Plati-'Tudes: An In-Depth Q&A Session
Feb. 8, 2002
BOULDER - A bi-weekly notes column penned by David Plati, who is in his 18th year as Colorado's Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations.
Welcome to P-'Tudes, where you won't find Brittney or Mariah lip-synching, it's McCartney and U2, the real thing, bay-bee!
TRIVIA QUESTIONS... CU -- There is one conference team remaining that CU can be undefeated against in the "big four" attendance sports (as defined by the four we sell tickets to: football, men's and women's basketball, and volleyball). Which is it? Godfather (I'm starting to run out) -- Around the time Francis Ford Coppola was directing The Godfather, he took a protege under his wing. The two worked together on several projects, but not the GF movies. Who was this man and what movie did he direct a year after the Godfather came out that started him on his road to success?
SWEET NATIONAL PUB... On the same day, no less: in the February 7 USA Today sports section, Jeremy Boom graced the front page as the day's cover story, as he bids for a medal in moguls skiing at the Olympics (his races are at 9 a.m., qualification, and 1 p.m., finals, on February 12). And in the mail that afternoon, the February issue of Basketball Times, featuring a full page story on CU freshman David Harrison, written by Boulder Camera scribe Chris Dempsey.
OVERSIGHT?... On the February 11 Sporting News, comparisons were drawn to the magazine in attempting to assess the Texas 2002 recruiting class. TSN said the top five classes over the last decade, in order, were: Florida State '93, Texas '02, Florida '00, Notre Dame '95 and Michigan, '98. It called the modern day standard the '90 Notre Dame class, of which 13 of 23 signees were drafted into the NFL. Okay, I'll buy that. The Colorado class of '92 surely would have been in this group, with nine NFL draftees in the bunch, but that was over a decade ago. But CU's class of '97 sports some big names: Justin Bannan, Daniel Graham, Andre Gurode, Cortlen Johnson and Victor Rogers, all probable NFL draft picks, plus others who contributed to the Big 12 title this year like Cedric Cormier and Roman Hollowell. The '92 and '97 recruiting classes are considered among the best, if not the two best, in Colorado history for those with 20 or more signees, but that 1987 group might be the best: TB Eric Bieniemy, TE Jon Boman, FB George Hemingway, C Jay Leeuwenburg, OLB Kanavis McGhee, WB Mike Pritchard, DT Joel Steed and OLB Alfred Williams headlined an 11-member recruiting class that saw six play in the pro ranks.
RECRUITING CLASS RANKINGS... For those services that have completed their rankings, on the average, Colorado came in at No. 13 for its 2002 recruiting class. Here's a look at some of the rankings out there (top three plus Colorado's rank and Big 12 schools around the Buffs):
Rivals.com: 1.
Texas, 2. Tennessee, 3. Georgia. (8. Oklahoma, 10. Colorado, 15.
Kansas State, 23. Texas A&M, 26. Oklahoma State, 30. Missouri,
34. Iowa State, 38. Nebraska.)
SuperPrep: 1. Texas, 2. Miami, Fla., 3. Ohio State. (6. Oklahoma,
11. Colorado, 19. Nebraska.)
collegefootballnews.com: 1. Texas, 2. Virginia, 3. Florida State.
(8. Oklahoma, 11. Nebraska, 12. Colorado, 13. Texas A&M, 15.
Kansas State.)
CNN-SI/Insiders.com: 1. Texas, 2. Ohio State, 3. Miami, Fla.
(6. Oklahoma, 14. Colorado, 15. Texas A&M, 23. Kansas
State.)
ESPN/Prep Football Report: 1. Texas, 2. Ohio State, 3. Miami, Fla.
(11. Oklahoma, 14. Colorado, 16. Nebraska, 18. Texas
A&M.)
Student Sports: 1. Texas, 2. Ohio State, 3. Miami, Fla.
(7. Oklahoma, 14. Colorado, 17. Texas A&M, 24. Kansas State,
29. Missouri, 39. Nebraska.)
National Blue Chips/Max
Emfinger:
1. Texas, 2. Ohio State and Tennessee. (4. Oklahoma, t-10. Texas
A&M, t-18. Colorado, Kansas State, 23. Texas Tech, t-25.
