Duck A.D. Makes
Sense on Grid Topics
 by Pigskin Pete

 University of Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos recently made much sense with his opinions on the current state of college football.  He decries the glut of bowl games, with Division I teams almost certain for post season play if they manage a winning season (Oregon (7-5) vs. Wake Forest (6-6) in the Seattle Bowl!!) and the plethora of bowl sponsors putting the heat on schools to meet ticket sales minimums.

Moos is no fan of the Bowl Championship Series, which has supplanted traditional conference champion matchups in the four major bowls.  He wants the current BCS bowls as the quarterfinals of a true national title playoff, with the four winners paired in semifinals a week after January 1, with the title game the following week.

Moos is pushing his fellow Pac10 AD’s to re-institute a round-robin conference grid schedule, having each league member play all nine conference opponents each season, rather than eight in the current scheduling model.  Moos correctly believes “there is no true champion if you don’t play everybody.”

We agree with Moos, but money rules against him.  National television revenues will enrich each of this season’s many bowl games.  Pac10 commissioner Tom Hansen has expressed delight that his conference has two BCS teams  (Washington State and USC) for the second time in three years…with almost $16 million earned by these schools for their participation…and BCS matchup bowl profits will be split among the eight Pac10 schools not enjoying BCS play.

Roses & Raspberries (part one)…posies should proliferate, if not this season, then surely next, for new Oregon State cage coach Jay John, who has already restored playing ‘fun’ for his squad after two miserable years under mentor Richie McKay…a prickly set of thorns for anyone not believing that Portland’s PGE Park is a monumental mistake that demonstrates how utterly stupid politicians can be when they fail to find out fiscal facts before endorsing a project…roses to Oregon Tech basketball coach Danny Miles, who, after two decades at the helm of the Klamath Falls school, has concocted a solid shot at a small school national championship…no bouquets should be forthcoming for any fan with faith that the Allen/Whitsitt management of the Portland Trailblazers will ever find an NBA crown…

(R&R part two) ...pretty petals should be showered upon Eugene’s Sheldon high school for a convincing state football championship…
raspberries are the only sane reaction to the hapless Portland School Board’s decision to enrich their sorry budget by dumping spring sports…far better they should have pondered the well documented fact that administrative (not academic) costs in the PDX district are at a higher percentage than exists in any other Oregon school district…we wish a bounteous supply of blooms for Washington Husky alumni who achieve ridding their university of Athletic Director Barbara Hedges, now presiding over NCAA sanctions earned by her two most prominent coaching hires, Neuheisel in football and Romar in basketball…

(R&R part three) ...a bounteous supply of blooms for football coach Mike Price for guiding his Cougars into the Rose Bowl, but he also deserves some raspberries for the foolish public relations he just engendered by his handling of his hire by the University of Alabama…got to give the Crimson Tide credit, however, for recognizing Price’s abilities in achieving notable success for over a decade at the sorriest geographic site in the Pac10…finally, a flowery salute to all who believe that 2003 will be a landmark year of achievment at every level of our state’s sports realm.

© 2003 Oregon Magazine