Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

The official site got an interview with head baseball coach John Savage. It had some good questions and Savage provided some interesting answers.

Q: If you had to name three reasons for fans to be excited in 2009, which would you choose?

 

A: Our pitching staff is as good as any in the country. We bring back two talented seniors in Brendan Lafferty and Jason Novak. We have several exceptional juniors in Charles Brewer, who won nine games, and Gavin Brooks, who looks to rebound off his sophomore season, and Matt Drummond. We bring back sophomores Dan Klein, Matt Grace and Rob Rasmussen. Erik Goeddel missed last season recovering from an injury and looks to be healthy this fall. Right now, we're holding onto Gerrit Cole, a first-round draft pick by the Yankees. This could be an electric staff, both right and left-handed. We're also very excited about our offense. With the return of Casey Haerther, Gabe Cohen and Cody Decker, and the possibility of Brandon Crawford coming back, you're talking about a very explosive lineup. With Jeff Rapoport, Blair Dunlap, Justin Uribe and the newcomers, our offense can be really good. Our outfield is going to be exceptionally deep with guys such as Blair Dunlap, Brett Krill, Justin Uribe and Gabe Cohen. We think that they are an experienced group who can be very good defensively. Those three reasons -the depth of our pitching staff, the potential for our offense and the strength of our outfielders - give us a lot of excitement heading into the 2009 season. 

That pitching staff could be as good as Savage believes it will be, but there are some questions. There is plenty of depth, but who will be the ace? Brooks was supposed to be the ace last season, but never found his form. Brewer was inconsistent all season and is now struggling in the Cape Cod League. The one guy who may emerge as the ace is Rasmussen who missed a bulk of the season with a broken foot, but has been lights out in the Cape.

Q: Both catchers from the last two seasons will not return in 2009 (Ryan Babineau, signed pro contract; Brent Dean, senior). What options does this team have behind the plate next spring?

 

A: Ryan has been our anchor - he had a remarkable career at UCLA, catching three great pitching staffs the last three seasons. He led our program to three postseason appearances. Brent Dean had a stellar senior season. Both of those guys are going to be missed a ton - from their leadership skills to their toughness to their ability to throw people out. That tandem last season was as good as there was out there. We feel confident that there are guys on the roster who can fill those needs - Chris Giovinazzo, Cody Decker, Gino Aielli and incomer Steven Rodriguez. Those are guys who can step in and hold that down. It could be two catchers, but we don't know who is going to be the everyday starter right now. That is a void, other than Tim Murphy on the pitching and catching landscape, that needs to be looked at. It's going to be competitive between when these guys return to campus in the fall and Opening Day. 

The catcher position will most definitely be the Bruins biggest question mark entering next season. Not a single Bruin has an inning of time behind the plate at the college level and replacing Babineau's on field production will be the easy part. Babineau was also one of the team's leaders and is extremely intelligent, allowing for more detailed scouting reports than most catchers can handle.

Q: Next season, Oregon will resume its baseball program (dropped since 1981), creating a true Pac-10. Aside from that trip to play the Ducks, what can you tell fans about the 2009 schedule?

...So, looking at our 2009 schedule, the road portion is the toughest in the nation. Playing at the Houston College Classic on that second weekend of the season, our players are very excited to go up against Rice, Houston, Baylor and Texas A&M. After that, we play consecutive weekends at Oklahoma and East Carolina before opening Pac-10 play at USC. Other Pac-10 road trips include playing at Washington State, Stanford, Oregon and Arizona State. Those are some big challenges that we'll face next season. We do not want to play a soft schedule, and we don't believe in playing a soft schedule - I think the players will back everything I say about that. They want to play the best teams, and they want to play in the toughest environment. That's how you get better in baseball, and that's how you get better as a program. Our schedule next year will be one of the toughest in the nation, if not the toughest.

I cannot begin to tell you how difficult next season's schedule will be. East Carolina is one of the tougher places in the nation to play and Oklahoma qualified for a regional last season despite fielding a very young squad. On top of that, playing at the Houston College Classic will be brutal with four very good Texas teams joining us and the Trojans at Minute Maid Park. It's the nation's biggest college baseball tournament so it will be great exposure for the program, but to play there and follow it with trips to Oklahoma and East Carolina is borderline suicide.

