Coach Cav’s message comes through loud and clear

CORVALLIS, Ore. » The gravelly voice roars through the north end of Reser Stadium like a sonic boom.

"Watch your (bleeping) feet! Get your (bleeping) butt down! Do you know what the (bleep) you are doing?"

Mike Cavanaugh, Oregon State’s, 5-foot, 6-inch — maybe — offensive line coach, is lost somewhere in the forrest of his 6-foot-plus linemen. His piercing, X-rated voice is not.

Three-hundred-pound linemen quiver at the sound of it.

Watch an Oregon State practice and you get the feeling some of the Beavers take the University of Hawaii, a 27-point underdog on the Las Vegas betting lines, cheap for today’s 2 p.m. nonconference game.

Cavanaugh does not. "No time to talk now," Cavanaugh tells a visitor, waddling off with a purposeful gait to instruct his unit. "Gotta get this team ready or we’re gonna get our (bleeping bleeps) handed to us," Cavanaugh barks over a shoulder.

Part of it is that Cavanaugh spent six years at UH as June Jones’ offensive line coach and respects the players Hawaii gets. "Tough guys; guys play with heart," Cavanaugh has said.

Then, too, he has seen Oregon State at the heights — and the depths — and appreciates just how quick the fall can be.

Two years ago the Beavers lost to Sacramento State to open the season and finished 3-9 — jobs were on the line. Last year they were 9-4 and nationally ranked.

They started this season at No. 25, a school-record 13th consecutive week in the Associated Press Top 25. But that came crashing down in a head-shaking 49-46 loss to Eastern Washington, a Football Championship Subdivision opponent.

Suddenly, today’s game is expected to draw fewer than 40,000 to 45,674-seat Reser Stadium as fans wonder if another collapse is coming.

Head coach Mike Riley can give you chapter and verse on how expectations have changed at OSU. There was a time when the Beavers could lose to UH — 1989 and the 1999 Oahu Bowl, for example — and there wasn’t much fuss made. But those days are gone.

"Frankly, back in 1997 or so, nobody cared," Riley said. "I shouldn’t say nobody, because there were some loyal fans over the years, but there weren’t many of them. You hardly knew there was a game in town back then."

From a program that went 28 consecutive seasons (1971-1998) without a winning record to one that has had eight winning campaigns in the last 11 years, "it has really been something to see," Riley said.

Athletic director Bob De Carolis says donors and sponsors were waiting for something to get behind and the Beavers have given it to them. In turn, improvements have been made in Reser Stadium and surrounding facilities. "The change has been good to see," Riley said. "It is physical in the facilities, but it is also in the expectations of the fans and the players."

And Cavanaugh, at decibels too loud and purple to ignore, does not let some of them forget it. Especially this week.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.