Fred Oien article

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Fred Oien article

Count me as having a dog in this hunt too, since I know Fred for about 33 years. I do wish that Fred and I had been born in such a perfect world as that TEAJACKRABBIT SEEMS to have had. He had perfect parents and they made a lot of money etc etc. So I guess he will not be happy until he gets to publicly flog Dr Oien, and the entire SDSU adminstration. Sometimes I really wonder about your loyality to SDSU. It seems superficial at best.

The people who were close to Fred are easy to spot on this topic.

I am loyal (does it help that just 20 minutes ago I was outside unwrapping my SDSU banner from around the pole from which it hangs?)....but I'm not blindly loyal. I like the Dallas Cowboys but could not cheer for T.O.

I have not "flogged" Dr. Oien and certainly not the entire SDSU administration. You want to give him a free pass, fine.

[Nidaros]

Re: Fred Oien article

I commend this intellectual exercise to everyone.

Replace "Fred Oien" with "Stu Whitney" and "SDSU" with "Argus-Leader" in the article, and notice how, if at all, your reaction changes.

For me, not so much.

I think Stu has let slip the true agenda behind the article in his blog entry--the editors of the Argus want unfettered, unlimited access to State personnel records, and wants to use this story to get it. I don't think Fred Oien, per se, has anything in particular to do with it, he's just a convenient cudgel with which to bash SDSU and the State.

Having once been a state employee myself, I think the Argus editors should be told in no uncertain terms to go pound sand, but I guess reasonable people could disagree.

Rather than get angry at TEAJACKRABBIT, I will instead say amen to Filberts post and give him some deserved rep points.

[filbert]

Re: Fred Oien article

I commend this intellectual exercise to everyone.

Replace "Fred Oien" with "Stu Whitney" and "SDSU" with "Argus-Leader" in the article, and notice how, if at all, your reaction changes.

For me, not so much.

I think Stu has let slip the true agenda behind the article in his blog entry--the editors of the Argus want unfettered, unlimited access to State personnel records, and wants to use this story to get it. I don't think Fred Oien, per se, has anything in particular to do with it, he's just a convenient cudgel with which to bash SDSU and the State.

Having once been a state employee myself, I think the Argus editors should be told in no uncertain terms to go pound sand, but I guess reasonable people could disagree.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Fred Oien article

Its easy to pass judgment on a public forum about someone and something you know little about. Its also classless and petty. I'm not saying that TJ is classless and petty but his approach to this subject thus far is. Making assumptions based on a one-sided story from a newspaper reporter is not something I'd advise. I could make my own assumptions about the motivations behind this story but I'm not going to that.

Agreed. But, these concerns and issues were out there well before this article was written. Some are even calling it a non-story b/c nothing new was brought up.

The only thing I have done that could be considered classless was the fact that I said 5+ years ago I made a judgement based on what Fred was driving and the condition it was in. If those of you who shake their head at me are better than that, then congrats. I really mean that. If you never pass judgement on someone based on appearance or their job or how they dress or where they live or how they act in public or what they type on a message board then you are a far better person than me. I can honestly say that I am a good person and treat everyone I come in contact with w/ the utmost respect, but I do pass judgement on people. It doesn't mean I look down on them, but it's true. Just one of my many weaknesses I suppose.

It is not classless or petty to question the contents of the article. You may not want me to, but my motives are just. Again, Dr. Oien did a great job at SDSU and I'm darn glad he was in our corner the last 5+ years.

[76Rabbit]

Re: Fred Oien article

Just wondering when the negative stories about the other SD Universities are coming out in the Argus. 2 big ones on SDSU in the last 2 weeks. Seems to me we are at the top of the hit list.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Fred Oien article

It is comments like these that really drive me up a wall on this board. I find the posting of comments when the poster knows literally nothing about the situation...well, maddening. Simple questions...simple answers: The employee notified his employer he was going to resign, because he had decided the timing was right (biggest assignment concluded successfully and he was worn out). He calculated the amount of leave time available (a lot since his job rarely allowed personal time) which left his resignation date several months down the road. He took the advice of his mentor, a former AD, that when you leave the job, you walk away and stay away until a new person has your job and can establish his own standing...and you don't meddle in your employers search for a replacement. End of questions...end of answers...and end of this thread for me. (Supporters will continue to question the "questions", critics will continue to question the "answers" so further conversation is fruitless.)