Q: Steele Field at Jackie Robinson Stadium has received several upgrades the past three seasons, including over 1,000 chairback seats, a state-of-the-art backstop net and a brand new natural grass field surface. What improvements are in the works this offseason?

 

A: We have quite a few things that we need to accomplish at Jackie Robinson Stadium. We're looking to install about 500 additional seats above the dugouts, replacing the grass slopes currently there, to get the capacity of the ballpark to around 1,700 seats. We're looking to build a new hitting facility - a state-of-the-art facility that will help our hitters. We need cages and space to be able to hit in. We would like to build a new clubhouse. The clubhouse, the hitting facility and the additional seats are a big priority for our program. Those would be the three biggest additions to Jackie Robinson Stadium that we feel can make it one of the nicest facilities in the nation. We have the best school, we have the best conference and we have the best schedule, so there are a lot of pieces in place. Our next move is to upgrade our facility to be one of the best in the country. 

That's some nice talk, but it looks like only the seats above the dugouts will be done for next season and there is no timeline for the rest of the renovations. On top of that, the playing surface that was installed last season should be ripped out and done over after the pathetic installation job left it a far from suitable surface. I've already articulated my thoughts on Jackie Robinson Stadium in an e-mail to Dan Guerrero and while he was nice enough to respond to me, his e-mail far from assured me that the stadium and program would get the necessary renovations done correctly and in a timely fashion.

If you want more from Savage read the whole interview. The deadline for draft picks to sign with their MLB teams is rapidly approaching (August 15) and there are still three players of interest to the Bruins unsigned. SS Brandon Crawford, a fourth round pick of the San Francisco Giants may return for his senior season after seeing his stock drop significantly with a disappointing junior season; however when I spoke to those close to him at the regionals in Fullerton he seemed intent on signing and I still expect him to do so. RHP Gerrit Cole, an extremely talented recruit was taken in the first round by the Yankees and is represented by Scott Boras. Had any other team drafted Cole I'd expect him to make it to Westwood because Boras is notorious for holding steady to his asking price and for Cole that asking price is very high, but there's no way the Yankees let their first round pick get away. Savage sounds mildly optimistic in his interview that Cole could end up on campus but I don't buy it. 1B/OF Clark Murphy is another recruit who went fairly high (5th round to Texas) and remains unsigned. The lefthander with massive power looks like a better than 50/50 shot to play for the Bruins, but signing with the Rangers isn't out of the question. 

One guy the Bruins will certainly have in 2009 is RHP Trevor Bauer. Bauer is one the top pitching prospects for the class of 2009 and would have likely been a high pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, but he has decided that graduate from Newhall Hart High School in December and join the Bruins early. Last season as a junior Bauer went 12-0, 0.79 in 70.2 innings pitched, striking out 106 batters.

I'll have a post as soon as the August 15 signing deadline passes with updates on who has signed and who will be in Westwood next season and I will also have another post detailing how our Bruins fared in their respective summer leagues. Until then I don't expect much baseball news. GO BRUINS!!!

Remember how some questioned whether or not Russ could shoot the ball well enough to score against pros? Others questioned whether he could play the point in the NBA as well. The summer league is far from the level of play that he will see once the regular season kicks off, but Russ got off to a good start in his first summer league game.

In his first professional game, No. 4 overall pick Russell Westbrook made his presence felt on Monday as Oklahoma City opened the Orlando Pro Summer League with a 95-78 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Westbrook started at point guard and played 31 minutes, scoring 18 points, handing out five assists and grabbing four rebounds.

“It was good to get out there again,” Westbrook said, “and I felt comfortable right away.”

Russ got some positive reviews from Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant too.

“Watching Russell out there was fun,“ Durant said. “He’s good and very athletic. He’s going to help us, and I’m anxious to watch him to see how he does for the remainder of the week.”

Hmmm, so maybe Bruins can succeed at the next level?

