3 Reasons To Be Excited About New Oregon State AD Kevin Griffin

The time has come.

Mere months removed from Scott Barnes' retirement, Oregon State's hiring process determined his successor. Last Thursday, the school announced the addition of Ohio State associate athletic director Kevin Griffin.

This piece spotlights three reasons why Griffin could thrive at Oregon State.

Griffin Can Relate to JaMarcus Shephard and Justin Joyner

Oregon State football coach JaMarcus Shephard comes from the football blue chip Alabama Crimson Tide. Oregon State men's basketball coach Justin Joyner comes from the reigning men's basketball national champion Michigan Wolverines.

Griffin, for his part, has deep ties to a preeminent power in Division I athletics: the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The three men know what winning looks like. They know what the best athletics programs in America look like. As an added bonus, the orange & black now boast one of the few universities in America to employ an African American football coach, African American men's basketball coach, and African American athletic director. Now, Oregon State's new trio will work together, doggedly trying to make their shared vision a reality.

Griffin Knows NIL and the Transfer Portal

Griffin played football at Ohio State, and later returned to his alma mater in 2022, working on the ground floor of the school's transition to NIL.

Consistently over the past few years, Oregon State's football and men's & women's basketball programs have been hit hard by the transfer portal. Homegrown talents like Salem's Nate Kingz, Portland's Dexter Foster, and Medford's Donvyn Hunter took their talents elsewhere. They've been joined by dozens of others who made the difficult decision to leave Oregon State in pursuit of greener pastures.

Now, an NIL expert will overhaul the school's methods from the ground up, potentially swaying Oregon State's stars from entering the portal.

Expectations Will Be Clear

Credit to the much-maligned Scott Barnes, who stirred his fair share of controversy in Corvallis. It must be said that Oregon State's departing athletic director carried an absurdly difficult burden over the past two years, navigating Oregon State's future direction despite the uncertainty of the Pac-12 Conference and Oregon State's survival at the NCAA Division I FBS level.

Barnes went above and beyond the expectations of a Division I athletic director, advising the formerly-titled Conference of Champions through the ups & downs of realignment. That urgent task took away precious attention from Barnes' other responsibilities, like attaining Oregon State's NIL revenue goals, maintaining programs that dissuade players from transferring away in the portal, and hiring the right people to run those programs. Frankly, his focus was needed beyond Oregon State, and Oregon State suffered for it.

Now, the Pac-12 is alive and well, with seven new members set to join the Beavers & Cougars in less than a month. Barnes' successor Kevin Griffin will not have to worry about finding a conference, or securing a television deal. Instead, the Beavs' new AD can set his sights firmly on Oregon State athletics.

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