P.S. Fred Oien was at the Summit tournament. And I know he is already looking forward to being a Jackrabbit fan beginning with tailgating next fall. And Stu Whitney (yeh, JJ, like all this was Terry's doing...when there is no doubt where his boss has been and is on this "non-story") will continue to be the Stu Whitney we all know.

You have a dog in the hunt, which I thinks clouds your thinking here. That is totally understandable.

I have said on here before that I don't have near the SDSU background as many of you on here. I don't want to hear this stuff about the AD or former AD at SDSU either. But at the same time I'm glad we had the guy and I am proud of what he accomplished.

So, since I know "literally nothing about the situation" am I to believe that pretty much everything not flattering that was printed about Fred is false?

I remember when I would come home from school after a fight. My dad wasn't mad at the kid I was fighting with, he was mad at me. My dad never ignored or downplayed my shortcomings simply b/c he loved me. Doesn't mean he loved me any less, it just means I didn't get a free pass.

[jackmd]

Re: Fred Oien article

We're having a little fun w/ this, which is good.

But I'll repeat what I said before. Sure it's silly to judge someone based on the appearance of what they drive, however untidy or unkept it might be. The reason I brought it up on here and at this time is b/c the judgement I passed that day appears to be spot-on.

Its easy to pass judgment on a public forum about someone and something you know little about. Its also classless and petty. I'm not saying that TJ is classless and petty but his approach to this subject thus far is. Making assumptions based on a one-sided story from a newspaper reporter is not something I'd advise. I could make my own assumptions about the motivations behind this story but I'm not going to that.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Fred Oien article

And now I'm going to leave for work in my old vehicle, knowing full well that I'm being judged a misfit by some because I like my old vehicle. I am planning on having pie at lunch.

We're having a little fun w/ this, which is good.

But I'll repeat what I said before. Sure it's silly to judge someone based on the appearance of what they drive, however untidy or unkept it might be. The reason I brought it up on here and at this time is b/c the judgement I passed that day appears to be spot-on.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Fred Oien article

I was not going to post any more in this thread. However, I have a problem with posts like the foregoing. The questions posed by TeaJackrabbit are not honest questions (merely proclaiming them "honest questions" just doesn't work). At least one is based on a false premise (which I know from personal knowledge) and, since TeaJackrabbit asked one question without knowing the underlying fact, then there is some likelihood the remainder of his "questions" are based on conjecture -- no personal knowledge of the "fact" on which the question is based.

Questions like those do not merit any attention and they cause harm because they imply or suggest a fact that may not be true (and in the case of one of the "questions", is not true).

Illustration: I had a buddy in college who regularly made jokes using "questions" having no basis in fact. He'd walk into a public place and spot someone he knew and ask in a loud voice a question which implied some outrageous underlying fact: "Hey, you still sleeping with your sister?" It always got a laugh.

The problem with such questions on this thread is they're not funny and they cause harm by giving false impressions.

And now I'm going to leave for work in my old vehicle, knowing full well that I'm being judged a misfit by some because I like my old vehicle. I am planning on having pie at lunch.

Well JackJD, they were honest questions, but I understand what you are getting at here.

What I was saying is this....some people on here want to sweep this under a rug or act as though that darned Argus was on a witchhunt or that it's disgruntled former employees, etc. Fine. But if you're going to do that, if you're going to get your panties in a bunch b/c you were friends w/ Fred, then the answers to the questions I asked would be easy.

You're either upset b/c it was reported to begin with. If that's the case then I ask, who made it a story? Or you're upset b/c you doubt the credibility of the reporter or the issues raised in the article. So then I ask, why on earth would TV lie? And it's not like TV to do an article (especially like this) "half-assed".

[jackmd]

Re: Fred Oien article

Just tell them at the county office you want organizational plates and then pick up your stickers ($30 i think) at the little building on the side street across from the alumni center.

You can also call the alumni center and they will mail the decals to you.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Fred Oien article

He was present at the Summit League Tourney. Unless it was somebody that looks excatly like him and goes by the name Fred.

I never saw him there but I do remember someone on here saying they spotted him. I guess I was asking why he wasn't present at the Summit Tourney in an official capacity.

