The 5 Best Things That Happened In Oregon State Athletics in 2016

2016 was a great year to be an Oregon State fan. It was a not so good year in general for most things, but it was an exceptional year for Beaver Athletics. Here are the five best things that happened in Beaver Nation in 2016:

1. We beat Oregon.

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Full disclosure, this list was originally 10 things long and 6 of them were going to be winning the Civil War. After beating Oregon for the first time since 2007, Oregon State went ahead and extended head coach Gary Andersen’s contract through 2021 which is the exact opposite of what Oregon had to do after losing the Civil War. The Beavers look to build on the momentum of the 2016 season through rejuvenated recruiting and hope to have a bowl game on the horizon.

2. Women’s Basketball made the Final Four.

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Head Coach Scott Rueck is a basketball wizard and the man deserves all of our undying respect for eternity. He took an Oregon State program that was awful and over the course of a few years turned it into one of the best programs in the nation. Last year, for the first time ever, Oregon State went to the Final Four. And had they not been on the UCONN side of the bracket, they probably had a good chance of going to the national championship. As I type this, the Beavers are blowing out the No. 9 ranked Washington Huskies. The Beavs will be tournament-bound again this year.

3. Men’s Basketball made the tournament.

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I miss you so much GP2. The ‘15-’16 men’s basketball season and really just having Gary Payton II in Corvallis for 2 years was such a #blessing. The Beavers broke a 26 year drought and made their first tournament appearance since Gary Payton (Yes, Gary Payton I) took the team to March Madness in 1990.

4. We hired an Athletic Director. And another one.

Oregon State hired Scott Barnes after hiring Todd Stansbury, who left after being our AD for about two months. The position was vacant for the majority of 2016, and the hire finally was announced with only a few weeks to spare in the calendar year. OSU had 3 athletic directors in 2016, which is 2 more than most other schools had. It’s nice to finally have some (for the time being) stability at the head of the athletic department.

5. Baseball was snubbed from the college world series, but came back preseason No.5 anyways in 2017.

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Last year, the Beavers were left out of the College World Series. I have no idea why. I’m sure somebody out there will comment on this telling me why. But at the time of this writing, I don’t understand how a team that good and with that much success in the 2000s would be left out of contention. HOWEVER, guess what?!?! The roster is still loaded with talent. So much so that the Beavers are preseason No. 5 in the entire country. Take that, college world series selection people.