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

After reading N’s post about the home and home series with Kansas in ’09-’10, I remembered a post by M from a while back about football rivalries that aren’t, but should be. This got me wondering, what basketball rivalries are out there that aren’t but should be? I’m going to take it a little farther than that and not only limit it to rivalries, but home and home series as well. Here’s how M set the table for his post.

Nevertheless, just for fun, I wonder what rivalries make the "most sense," if all these factors disappeared and we had it to do it all over again.  What if we just looked at the universities, their students and their recent pasts, and spun a new set of traditions out of whole cloth?  What are the "natural" rivalries?  Or, in other words, what rivalries that aren't, but should be?  

So we’ll change it up a bit and explore what basketball rivalries/games aren’t, but should be. They can be ones you’d like to see UCLA take part in or ones between any two teams in the country. Here are 5 I’d like to see UCLA participate in, in no particular order.

1. UCLA vs. Notre Dame- The two programs have played recently and will play again this year at Pauley (which should be a fun match-up of two top 10 teams), but this needs to be taken a step farther and made an annual game. There’s too much history between these two programs, from record streaks ending in upsets to epic games on the way to titles for it not to be played every year. This would also match two of the country’s top academic institutions where excellence is expected in the classroom and on the court.

2. UCLA vs. North Carolina- In the past three seasons the two programs have been among the nation’s elite. Not only could the two schools battle in the Final Four in the near future, but they’re already battling for recruits (Kevin Love, Alex Stephenson, Larry Drew). The history between the two programs would be tough to match as well with 82 NCAA tournament appearances, 35 Final Fours and 15 national titles between the two. Then just to make it better, the games would be played at the Dean Smith Center and on John and Nell Wooden Court.

3. UCLA vs. Gonzaga- The established national power that rules the west coast versus the little guys who have taken the college basketball world by storm in the past decade. Gonzaga’s ascent in the college basketball world has been nothing short of extraordinary and despite playing in the lowly WCC the Zags have made a name for themselves by finding their way into the top 25 on a regular basis. We saw this match-up only three seasons ago in the NCAA tournament when UCLA’s 17 point comeback sent the Bruins to the Elite 8 and eventually the National Championship game. Ever since that night, I’ve wanted to see the two programs square off again.

4. UCLA vs. Georgetown- The best team in the northeast plays the best team in the southwest. Both teams like to pound and bang, making this one of the more physical and entertaining match-ups you could get. People say that Ben Howland brought a Big East mentality out west so how about we take the Big East mentality to the Big East and show them how toughness and defense is really done. And again, two of the nation’s better academic institutions.

5. UCLA vs. Purdue- I don’t want to see this game just to play Purdue. I want to see this game as a season opener when the newly renovated Pauley Pavilion opens. The beautiful new area opens, John and Nell Wooden Court is rededicated and the team Coach led to 10 national titles plays the team Coach played his collegiate ball for. I can’t think of a better team to reopen Pauley Pavilion against.

Also there are three games I’d like to see that don’t include UCLA. More after the jump ...

Continue reading this post »

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

The UCLA basketball program has released their tentative 2008-2009 schedule. The schedule features 29 regular season games with two more possible should UCLA advance to the semi-final round of the 2K Sports Classic. One of the regular season games' opponent is still to be determined, as is one of the two exhibition games. The Bruins face off with Texas as part of the Pac 10/Big XII Hardwood Series, host Notre Dame the week of the USC game and take on DePaul in the John R. Wooden Classic. The other teams participating in the 2K Classic have not been announced, however Duke and Michigan will join UCLA in the tournament. The fourth team has yet to be decided, but Mississippi State, Southern Illinois and Nebraska are possibilities.

