.


Some other related articles:

The Oregonian - Oregon State's Casey will stay as baseball coach

Corvallis Gazette-Times - An easy decision

Portland Tribune - Casey takes new deal at OSU

Great post on Pure Orange:

classic email message from friend on the great news!!!

Statesmen Journal Blog - Beaver baseball fans breathe sigh of relief