Canzano: Oregon State got a win -- and a football catharsis

Oregon State won the season opener against Idaho State on Saturday. (Photo: Kevin Henneman) 

CORVALLIS — The Beavers won the game, sang the school fight song in the locker room, and tossed their rosy-cheeked head coach in the cold tub. Saturday was a new start that looked and sounded sort of like old times at Oregon State, didn’t it? 

Dominant run game, check. 

Opportunistic defense, check. 

38-15 victory, check. 

First-year head coach Trent Bray arrived at the post-game news conference soaking wet, with sunglasses on top of his head and a towel draped over his shoulder. The opener wasn’t without questions — and I’ll get to those in a bit — but when I saw the video of Bray getting tossed in the locker room cold-plunge pool, I thought about how it was built years ago. 

Anderson Poolworks isn’t just any old vendor. It’s a Wilsonville-based outfit, run by the two brothers, Dana and Brody Anderson. Their parents operated a sand-blasting company for years. It was frequently contracted to refurbish residential and commercial in-ground pools. While they were blasting away on the concrete one day, the family figured they might as well do the installation of the pools themselves. 

The Anderson boys grew up going to Oregon State games. When Reser Stadium’s $48 million locker room project was launched a decade ago, the brothers bid on the project, and ended up trading a sizeable chunk of the construction expense in exchange for season tickets for employees, a sponsorship, and stadium marketing they probably didn’t even need. They mostly just wanted to help Oregon State stay competitive with facilities. Business in Corvallis over the years has frequently been done with a creative touch, bonded with hand shakes. 

Bray doesn’t know the story. 

He ended up in that in-ground pool, nonetheless. 

Oregon State is 1-0. I bring up the origin of the ‘cryo pool’ because it’s a small significant representation of the steps that lead to a celebratory moment. It stunk when Jonathan Smith ditched OSU for Michigan State, taking a line of talented players with him. But Bray stayed behind, hired a staff, pieced together a roster, and his tenure started with a victory on Saturday. 
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