Pac Ten Alley

I had rough duty this week in Arizona playing golf, and going to a few meetings at a health insurance convention at the Phoenician in Scottsdale. There is nothing like Arizona in the spring time if you like golf.

I also had the rare opportunity to spend a little time with Coach Lou Holtz this past weekend. He spoke at a seminar I was at in Arizona, and I have to say he is as interesting in person as he is on TV, or the sidelines. He had some nice things to say about Husky Stadium, and the Washington program in general. He feels it will soon be back among the best in the land.

If you ever have the chance to hear Coach Holtz speak, it is a real treat. He is one of the better motivational speakers out there. He had the crowd laughing most of the time he was on stage as he drove home some important points we all can adapt to make our lives better.

One interesting thing he said about the end of his tenure at Notre Dame was that he was getting tired of maintaining, and to him the most exciting part of being a coach is building. He also said that the most important person to ask advice from is your wife, because nobody on earth wants you to succeed more than your wife.

Lou has a new book out that he autogrpahed for me called Wins, Losses, and Lessons, he jokingly said he has written three books which is two more than he has ever read.

Pac Ten Alley

Spring football is over at USC, and the Trojans have 120 days to wait till they begin the battle to live up to their likely #1 rating entering the season.

Spring football for USC is over, and the wait begins. Only about 120 shopping days until the opening of summer/fall ball. But, take heart, it’s late June when the first pre-season football mags come out!!

Cal is about to wrap up their Spring session.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Riley stood about 20 yards behind junior Nate Longshore. Riley didn’t have his red “untouchable” shirt on. Instead it was in his back pocket. Instead of a helmet, Riley was wearing a headset. And taking the place of the football was a game chart—a list of all the plays that the Cal football team was going to run through that day.

Oregon State's basketball program is going through a lot of transfers, and turmoils.

With the departure of Jeff Reinert, the Beavers quickly filled the vacant position with the hiring of Jerome Francis Jr. as assistant coach. Jerome will fill the position of working with the post players, including C.J. Giles, Roeland Schaftenaar, and Calvin Hampton.

Oregon's coach Bellotti feels the offensive line needs improvement.

Two days after Oregon’s first major scrimmage of spring practice, coach Mike Bellotti praised the efforts of his young defensive linemen and said his offensive line needs improvement.

UCLA thinks that Olsen is the perfect QB.

If a coach were to create a physically perfect quarterback from the ground up, he might end up with a clone of Olson. He is quick, mobile in the pocket and possesses strong legs. His chest is strong, chiseled and broad; his arms are long and powerful and his hands engulf yours as though you were an infant.

A Seattle jornalist that does not like WSU, c'mon....!

Ok, not really. I'm sure he/she doesn't HATE WSU. In fact he/she probably doesn't really care one way or another, I mean there are bigger items on the to-do list than striking down WSU football players with injury after injury

Arizona's offense is still a work in progress this Spring.

University of Arizona tailback Chris Jennings had eight carries and seven receptions.Get used to the work load because that is the way this offense is going to work. The short passes are going to work like a running play. The backs will get their chance to run a few times, but they better be just as prepared to catch the ball, as Jennings showed at the Wildcats’ scrimmage on Saturday.

Not much coming out about Stanford this Spring as Bay Area journalists are much more excited abot Cal, and San Jose State.

"It's a challenge to keep up with Coach Harbaugh," tight end Matt Traverso said. "He still wants to be playing. You can just tell from his demeanor. He wants to be the one under center."

The ASU blog as usual has plenty of interesting stories for us this week.

The Sun Devil family awoke to some frightful news of their own on Sunday morning as CB Chad Green was in a Scottsdale ICU after a collision with a drunk driver in Tempe around 3 am. His condition is still listed as critical but guarded, as the doctors won't really know what's going on until the swelling goes down.