OREGON TRAILS NO MORE DUCKS, BEAVERS AMONG COLLEGE NATIONAL ELITE.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

For the better part of three decades, you couldn't give away Oregon State football tickets. The Beavers were that bad.

Now you can't even buy them: Season tickets are sold out.

Sound crazy? It gets nuttier. Oregon State graced the cover of a recent issue of Sports Illustrated as the magazine's pick to win the national championship.

Then there's seemingly every wacky preseason Pacific-10 Conference poll, which has Oregon and Oregon State at Nos. 1 and 2 after they finished 10-2 and 11-1, respectively, last season. That makes these one-time pushovers the teams to beat in a one of the strongest conferences.

It's one of the nation's most compelling success stories: Big-time coaches, big-time facilities and growing nationwide parity have created college football powerhouses in the Northwest.

``I didn't come here to be part of 28 years of obscurity,'' said tailback Ken Simonton, Oregon State's Heisman Trophy candidate. ``I didn't get the opportunity to go to UCLA. In Corvallis, you've only got two choices: Sit and rest or fight for it.

``This isn't really a surprise to me. It was fate. It's what I came here for. It doesn't happen for everybody, but for us it did.''

The Oregon schools know what it is to struggle. In the 1980s, Oregon State was 20-87-4. Oregon was more respectable but still mediocre at 56-56-4.

Fast forward several coaching changes, the building of new, state- of-the-art facilities and the influx of talented athletes such upgrading attracts and you get last year's results: Oregon and Oregon State shared the Pac-10 Conference title with Washington. And Oregon quietly has become the winningest program in the Pac-10 over the past six years.

Perhaps even more startling, Oregon State obliterated Notre Dame 41-9 in the Fiesta Bowl and Oregon shocked Texas 35-30 in the Holiday Bowl.

That a school nestled in wide-open spaces about 90 miles outside of Portland, with a population of just 50,000, crushed a storied program like Notre Dame is nearly beyond comprehension in light of the past.

However, experts don't believe the success of either Oregon school was a fluke.

Oregon is ranked eighth and Oregon State 12th in the USA Today/ESPN football poll. In the Associated Press Top 25 poll, Oregon is seventh and Oregon State 11th. And in the Pac-10 media poll, the Ducks are first and the Beavers second - the schools' first-ever sweep.

``It's different,'' UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. ``People aren't used to it.''

The turnaround might not be a surprise to Simonton, a Pittsburg, Calif., product who chose Oregon State because he trusted then-coach Mike Riley. However, the recent success of the Oregon schools is a shock to the rest of us.

How in the world of Corvallis and Eugene could this happen?

There are plausible explanations. The schools' rise to power is commonly attributed to the coaches, parity, facilities and resources to recruit athletes.

Toledo believes the NCAA limit of 85 scholarships - down from 105 - has paved the way for programs such as Oregon, Oregon State and Northwestern to make the transition from laughingstock to rising stock. No longer are traditionally successful programs able to stockpile players as they once did.

``I think because of the scholarship limit there's parity,'' Toledo said. ``Oregon and Oregon State are getting good football players. I coached at Oregon for six years (as an assistant) and Mike is taking them to a new level. Dennis has brought in outstanding players and he's an excellent coach.

``If you look across the country, teams are winning now that weren't winning 10 years ago. The Pac-10 is one of the best conferences from top to bottom. This conference is tough from the Northwest to Los Angeles.''

Oregon's rise didn't occur overnight.

It started when Mike Bellotti was hired in 1995. The Ducks are 48-22 since. And this team might be his best. Quarterback Joey Harrington, a Portland product who Bellotti convinced to stay in-state, is a Heisman Trophy candidate.

Oregon State is a different story: The program was horrible for nearly 30 years. It had a 35-year bowl game drought before a loss to Hawaii in the Oahu Bowl in 1999. And before Erickson's 7-5 season in 1999, the Beavers hadn't had a winning season in 28 years.

Change wasn't evident until Mike Riley, now the San Diego Chargers' coach, arrived in 1997. He led the team to a 5-6 record in 1998, which was considered a resounding success.

Erickson took over in 1999 and took the program a step further, leading it on its unbelievable run last year, ending with the shocker over Notre Dame. This season, Oregon State has its own Heisman candidate and realistic national-championship aspirations.

Joe Avezzano, now the special-teams coach for the Dallas Cowboys, coached Oregon State from 1980 to 1984. The Beavers were 0-11 in his first year and 6-47 in five seasons.

``One thing is that Oregon State has finally woken up about improving its facilities so a coach like Dennis Erickson can attract a quality athlete who wants to be at a first-class place,'' Avezzano said. ``I really think the upgrading of the facilities has been a big part. It was needed for many years but for some reason wasn't done.''

The locker room and training facilities are impressive and a new indoor practice facility is scheduled to open in the next few weeks. Fifteen boosters donated $13 million for the structure, which was desperately needed considering the amount of rainfall in Oregon.

Oregon has better facilities now, too. The Ducks completed the $13 million Casanova Center in 1991 and a $15 million indoor practice facility three years ago.

Recruits have been impressed. Oregon has 54 California athletes on its roster and Oregon State has 52 - more than half the roster in both cases.

UNLV coach John Robinson, an assistant at Oregon from 1960 to 1971, said it's easier for any program to climb these days - if the school is willing to pay for it.

The schools not only enhanced their facilities but hired top-flight coaches, who they plan to keep. In the offseason, Bellotti signed a two-year contract extension that runs through 2007, and Erickson received a guaranteed seven-year contract thatcould be worth nearly $7 million.

That translates to victories.

``I think they chose to invest in their programs a few years ago,'' Robinson said. ``(With) Oregon State, it was when they hired Mike Riley and gave him a chance to do some things. The Oregon athletic department has been working and building for years. They kept improving and it's paying off now.''

Added Dan Fouts, a former Oregon quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer: ``It just shows that after years and years of sticking to it and selling their program and getting the exposure and performing well (it can be done).''

Supporters, reveling in the programs' success, want the world to know what's happening in their neighborhoods.

Both schools are aggressively promoting their Heisman hopefuls. Oregon boosters donated $250,000 for a 100-foot high mural - dubbed `Joey Heisman'' - on the side of a building in Manhattan.

The Beavers are trying to scrounge up $100,000 to push Simonton, the only back in Pac-10 history to run for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons.

``I believe it's great for the program,'' Erickson said. ``It's not often that Oregon and Oregon State have two candidates for the Heisman Trophy. And both are deserving of it. Look what they've done the last three years. What it does is showcase the university nationally.''

Naturally, Oregonians are thrilled. They've embraced their teams as fans in Nebraska and Oklahoma have done for generations. Enormous murals in New York City not withstanding, it just might take the rest of the country a bit longer to notice.

``Everywhere you go, people are excited,'' Bellotti said. ``It's a great time to be a football player at Oregon and Oregon State.''

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Drawing:

(color) no caption (2 football players facing off - one Oregon and one Oregon State)

Jim Thompson/Staff Artist