Tentative 2008-2009 UCLA Basketball Schedule

Tues., Nov. 4 Humboldt State (Exhibition)

Fri., Nov. 7 TBA (Exhibition)

Wed.,, Nov. 12 Coaches vs. Cancer First Round (at Pauley Pavilion)

Thurs., Nov. 13 Coaches vs. Cancer Second Round (at Pauley Pavilion)

Thurs., Nov. 20 Coaches vs. Cancer Semifinals (at Madison Square Garden)

Fri.., Nov. 21 Coaches vs. Cancer Final (at Madison Square Garden)

Sat., Nov. 29 Florida International

Thurs., Dec. 4 at Texas #

Sun., Dec. 7 Cal State Northridge

Sat., Dec. 13 DePaul $

Wed., Dec. 17 TBA

Sat., Dec. 20 Mercer

Tues., Dec. 23 Wyoming

Sun., Dec. 28 Louisiana Tech

Fri., Jan. 2 at Oregon State*

Sun., Jan. 4 at Oregon*

Sat., Jan. 10 at USC*

Thurs., Jan. 15 Arizona State*

Sat., Jan. 17 Arizona*

Thurs., Jan. 22 at Washington State*

Sat., Jan. 24 at Washington*

Thurs., Jan. 29 California*

Sat., Jan. 31 Stanford*

Wed., Feb. 4 USC*

Sat., Feb. 7 Notre Dame

Thurs., Feb. 12 at Arizona*

Sat., Feb. 14 at Arizona State*

Thurs., Feb. 19 Washington*

Sat., Feb. 21 Washington State*

Thurs., Feb. 26 at Stanford*

Sat., Feb. 28 at California*

Thurs., Mar. 5 Oregon*

Sat., Mar. 7 Oregon State*

Mar. 11-14 Pac-10 Tournament (at Staples Center)

#- Pac 10/Big XII Hardwood Series

$- Wooden Classic, Anaheim, Calif. (Honda Center)

*- Pac 10 Game

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

UCLA has a reputation for severely underpaying its coaches and being unwilling to invest in its athletics. So with Howland signing his fifth contract extension in five years Jeff Eisenberg took a look at how Howland's contract compares with those of some of the other top coaches in the country.

- Billy Donovan (Florida), $3.5 million
- Thad Matta (Ohio State), $2.5 million
- John Calipari (Memphis), $2.35 million
- Billy Gillispie (Kentucky), $2.3 million
- Tom Crean (Indiana), $2.3 million
- Ben Howland (UCLA), $1.97 million
- Roy Williams (North Carolina), $1.8 million
- Tubby Smith (Minnesota), $1.8 million
- Tom Izzo (Michigan State), $1.7 million
- Rick Pitino (Louisville), $1.65 million
- Bill Self (Kansas) $1.4 million (Expected to renegotiate this offseason)

Not bad for an athletic department that has a history of underpaying coaches. It's clear the attitude of the Morgan Center has changed since DG took over and coaches who perform are rewarded. Just check out the numbers of how Howland's salary has gone up in the past five years (again from Jeff Eisenberg).

Howland's annual salary
2003-04: $900,000 (11-17, 7th in Pac-10)
2004-05: $900,000 (18-11, lost to Texas Tech in NCAA first round)
2005-06: $900,000 (32-7, lost to Florida in NCAA title game)
2006-07: $1.15 million (30-6, lost to Florida in Final Four)
2007-08: $1.5 million (35-4, lost to Memphis in Final Four)
2008-09: $1.97 million (???)

I don't think anybody would argue that Howland has deserved each and every one of those raises. Maybe we'll see him get another raise after next season deserving for a coach who brought home banner #12? 

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

The assistant head coaching spot left vacant when Brian Green took a job at Kentucky has been filled by Rick Vanderhook. Hook spent 21 years as an assistant at Fullerton and was promoted to Associate Head Coach under George Horton prior to the Titans' first game of the 2007 College World Series. He was expected by many to succeed Horton at Fullerton, but was passed over for the job to the surprise of many. Coach Serrano, who got the Fullerton job offered Hook a spot on the coaching staff, but he was upset for being passed over and declined. Coach Horton also offered Hook a place on his staff as the Associate Head Coach, but he did not want to move his family that has such strong ties to the Souther California area.

Vanderhook, 43, took last season off from coaching, but has 21 years of coaching experience. He started his coaching career at Fullerton the year after he finished playing. He spent two seasons as the bullpen coach and then one as the third base coach under legend Augie Garrido. Hook then went to Cal St. Northridge where he was the top assistant before going back to Fullerton after two seasons. Hook spent the remainder of his coaching career at Fullerton before taking last year off.

