Without Tom Jernstedt ’67, the UO men’s basketball team would not have been starring in the Final Four this past April.
For that matter, North Carolina, Gonzaga, and South Carolina would not have been playing in the Final Four either.
That’s not because Jernstedt is a coaching guru whose philosophies shaped the way the Ducks, Tar Heels, Bulldogs, and Gamecocks played; it’s because, quite simply, he invented “the Final Four.”
On September 8, the former NCAA executive vice president was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, another entry on a glittering résumé that includes a four-year term as president of USA Basketball from 2001–04 and induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Not bad for a former Yamhill Carlton High School signal caller who never rose above third-string on Len Casanova’s quarterback depth chart at the UO.
Jernstedt describes himself athletically as “weak-armed and slow-of-foot,” and his mentions in the Oregana are almost exclusively confined to his work in student government. But what he lacked in arm strength he more than made up for in mental acuity. That was demonstrated early on during one of his first jobs out of college, when Casanova hired him as an assistant in the UO athletics department on the eve of the 1972 NCAA track and field championships. One of Jernstedt’s first tasks was placating an irate Bill Bowerman, who had just been informed that the relay markings on the Hayward Field track were in the wrong place.
“I know Coach Bowerman was upset,” said Jernstedt. “The NCAA, this big governing body of intercollegiate athletics, they were upset. There were strong feelings on both sides.”
Jernstedt brought Bowerman to Hayward Field to meet with Kansas State coach DeLoss Dodds, chair of the NCAA track and field committee. The group walked the track and the four-time national championship winning coach became convinced that the markings were indeed off.
“I still look back at that as the most anxious and nervous I've been in any administrative responsibility over the years,” Jernstedt said.
Following the track and field championships Jernstedt headed to Army summer camp at Fort Lewis, only to have his Army reserve training cut short by a phone call that changed his life forever.
“I received a call from an NCAA executive that I had talked to two or three months prior,” he said. “He wanted to know if I would be interested in a job as director of events with the NCAA. I was surprised—and not sure that I wanted to move to Kansas City. From the time I was in college and started working in athletics, I wanted to have the opportunity to be the director of athletics at Oregon. I loved Oregon; it's where I wanted to be.”
After seeking counsel from athletic directors around the country, Jernstedt accepted the NCAA’s offer and moved to Kansas City, figuring he’d stay for a few years before moving on.
“With the NCAA there is no [FBS] football championship, so over 90 percent of NCAA revenue was generated by NCAA basketball,” Jernstedt said. “When I accepted the job, NCAA basketball was my primary responsibility.”
That “few years,” though, turned into a glittering 38-year career that saw him rise through the ranks to become the association’s executive vice president. When Jernstedt started, he oversaw a six-person committee that chose the 25 teams who would compete for the NCAA title, with only the final televised. By the time he left the NCAA, the tournament had turned into a 68-team behemoth with a $10.8 billion television contract that ensured every game would be aired live. He also helped establish the NCAA’s women’s championships, ensuring more revenue for women’s programs than they had been receiving from the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).
The latter point proved to be highly controversial at the time. Several female athletic administrators whom Jernstedt will only describe as “prominent” flew to Kansas City to meet with NCAA executive director Walter Byers. They were among the AIAW’s leaders, but wanted to align with the NCAA to get a share of that association’s growing revenue. When the NCAA agreed, it was left to Jernstedt to be the bearer of bad news, much like he had been with Bill Bowerman years earlier.
“I was sent to Houston as a messenger to share with all the delegates at the AIAW convention that the NCAA was exploring the feasibility of establishing womens' championships,” he said. “Before I concluded my remarks delegates were getting up off the floor, going to pay phones, going to their hotel rooms, contacting their presidents or athletic directors objecting to it. It was perceived by many as a takeover by the NCAA.”
Jernstedt attributes the huge growth in popularity of men’s and women’s collegiate basketball to the coaches and players, and sees himself more as someone who was in the right place at the right time.
“I'm very lucky and fortunate to have been there at a point in time when there was tremendous growth,” he said. The coaches and the student athletes are the ones that deserve the credit. The game improved because great coaches were teaching the game, and student athletes learned how to play the game at the highest level.”
While Jernstedt credits the coaches and players, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame determined a good portion of the sport’s success lies with him, and this month he was inducted alongside such luminaries as Tracy McGrady, Rebecca Lobo, Muffet McGraw, Bill Self, and Jerry Krause.
“I was overwhelmed,” said Jernstedt of the moment he found out—a moment that occurred, incidentally, while he was en route to Phoenix for the 2017 Final Four featuring his alma mater. “I was shocked. I played the game in high school but didn’t have a career in basketball, and would never be in the Hall of Fame as a player. When you’re an administrator of any sport you don’t think about ever being inducted into a Hall of Fame.”
Jernstedt’s induction will be part of a busy fall, as he is returning to Eugene for his 50th class reunion—where he will deliver the keynote speech at the reunion banquet—while also wrapping up his final year on the selection committee for the College Football Playoff (CFP).
Jernstedt knew many of the members of the committee from his time at the NCAA—in fact he once hired CFP executive director Bill Hancock to work with him on the association’s basketball staff—and his his accepting the committee's assignment was almost the perfect end to a career that was launched more than 50 years ago when he enrolled at the UO to play football.
“As I’ve traveled the country and beyond, I would not have had the career I’ve had if I hadn’t gone to the University of Oregon,” Jernstedt said. “I love the state of Oregon, I love the University of Oregon, and I wish I were there now. It’s a special place, and I would not have had the career and the good fortune that I’ve had if I had not been offered a scholarship from Mr. Casanova.”