Baylor, Oklahoma State, 27. Nebraska)
**CBS SportsLine/PrepStar: 1. Texas, 2. Ohio State, 3. Florida State. (11.
Oklahoma, 18. Texas A&M, 23. Nebraska, 25. Colorado)
(**-rankings subject to change.)
MORE RATINGS (TV)... The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl between Colorado and Oregon was the second most-watched game for the 2001-02 bowl season, as the contest drew an 11.3 rating. Only the Rose Bowl's 13.8 mark topped the Buff-Duck clash, the Orange Bowl was third (9.5), the Sugar Bowl fourth (8.6) and the Gator Bowl fifth (6.9). One troubling thing was that the ratings for all four BCS bowls were significantly down, but ratings were up for 12 of 24 games that were in business in '00-'01.
BIOGATE... It's interesting what is going on around the country with media guide bios. I can tell you for sure it's not limited to sports, we must get 4-5 calls a month from people asking to verify that someone lettered in a sport (usually football or basketball). Some go as far as to say they were All-American or all-conference, and we can't even confirm they were as much as a walk-on. Here at CU, we'll have a couple of bios technically wrong a year in the football guide-it's been my signature to the admin staff that I get two per year with something outlandishly funny (and it never has anything to do with education or degrees). They're usually along the lines of the two I nailed this year: ticket stud Ed Gow and video man Tom Doyle: Gow worked for the ticket staffs of the 2000 Running of the Bulls in Pomplona (like they sell tickets), and Doyle was an extra in the movie Field of Dreams, driving one of the cars at the end with the lights on. Everyone braces the day they're delivered to see if they're one of the year's "gets." And my bio is technically wrong, now, I was supposed to work the Salt Lake Olympics but pulled out for a couple reasons. It would have been special to be working the alpine hills, especially with Jeremy Bloom going for a medal in moguls skiing.
THE P-'TUDES MAILBAG... I solicited questions from those on the Plati-'Tudes special e-mail list, and all should be of interest to most, or most should be of interest to all. I tried to answer everything I could (there were a couple of inappropriate questions for this forum, I answered those directly). Here we go:
Q: When will the club
seats and suites be complete and what will be the new capacity of
Folsom? (Several)
A: Groundbreaking begins this April with the target
completion date of August 2003 (our first game is Sept. 6 against
UCLA). There are 1,960 club seats and 41 suites that will seat 22
each (902 total), or a combined addition of 2,862 seats. That will
bring the capacity of Folsom to 53,804. The architects appeared to
have done a masterful job, as we all viewed a presentation that
showed the various stages of construction, and they look to pull it
off with a minimal disruption of campus activities on that side of
the stadium. The latest numbers have 20 suites contracted, with
club seats sales approaching 600.
Q: Can you give a quick
synopsis on the football scholarship limit rules? I have a math
degree and work with numbers every day of my life and i can't
figure that out. We have 30, but there is a limit of 25, but some
will defer to spring, what about last year's gray shirts? (Steve
Mizdor, Brad Gay)
A: You can only have 85 football players on scholarship at
any one time, and you can't take in more than 25 in any single
recruiting class. But the way things work, you can play with the
numbers under NCAA rules. For example, we did sign 30
student-athletes to letters-of-intent in the freshly inked 2002
class, however, four of those players can count back to 2001,
simply because they enrolled at CU in time for the '02 spring
semester (which started Jan. 14). As long as they are enrolled
prior to the next signing date, they can count back. So that lowers
the number to 26, so we're close to being within the limit right
now. Not all of the players are qualified yet (25 of 30 as of
signing day, according to Gary), and one could always "gray" shirt,
meaning he delays his enrollment until next January. How many
you've signed in classes that count toward the NCAA maximum of 25
are determined by how many actually receive aid when they arrive on
campus.
Q: Is it true that San
Diego State is considering pulling out of its game with CU? If so,
who are the potential replacements? (Several)
A: It is true, though the reasons are murky, kind of a
combination of conference scheduling issues SDSU faces combined
with a first-year head coach noting that his team has to play
Colorado, UCLA, Arizona State and Fresno State in non-league play.
As it stands now, the game is on, a suitable replacement would have
to be found, and at this point, they're scarce. Face it, the first
2002 college football weekend is less than seven months from now.