Vanderhook is considered one of the nation's best coaches. He has been offered head coaching jobs before, but declined them under the assumption he was succeed Horton at Fullerton. Hook is a premier hitting coach and has produced players such as first round picks Mike Harkey, Phil Nevin, Dante Powell, Mark Kotsay, Ricky Romero and supplemental pick Aaron Rowand. He has also coached 19 other All-Americans since 1991. Not only is Hook one of the best hitting coaches in the game, but he is also one of the nation's best recruiters with ties all over the area. He was the Titans' lead recruiter for the bulk of his time at Fullerton and many Titan players have credited him as the main reason they chose Fullerton.

If you want information on how involved Hook was in the Fullerton program, look at what Horton had to say in a Baseball America interview about who he thought should get the Fullerton job when he left.

I’ve let it known with them that Rick Vanderhook has 100 percent of my support. I’ve done everything in my power as the ex-baseball coach to promote Rick Vanderhook. This Titans baseball family runs pretty significant, there are a lot of guys that could be successful that are out coaching in other places, but my opinion is it’s a no-brainer. Rick Vanderhook should be the next head baseball coach at Cal State Fullerton, he should be given a three-year contract.

Rick’s been here for 20 years, been here longer than I have, been here during Augie Garrido’s tenure, been here during my tenure. That wasn’t just a token thing making him associate head coach (this year), he does pretty much everything I did with the program.

This is a huge get for the Bruin baseball program. Vanderhook will take care of the hitters (his strength) and Savage will take care of the pitchers (his strength). Hook will also bring even more credibility to the program, give a boost to the already strong recruiting and provide expert coaching the program has lacked recently. Most importantly, Hook will bring a new attitude to the program that will challenge players and provide some much needed toughness within the program. The Bruin program has taken huge strides under Savage, but has been criticized for being a little soft and lacking the correct mental approach to the game. With Hook on the staff, it's hard to imagine that continuing.

UPDATE: The official site has picked up on the hire and has this quote from Coach Savage: 

"Rick has been one of the top coaches for a very long time in college baseball," Savage said. "His knowledge, experience and passion will be a great addition to Bruin baseball. Rick has developed many players that were not only great college players but were also successful in professional baseball. Rick has been a part of many winning teams. We are very excited about Rick being in Westwood."

And it also has some more numbers from his time at Fullerton:

At Cal State Fullerton, Vanderhook helped lead the Titans to two national championships (1995, 2004). He coached the Titans to 10 College World Series appearances, six Super Regional triumphs, 16 Regional berths (13 since 1992) and 11 Big West Conference titles. Vanderhook also spent two years (1989-1990) as an assistant coach at Cal State Northridge, guiding the Matadors to a 39-22 record and NCAA Division II runner-up finish in 1990.

 

Under his tutelage at Cal State Fullerton, Vanderhook coached 52 All-America selections (27 on offense) and 28 eventual major leaguers. As the Titans' recruiting coordinator from 1991-1996, Vanderhook brought in 17 eventual All-America selections to Cal State Fullerton's program. Since 1991, Vanderhook's offenses posted a batting average above .300 each spring and an on-base percentage higher than .400 in all but one season.

 

Vanderhook was responsible for some of the most explosive offenses in Cal State Fullerton's history. The 1999 Titans established program benchmarks for single-season batting average (.338) and runs per game (9.2). Fullerton's 1998 squad set school records with 93 home runs, 28 triples and 167 doubles. 

Bumped. GO BRUINS. - N

The lack of progress for major renovations to Jackie Robinson Stadium has reached new heights as the Morgan Center still refuses to commit serious money to a renovation. While I have sent e-mails to DG before regarding a Jackie Robinson Stadium renovation, this is by far the most detailed I have ever been. It's rather long (over 2 pages on Word) so be prepared.

