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PORTLAND -- The winningest Division I football coach in the state of Oregon this season just signed his first contract as a head coach. Portland State coach Bruce Barnum has been the Vikings' interim head coach -- he approached this season as a "12-month tryout" -- but he's shown enough during the Vikings' 4-1 start to earn a five-year contract. (Technically, he won't drop the interim tag until Dec. 1, when his contract kicks in.) The Vikings have most wins of any Division I or Division II football team in Oregon. An hour and a half south down I-5, Gary Andersen and Oregon State (2-3) are in a rebuilding year with a freshman quarterback. Forty minutes south of that, Mark Helfrich and Oregon (3-3) are in a dizzying spiral, having just lost to Washington State, which Portland State beat in its season opener. Last weekend, Portland State beat North Texas so badly on the road that the Mean Green's coach was fired after the game. Nearly every headline the next day had that representative asterisk next to Portland State's name -- "FCS." All those three letters mean to Barnum is that his team has a few more challenges in winning games than the other big dogs. "Every place is different," Barnum said. "Every school has their nuances." It's just that Portland State's nuances are a bit more pronounced. Mostly, it's the money. Starting last year, the football program became self-sufficient as part of a series of university budget cuts. That meant the $800,000 the program had received in 2013-2014 wouldn't be there anymore, which meant Portland State had to get creative. One of the first decisions he made as interim coach was to cut travel expenses this season. Barnum swapped two flights for two bus trips, a trade-off that saved the program anywhere between $140,000 and $170,000 by his estimation. He knew players and coaches wouldn't be thrilled about it, but Barnum -- a service brat growing up -- wasn't going to hear any of it. If anyone complained, they didn't need to get on the bus. Attitude is a choice, and Barnum was going to make it fun. He called the 10-plus hour road trips "The Americana Tour." "Any time you're in a compact space for several hours on end," quarterback Alex Kuresa said, "it's either going to be super miserable or super fun. We've made it pretty fun. We're trying to make the most of our situation." It was a gamble. So Barnum knew he had to make the trade-off worth it. En route to play Cal Poly on Oct. 24, the team will stop in Palo Alto to do a walk-through at Stanford and then will tour Alcatraz. When the team traveled to Idaho State, he took his players to see the location where Evel Knievel attempted to traverse the Snake River Canyon. In Texas, players petted an armadillo after getting all-you-can-eat BBQ. In what Barnum calls the "Era of Xbox," he's getting players to sit next to one another and talk. For hours. He saw the benefits immediately -- after a six-and-a-half-hour bus ride to Pullman, Washington, he saw a different level of chemistry with his players on the field.  "Those bus trips are probably one of the keys to what's going on here," Barnum said.
The trips serve two purposes: saving money and fostering team spirit. And multi-purposing, as Barnum has found, is key in a FCS program -- it has brought the team together and saved it money. Win-win. Barnum is getting creative elsewhere with the budget to make up for the lack of funding. Last season, Barnum was making $109,000 as the offensive coordinator, the most for any Big Sky coordinator. This year, as interim head coach, he's making $110,000. Once his new contract kicks in, he will make $190,000. Barnum was offered a 25 percent pay increase when he was named interim head coach last November. He took it. Sort of. He added $1,000 to his own salary and used the other $26,250 to bump up other coaches' salaries. To help save on uniform and equipment costs, Barnum was able to get a good deal on the two (yes, only two) uniforms the players wear this season -- $55 per uniform. He splurged a bit on the new black matte helmets and is currently praying that he won't need to make any midseason emergency purchases on gear because he's running low on funds. "We might have to beg, borrow and steal stuff," he said. But the first five games were all he needed as an argument for why he can make this work in Portland. He has two wins over FBS opponents (one more than Oregon State and the same number as Oregon), and the school made $950,000 for beating Washington State and North Texas. He has done what he can to get people in the stands for home games, and he hopes to crack 6,000 for a home game one of these days. He handcrafted a playlist that includes everything from Toby Keith to Michael Franti to Miley Cyrus to Lil' Troy. He buys unlimited beers at a bar around the corner from the stadium after wins for an hour for anyone with a ticket stub. He gives away shirts that read "Barny Ball." "Everybody has their problems," Barnum said. "I need more money. Everybody is saying that, I get that. I need to make sure my operating budget is secure. If I can do that, we'll be fine. I'm at a place we can win. That's cool." After finishing that thought, he shook his coffee cup. "I'm out," he said, while checking the time. He might have just enough time to sneak down to the Einstein Bros. Bagel shop around the corner before his next meeting. And maybe, if he's lucky, they'll give him his refill for free.
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