We have some easy access to monitoring schedule changes around the
country, but there's not a lot to pick from at this point unless a
few schools that opted not to add a 12th game all of a sudden have
a change of heart (Stanford was not adding a 12th game last I
heard).
Q: Some schools are
having trouble securing a 12th game. Who did Colorado schedule when
you got the go-ahead for the extra game? (Geoff Frank)
A: We were pretty sure that legislation was going to go
through (back in January, 1999), so we basically had a prearranged
deal with UCLA. I'm a good friend with their SID, Mark Dellins,
we're both on the scheduling team at our respective schools, and at
the time, Rick Neuheisel was the head coach and UCLA was his alma
mater. As soon as the NCAA approved it, we had a signed contract
with the Bruins for a home-and-home within three or four weeks.
Some schools are not adding as 12th game, others in fact, can't
secure one, but if it's at this late date, more than likely someone
dropped off their schedule and they're trying to find a
replacement. Unless you've ever dealt with scheduling, it's not an
easy thing: you could easily have your 2012 schedule finished
before the one for 2004. I've sent some feelers out for 2004 and
2005 in case the 12-game seasons stick to see who might be
interested in hooking up, so you do play this game far in advance,
knowing full well you might be trying to secure an opponent only
six months ahead of time as well. Back in 1996, we were supposed to
play North Texas, but they pulled out, and we were able (and lucky)
to schedule Washington State in December of '95.
Q: Was CU in the
running or interested in playing Ohio State in a preseason game
this fall? I thought that would have made for a great game! (Gerry
Spoor)
A: Their was minimal talk about it and we were approached,
but our non-conference schedule of Colorado State, San Diego State,
USC and UCLA will again be one of the toughest around. Opening on
the road at Ohio State and following with that slate would be
biting off quite a bit.
Q: CU was looking into
putting fixed lights at Folsom a few years back... is that still in
the works? Will we see more night games in the future? (Gerry
Spoor)
A: The club seats and suites addition on the east side of
Folsom have two built-in banks of lights, and part of the project
includes erecting lights on the west side as well. They didn't go
in as planned in '99 because of some campus power issues, and then
it didn't make sense to erect any that would likely be torn down to
make way for the suites addition. As to having night games here,
without permanent lights, we only could have them when selected for
the prime time television window by Fox Sports Net. It's just been
the luck of the draw as far as not being selected
recently.
Q: When is the spring
game? (James Deal).
A: It is tentatively set for Saturday, April 20 (the first
day of the NFL Draft). No kickoff time has been set, but the date
should likely hold firm and we usually go around 1 or
1:30.
Q: Will details of the
basis for the four recent football player suspensions ever be made
public? The current explanation is for violation of university
rules. Unfortunately, many people are taking this broad definition
and assuming the worst. Can we expect any further details? (David
Tedesco)
A: No, they can't be unless the player(s) decide to make
those reasons public, it's part of their student files and those
are protected by the Buckley Act of 1974. As far as assuming the
worst, don't, these unfortunate incidents aren't uncommon, as
college students have done these through the years. If they were
felonies, those facts would be out there.
Q. Has CU thought of
sharing priority points between basketball and football? That way
person, like myself, who has both tickets, will accumulate more
priority points than an individual who only attends one sport.
(Jayson Bethurem)
A. According to our ticket manager, Ed Gow, the thought has
been explored. But the feeling is that priority points should be
kept specific to the sport, because it protects the sports specific
season ticket holder. GBSF contributions do carry over from
sport-to-sport, but, for example, with postseason ticket
assignments contingent on the priority point system, someone with a
lot of football points who doesn't have basketball tickets could be
in line for Big 12 postseason basketball tournament tickets ahead
of a basketball ticket holder. And there are some other issues that
make it best for the points to remain sport
specific.
Q: Exactly where is the
10 year athletic plan now in terms of its progress, and what grade
would the athletic department give itself now in terms of progress
on that plan? (Brent Rourk)
A: We're in the final stages of our internal review, as we
just met as a full department last week to go over a draft of the
report. Once we get back the entire final input, we will be ready
to go public with our report, including our grade. Grades won't be
traditional A, B, C, etc., rather a statement on where we are in a
project, i.e., completed/on-going and satisfactory, moderate or no
progress.