Dear Mr. Guerrero,

I have been a supporter of UCLA athletics my entire life and have always admired the university’s expectation of excellence. This expectation of excellence is applied in the classroom and on the field and I’m pleased to see that under your guidance the Morgan Center has finally begun to expect excellence from themselves. The athletic facilities have received massive upgrades since you were appointed athletic director from the Acosta Center, the locker room renovation at the Rose Bowl, Easton Stadium renovations, Spaulding Field improvements and the current plans for the Spieker Aquatic Center and Pauley Pavilion. While all these improvements are fantastic and much needed, I’m ashamed of the negligence for Jackie Robinson Stadium, which is an eyesore for the baseball program.

Built in 1981, Jackie Robinson Stadium served as a fine facility for the baseball program for years. It provided the program with a facility comparable to the other top programs in the country, however the stadium went essentially untouched for 25 years. Once you took over as athletic director I figured that the baseball program would finally get the facility it deserved considering you are a former Bruin baseball player yourself. I was sorely mistaken though as you have done no more than provide small improvements that only masks the fact that Jackie Robinson Stadium is laughed at by all visiting fans from programs where baseball is a priority, not an afterthought.

Yes, the bench seating was removed and replaced with chair backs. The stadium did get new mesh netting and a paint job. The field was replaced (although it was poorly done and is not a quality surface) and new padding was placed throughout the field, however Jackie Robinson Stadium still remains one of the poorer facilities in the nation. The stadium can’t even host a quality regional when the team earns itself the right to host. I’m aware of the attempts made to host recently and the belief that the stadium could indeed host a regional, but even should the NCAA grant UCLA the chance to host a regional, it would be far from a well hosted regional. The team facilities would be cramped, the concession facilities would be overused and cause long lines, portable toilets would have to be brought in, there would have to be a makeshift press conference center, the press box would be auxiliary at the stadium doesn’t even have a true press box and people would be forced to stand all around because the stadium lacks the seating space to host the number of people who would want to attend.

The fact is that the baseball program needs a facility that holds at least 2,000 (1,600 of which must be assigned seating), has restrooms and concessions to serve that many people, extra rooms to be used for regionals, a press box with two radio booths, a television booth and space for game production and press. The facility must also have an adequate playing surface, hitting and pitching facilities, improved coaches offices, an improved clubhouse, an umpire locker room and facilities to comfortably host photography and camera crews. This list merely contains what is needed for the baseball program to have an adequate facility and falls short of what the facility would need to be an excellent facility and live up to the expectations in Westwood.

The stadium cannot be improved through incremental improvements as you are currently doing. When a stadium has been ignored for as long as Jackie Robinson Stadium was ignored it takes a complete overhaul to get it back to par. Not only will it take a complete renovation to make it adequate again, but you are wasting money with the renovations that have taken place recently. Should the baseball program become more successful and draw larger crowds, more seating would be required and should you lower the field for more seating, the field replacement would have been wasted. Should you expand down the line, the newly renovated bullpens would be wasted. Should you expand up then the supports for the new netting and the recently upgraded lights would have to be removed so as not to block spectators’ views.

Not only are the incremental improvements insufficient and a waste of money, but eventually the stadium will need a complete overhaul and at that point you will be forced to spend far more on that renovation than you would should you do it now. In 1997, Ohio St. built Bill Davis Stadium for $4.7 million. TCU opened Lupton Stadium in 2003 at a cost of $7 million. In 2005, East Carolina opened beautiful Clark-LeClair Stadium, a stadium that cost approximately $11 million (the baseball team travels to E. Carolina in 2009 so maybe you can take a trip down there and see what a first class stadium looks like).  Next season, North Carolina will open Boshamer Stadium, a $25.5 million project that will be one of the finest facilities in the country. As you can see, the cost the build a stadium is rapidly increasing and will continue to do so.

UCLA doesn’t draw enough fans to build the 9,000+ seat stadiums with luxury suites like North Carolina and South Carolina, but there is no reason for the Bruins to not have a 2,000-2,500 seat stadium that offers the players all the amenities possible. An excellent facility for UCLA could cost $10-15 million right now, but even by waiting five years, it could cost upwards of $20 million. Not only does the UCLA baseball program deserves a massive renovation, but it makes financial sense to do is at as soon as possible.

