CORVALLIS, Ore. — Mike Riley grew up with a black and orange bedroom in a house so close to Oregon State’s campus, he could hear his father bark instructions to the defensive players.
Mike hated Ducks before he hated dentists. He was such a huge Beavers fan, he could name every starter on the team — the track team. He has been around football so long he actually remembers when Oregon State was good, before he returned to his hometown to resurrect the worst football program this side of UTEP.
Today, Corvallis’ favorite son is settled into his office overlooking resurrected Reser Stadium. When he arrived home in 1997, Reser Stadium didn’t look much better than his old field at Corvallis High.
Then again, when you have 28 consecutive losing seasons, nothing looks really good.
“I don’t think you really understand what 28 straight losing seasons mean until you’re right in the throes of it,” said Riley, wearing some of his lifetime collection of Beavers gear. “The initial reaction is it became scary.”
He’s trying to bounce back from a 5-7 mark, only his second losing year in his eight seasons in his second head coaching stint in Corvallis. He has engineered the most consistent string of Beavers success since Dee “The Great Pumpkin” Andros and his orange blazer rumbled along the sidelines in the old Pac-8 during the late 1960s.
Riley’s father, Bud, was Andros’ defensive coordinator. In the 1960s, the Oregon-Oregon State rivalry was drawn along political lines. Oregon was so left wing, its campus should have been in the Pacific Ocean. Hippies. Black Panthers. Anti-war movement.
Oregon’s coach, Jerry Frei, let his African-American players wear Afros. He let all his players speak out on politics.
Oregon State was an agricultural school. Corvallis was just to the right of 14th century England. Andros was an old-school Oklahoma native who believed in power football and ironclad discipline.
But in the winter of 1969, Oregon State football changed. Linebacker Fred Milton, a star on the 1968 “Giant Killers” team that knocked off No. 1 USC, had grown a goatee and moustache. Andros had a no-facial hair policy. He told Milton to shave. Milton refused, and the Black Student Union staged a walkout. The OSU Commission on Human Rights sided with Milton and the publicity fed into a nation riding a wave of social upheaval.
“I think it really changed the course of Oregon State football for a long time,” Riley said.
Recruiting African-Americans became as big a challenge as making the Rose Bowl. In 1971, Oregon State went 5-6 and then went 27 more seasons with losing records. From 1979-82, the Beavers won three games. In 1979, they lost three straight by a combined 141-0.
Riley had been long gone. He went to Alabama as a career reserve cornerback and built a coaching career that found him in USC’s offensive coordinator chair when Oregon State came calling in 1997.
Slowly, facilities were improved and Riley added little things such as a better training table and Friday night movies. Then, the next year, he played a hunch and inserted third-string quarterback Jonathan Smith against Washington. He threw for 469 yards in a 35-34 loss. “It was a different team from then on,” Riley said.
That 5-6 mark, the Beavers’ best since 1971, attracted the San Diego Chargers. After an ill-fated four-year NFL stint, Riley returned to see Dennis Erickson had taken the Beavers to three bowl games.
On the heels of that momentum, an indoor practice facility, a new weight room and, most important, a new attitude, Riley has kept the Beavers relevant. He’s 55-40 in this second stint, his last three quarterbacks are in the NFL and his last four tailbacks have totaled more than 16,000 yards.
And lo and behold, Corvallis has undergone a makeover and has a touch of hipness.
“I had great feelings for this place,” Riley said. “I always thought it was a great place for young people to grow, whether it was a high school kid or going to college.”
Returning to a bowl this season won’t be easy. Riley must find another tailback, star receiver James Rodgers hasn’t recovered from knee surgery 10 months ago and junior QB Ryan Katz must improve his performance on third down.
But Riley is signed through 2019. He has time. Heaven knows Oregon State waited long enough for him.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com; @johnhendersonDP
