PORTLAND — Just minutes after winning a football game that had more running than a track meet, Bruce Barnum caught his breath inside a tunnel leading to the locker room.
Beads of sweat hung on his brow as he relished his first victory as Portland State’s full-time head coach, a 59-42 win over Montana State on Saturday at Providence Park.
But Barnum was already nervous about his next challenge. After each Portland State win, he had promised to buy a beer at a nearby bar for any fan who showed a ticket stub during a one-hour period.
“I just paid off my bill from three weeks ago,” the Salmon Creek resident and Columbia River High grad said.
Paying that tab is easier now that he has a five-year contract to coach the Vikings. The “interim” tag on Barnum’s title was shed after his team won four of its first five games, including victories against FBS-level Washington State and North Texas.
Bruce Barnum is definitely a guy fans want to have a beer with. More importantly, he’s a coach his players love playing for.
“Honestly, man, that’s a good guy,” Portland State junior Paris Penn said. “I support him and I’m very honored to be part of this team, especially him getting this five-year contract.”
Portland State celebrated their newly minted head coach with a shiny performance Saturday. The No. 17-ranked Vikings scored touchdowns on their first eight drives Saturday. One turnover and six penalties were the only blemishes on an otherwise perfect offensive performance against the No. 16-ranked Bobcats.
In recent years, Portland State football has been a ship without a rudder, floating through the doldrums of losing seasons in six of the last eight years.
Now the Vikings’ ship has a captain and a course to follow.
Barnum has given Portland State energy, bravado and creativity. The Vikings play fast and go for it on fourth down. Saturday, they gained 682 yards of offense, averaging 8.6 yards per play.
But more important than anything, Barnum has given Portland State an identity. To his players, “Barney Ball” is more than just a slogan or a hashtag.
“It doesn’t matter what happened in previous years,” Penn said. “We have a different attitude and swagger. … It’s blue-collar, tough football.”
Portland State occupies a unique niche in the Portland-area sports scene. It’s a small program in a relatively large market where football fans have typically gravitated toward the Northwest’s Pac-12 schools.
The Vikings have only a quasi home field at Providence Park, where they are below the Portland Timbers on the pecking order. Thus, the Vikings have had to play one game each of the last two years at Hillsboro due to scheduling conflicts. In past years, “home” games against the Montana schools or Eastern Washington have seen Vikings fans nearly outnumbered.
On Wednesday, Portland State Athletic Director Mark Rountree removed the interim tag from Barnum’s title, signing him to a five-year deal.
Previously, Rountree has said no decision would be made until after the season. This is partially due to an Oregon law that requires multiple candidates of various backgrounds to be interviewed for high-profile jobs at state institutions. He didn’t want such a detailed interview process to be a distraction during the football season.
That Barnum was signed during the season speaks to how overwhelmingly he has aced his season-long interview.
Preaching a message is one thing. Getting dozens of young men to buy in is another. When asked why he and others are so committed to their coach, Penn said Barnum invests in them as people, not just as football players.
“I’d love to have people come and watch these guys,” Barnum said. “They play the game how it’s supposed to be played. We play sandlot football. We have fun playing the game.”
Barnum is beloved because he gives a lot of himself to the Portland State program and its players.
And that includes buying beer for those who support them.
Micah Rice is The Columbian’s Sports Editor. Reach him at 360-735-4548, micah.rice@columbian.com or via Twitter @col_mrice.