[Nidaros]

Re: Fred Oien article

I have not had the opportunity to sit down and have one on one conversations with Fred like I once did, and maybe more often before 1990, and before he was AD. I learned a great deal from these conversations about athletic adminstration. I think it is fair to state that his precessor Dr Forysth helped groom Fred for the AD position and he did an excellent job. Fred got his advanced degrees out east and I want to say they were the same instittutions where Jack Frost got his but might be wrong on that detail, but I know Fred thought a great of deal of Rueben "Jack" Frost, the quiet and thoughtful Norweigan from North Dakota.

My point is that Fred was groomed to be an AD under a D2 classifications and since SDSU is now a D1 member with a completely different number of responsiblities, I tend to think he felt he should not have imput in his successor, and it was one for the an appointed committee to make. Also consider when Reggie Christiansen left SDSU last spring, Fred backed off in hiring a new coach, and I think he probably was thinking retirement in making that decision. Plus he an able assistant Richie Price to turn the program over too.

So when you consider the historical background, to me this is a very unfair question and shows the lack of histroical background by both Stu Whitney and Terry Vandervec. Since Terry did not as I recall make an issue of Fred absence in the choice of his successor, I will let him off the hook on that matter. My problem with TV is the sources that were included in his article.

TeaJackrabbit is a fan like me and no doubt has a number of questions on how sausage is made(adminstration of the athletic department.) so his questions are understandable, but certainly, as are mine questions subject to challenge by someone else on this board.

I think there are a few things that can be discussed without involving Fred's personal life. He is a human just like you and I and these past few years have not been easy ones for him. Was he responsible for his actions in and off of the office? Yes. That part is undefendable and I dont try to defend him.

I do appreciate all that he has done as an AD, and if he was less than direct then we would not have made the progress to date that we have. Look south, it cost USD a half million in settlment damages due to the Title IX law suit settlement, and it was the result of bad decisions or no decisions by Jack Doyle. So be thankful we have had a passionate Fred Oien as our AD for the past 19 years.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Fred Oien article

I find the posting of comments when the poster knows literally nothing about the situation...well, maddening.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but I think you just defined "internet message board."

And just because one of Tea's questions is false, doesn't mean the rest of his are invalid. That's bad logic.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Fred Oien article

Honest question(s) here.....then why do you think Fred vacated his office immediately? Why wasn't he present for the ladies NCAA run? Why wasn't he present at the Summit tourney? Why did he work from home the last few months? Why did have no input, after 20 years as AD, as to who would replace him? Why was he basically invisible after he announced he was soon retiring?

It is comments like these that really drive me up a wall on this board. I find the posting of comments when the poster knows literally nothing about the situation...well, maddening. Simple questions...simple answers: The employee notified his employer he was going to resign, because he had decided the timing was right (biggest assignment concluded successfully and he was worn out). He calculated the amount of leave time available (a lot since his job rarely allowed personal time) which left his resignation date several months down the road. He took the advice of his mentor, a former AD, that when you leave the job, you walk away and stay away until a new person has your job and can establish his own standing...and you don't meddle in your employers search for a replacement. End of questions...end of answers...and end of this thread for me. (Supporters will continue to question the "questions", critics will continue to question the "answers" so further conversation is fruitless.)

P.S. Fred Oien was at the Summit tournament. And I know he is already looking forward to being a Jackrabbit fan beginning with tailgating next fall. And Stu Whitney (yeh, JJ, like all this was Terry's doing...when there is no doubt where his boss has been and is on this "non-story") will continue to be the Stu Whitney we all know.

[SD-STATE]

Re: Fred Oien article

Does it really matter if Fred Oien stepped down on his own or was basically told to by President Chicoine? Fred is done now and SDSU has a new AD. If Fred's conduct had become too much of a problem, then it's obvious that he was asked to step down and lay low. It was handled in house and problem was solved. We are talking about a man with some personal issues, maybe/apparently those personal issues started to affect job performance. We are not talking about embezzlement or fraud of public money here. I happen to believe that a man's personal business is his own and nobody else's. Maybe the Chicoine thinks that way too and doesn't think going into great detail about someone's suspected faults warrants public disclosure. Now a person could call that weak or ineffective leadership on the university president's part, but I see that as a sign of integrity and strength. The long and short of it is that there was potentially a problem, problem was ultimately solved, problem was of such a nature that it does not warrant public consumptiom. Unless there is a million dollars missing or physical abuse and harrasment in the work place found, banging one's desk with a fist or yelling loudly at an employee isn't one of those, then I don't care.