I understand the Morgan Center is already having problems funding renovations for the Spieker Aquatic Center and Pauley Pavilion and I also understand that Pauley Pavilion takes priority over Jackie Robinson Stadium. Even so, there is no reason to leave Jackie Robinson Stadium until after those renovations are complete, especially when some of the bigger donors to a Jackie Robinson Stadium renovation could come from people who would no donate to other projects. Frank McCourt, owner of the Dodgers could be persuaded to make a sizeable donation to a Jackie Robinson Stadium renovation, especially right now. McCourt is often criticized for being a Boston man who has no interest in winning, rather in making money from the Dodger. He contends that he has set roots in Los Angeles and that he is committed to the community. What better way to prove it than to make a donation to the baseball program at Los Angeles’ public university, UCLA? In addition, McCourt is criticized for abolishing Dodger tradition so with the New York Mets opening a new stadium that will have the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, a sizeable donation a Jackie Robinson Stadium renovation to preserve his name on the stadium could be enticing to McCourt.

A Jackie Robinson Stadium renovation would be challenging, but it is necessary for the program to live up to the expectations of excellence that they are held to. The program needs a facility that can wow recruits before they enroll at UCLA, help them improve their skills before taking the field and provide an advantage on the field when they get to play at home in the postseason. None of this is possible with the stadium in its current state and won’t be possible if you continue with the renovations as currently planned. A major overhaul is needed and it is needed in the near future, before the decrepit stadium becomes not only an eyesore and embarrassment, but a hindrance to the programs ability to compete for conference and national titles.

Pac 10 Commisioner Tom Hansen will retire following the 2008-2009 season after 26 years on the job. From Fox Sports:

Hansen will step down effective July 1, 2009. Pac-10 teams won 204 NCAA championships during his time running the league and he has seen the emergence of Pac-10 football and basketball in recent years - including men's basketball being widely considered the strongest conference in the nation this past season.

"It has been a unique opportunity and an honor to be associated with the 10 outstanding institutions of higher education which comprise the Pac-10 Conference," Hansen said. "I want to thank them for the opportunity to be Pac-10 Commissioner."

Hansen is a notorious traditionalist who has nixed a number of changes during his tenure. A number of complaints about Hansen include the lack of exposure for football and basketball (very few games on ESPN and an illogical allegiance to FSN), terrible bowl game arrangements for the conference, packaging the minor sport TV deals with football and not requiring FSN to show games, an allegiance to the Rose Bowl (and resistance to a playoff) and more. Keep in mind that Hansen reports to the university presidents so not everything is in his power.

I've met Hansen a number of times and even sat next to him at last year’s Pac 10 tournament. He’s an extremely nice guy and it’s clear that he cares more about academics than athletics, however his actions as commissioner have also made it clear that he is not very good at his job. There’s a laundry list of issues with the conference and Hansen has done little to fix them. It will be good to see a new person in charge.

The first thing that needs to be done is to stop this allegiance to FSN. I know for a fact that ESPN was preparing an amazing offer to cover Pac 10 football and basketball, but the conference agreed to their deal with FSN without even talking to ESPN. Along those lines, the conference needs to treat their minor sports better. FSN is required to show the Pac 10 Championships for a number of sports, but isn’t required to show a game or two a week. The conference has given FSn the rights to games, but the network is under no obligation to show games.

I’d also like to see the conference develop something similar to ACC Select. ACC select has webcasts of football and basketball games not on national TV and webcasts of minor sports available for a price ($10 per month, $50 for the entire spring). It’d be great if the Pac 10 also had this so our Bruins in exile could watch non-national games online and everyone can watch baseball, softball, soccer, gymnastics, volleyball, etc.

I could go on and on about the faults of the Pac 10, but I’ll end my rant here. If I feel inclined I'll add the rest of my thoughts on things the conference can improve on in a comment.

So with new leadership upon us, take this moment to a) rant about Hansen b) name any potential replacements you've heard of c) talk about some changes you'd like to see made in the future or d) all of the above.