Pac Ten Alley

I am back from vacation over in the islands and I have to tell you it was a whole lot better than hanging out in Chicago. I didn't write a lot while I was over there because frankly there wasn't a lot of football stuff to write about which is typical for late May.

Here are few brief tidbits that have come up that are interesting.

First of all Juan Garcia is progressing well without surgery.

The cast on his foot has been removed and he will bear partial weight on the foot over the next four weeks. After that period, he will be able to put full weight on his foot. He will remain on crutches the next few weeks in order to keep his full weight off the injured foot."

We all know that it took a full year for Stanback to recover from this injury, but Juan's injury wasn't nearly as serious which is a very good thing. Still the odds of him being the starting center against Oregon are not in his favor. Camp should open around the first of August, and that leaves him only a month to get back into shape, and regain full mobility for the start of practice....pretty tall order.

Realistically if we get a half season out of Garcia it is a bonus for the program, and even a bigger one for the kid who has NFL aspirations. He should be more than fully recovered when combines roll around next spring.

On the recruiting front Washington hasn't signed a player yet for the 2009 class, that will change in June during camp, but don't look for UW to sign many kids early this year as it is a wait and see year for Tyrone.

As for Tyrone it is extremely doubtful he is going to get a fifth year. Ty needs to win seven games next season for that type of consideration, and while the team will continue to improve the wins aren't likely going to be there. Every publication in the country lists him as being on the hottest seat. I don't want to go into details, but I don't think the team is very united behind Ty at this point which won't help matters this Fall. Bottom line....they aren't buying what he is selling, and playing football for him isn't fun.

The new AD, Scott Woodward, and Mark Emmert will make the call on the next head coach, and don't doubt for a minute that there isn't a candidate list already being put together for 2009.

I heard an interesting name this week, and it was current Seahawk coach Mike Holmgren. Holmgren of course will retire from the Seahawks after this season, but don't think for a minute that he is done with coaching. I know it is a longshot, but I thought I would throw it out there since Holmgren wouldn't mind staying in the area long term.

Another name of course is Jeff Tedford of California. Tedford is the hardest working guy on the Pacific Coast, and you have to think the stall in facility building in Berkeley is getting old. Add Chris Petersen of Boise State to the fantasy list also.

As far as the AD search goes UW is finding out that top candidates from other schools have no interest. The AD at Georgia Tech who was probably the front runner took his name off the list. Back on the list is former Oregon AD Bill Moos, and of course current UTEP AD Bob Stull. I think one of those two guys will get the nod despite being a little long in the tooth.

Pac Ten Alley

We open with lots of good, and not so good stuff in the Cougar blog. You hate to see a kid do something like this to himself, but before you pass judgement know that Cal is a good kid who made some pretty stupid mistakes. I predict he will bounce back and finish on top.

Dang. This is too bad. Calvin Schmidtke, the QB who tore it up last year in a pass-happy offense and a guy many compared to Jason Gesser, Chase Daniel and Todd Reesing among others? The kid who looked like the perfect fit in the new Todd Sturdy offense? Well, according to today's TNT, Schmidtke is OUT. That's right, Paul Wulff and Jim Sterk made the decision to release the promising young QB before he ever set foot on campus.

Michael Wines weighs in with some commentary on Phil Knight, and the coverage that his influence on the Oregon program has gotten over the past month nationally. Nice job Michael!

Personally, I don't think anyone will deny that "Uncle Phil" has a lot of pull at the U of O athletic department. But let's get realistic, why shouldn't he? Where was Oregon Sports 15 years ago? Have they improved, are the facilities something to be proud of (and still growing)? If the answers to these questions were no, then I say we having something to complain about.

As usual Jon Wilner contributes some good info from the Bay Area.

Now that there’s a chance they could happily snag Robin Lopez at 14 and not have to agonize over Brook Lopez at 3. (Do Nelson/Mullin think B Lopez is worth the third pick? I’m not so sure.)

A little baseball commentary from the Arizona blog. Bottom line is there are too many good teams in the Pac Ten.

Favoritism exists in college baseball, that can’t be denied. Two-time defending national champion Oregon State won’t get a chance for the repeat as they were left out of the field of 64, while Oklahoma and Arkansas were admitted to NCAA baseball playoffs. The Razorbacks didn’t even qualify to play in their SEC tournament.

Tedford has some comments about DeSean Jackson.

Cal Coach Jeff Tedford told the Daily News the problem last year wasn't so much with Jackson as it was with his family. "With outside opinions and outside advice always eating at DeSean, he was in a very tough spot," Tedford said

NIT Baseball tornament for OSU, is there really such a thing?

After an intense round of analysis and debate the first super-official college baseball NIT selection committee announced half of the field last night. Baylor received top honors. The Bears (32-26), who finished sixth in the Big-12 and missed out on the NCAA tournament, will continue their season this weekend as the top regional host in the NIT tournament. The College of Charlestown (39-20) and Missouri State (40-17) presented solid alternatives but in the end Baylor’s state of the art home field and demanding schedule carried the day.

USC picked up their 11th commit of the year and it is still May.

USC received its 11th commitment from defensive tackle Hebron Fangupo of Mt. San Antonio College. Now there's a name I can't wait to write on a daily basis.How good is Fangupo? I don't know but I know he was offered by Tennessee, Oregon, Arizona State, Oregon State, Missouri and Arizona.The Trojans might not be done at Mt. SAC. They are also looking at cornerback Dominick Gaisie, who is originally from Bishop Amat.

ASU wins Pac Ten Baseball Title.

No. 2 Arizona State clinched its second consecutive Pac-10 championship with a 13-6 win over Arizona Thursday night at Kindall Field at Sancet Stadium in Tucson. The win marks the second straight year the Sun Devils have clinched the conference title against the rival Wildcats, and it improves their record to 45-9, 16-6 in the Pac-10.

The Bruin Baseball team made the regionals. Nice new look over at the Bruin Blog!

Here's a look at this weekend's Fullerton regional where the Bruins will make their third consecutive postseason appearance. I'll have an in depth look at the Bruins' opening game versus Virginia Thursday afternoon. Teams have played up to 58 games. Some have won regular season conference titles; others have won conference tournament titles. A select few have even won both. One team has a mere 16 wins, while another has a gaudy 48 wins. However, starting Friday all of that gets thrown out the window as college baseball's second season gets underway with 16 regionals nationwide. One of those regionals is in Fullerton where the Titans will host UCLA, Virginia and Rider at Goodwin Field.