Q: On signing day, why
didn't you update signings like other websites and why did fans
have to wait all afternoon to see the confirmed list of signings?
(Summary of three different e-mails from Jason Maggard)
A: First, and this was confirmed through our compliance
office, is that we are NOT allowed to update signings as they
happen, that would be practically an all day press conference. If
others schools were doing it, either they were not official sites
or the schools were in violation. Second, because we have to make
all the announcements at one time, we must have a copy of all
signees letters of intent in hand (via fax), because of that, most
press conference are now in mid- to late afternoon. We were
scheduled at 3:30 (a snack was served to the media at 3, followed
by soccer at 3:15), but didn't start until about 3:45. The monkey
wrench was that Blake Mackey called the coaches at 1 p.m., saying
he would sign at 1:30, we thought we had lost him, and as a result,
we never hooked up by telephone to get his bio information. So I
interviewed Blake at about 1:45 for 15 minutes, wrote his bio, then
had to rearrange the entire packet of information, of which the
notes weren't finished yet. Because of the rush, instead of posting
the info on the web as the press conference was occurring, they
went up right after (5 p.m. or so, maybe an hour later than usual).
If a select few choose to chastise us for that, so be it. But if is
understood how crazy it is behind the scenes to put it together,
combined with what the NCAA allows us to do, I think most of the
criticism goes away, other than from those that whine or complain
regardless of what you do.
Q: Do you like the
addition of TBS as a broadcast partner? Do you think it will
increase the number of times the Buffs are on TV? (Brian
Lollar)
A: I've always been a huge TBS fan, dating back to the three
years I traveled most of the west as the game talent statistician
for Rick Barry and Bill Russell for NBA games in the mid-1980s. But
basically, all this really means is that instead of Fox Sports Net
lining up most or all of its regional networks to carry the game,
it will go out national on TBS. What I'm wondering about is if Fox
has done away with the late Pac-10 game, as if the Big 12 and
Pac-10 are alternating, it seems to me that we will now share the
same 7 p.m. eastern time window and will be going head-to-head.
Either way, don't look for the number of times CU, or any school
for that matter, to increase because of this
arrangement.
Q: How was the trip to
Tempe this year (other than the game) compared with past Fiesta
Bowls? (Brian Lollar)
A: The best bowls for hospitality have been the Fiesta,
Cotton, Orange and Holiday (remember we've not been to a Sugar or
Rose), but it's not like anyone does a bad job. However, the Fiesta
people may have taken things to a new level this year on that
front, as they do host the big one next year (national
championship) and are gearing up for it. The Fiesta Bowl also might
do more things year-round than most bowls, starting with the
"Fiesta Frolics," a weekend golf tournament with coaches, staff,
television brass and sponsors from around the nation. We had a
great hotel, a better-than-bowl average practice site in Scottsdale
C.C. (they were most accommodating), awesome gifts for the players,
coaches and staff, and most important, a reliable shuttle service
provided by the bowl for players to they could get around town
safely.
Q: What's your favorite
part of your job? (Brian Lollar)
A: I've described my job as a rut that is never the same.
Because the student-athletes change so often, my job is essentially
the same, but because the personalities are always changing, it
makes things different. I can't reduce my job to just one thing I
like, but as with any profession, as long as the good outweighs the
bad, I'll be here.
Q: What's up with the
low snowfall this year? (Guess who?... Brian Lollar)
A: We'll get hammered in April. Probably the 20th, when
we're supposed to have our spring football game.
Q: Your survey last
year generally reflected that CSU and Nebraska are our two main
rivals. How are we doing against them across the board this
academic year? (Paul Covello)
A: So far, CU has gone head-to-head against Colorado State
in eight sports and against Nebraska in nine. Against the Rams, the
Buffaloes are 8-6 (2-0 in men's and women's cross country, 1-0 in
football and men's basketball, 1-1 in men's golf, 1-2 in women's
golf, 0-1 in women's basketball and 0-2 in volleyball). Against the
Cornhuskers, CU is 8-4-1 (2-0 in men's X-C, 1-0 in women's
basketball, women's X-C and football, 2-1 in women's golf, 1-1 in
men's basketball, 0-0-1 in women's soccer and 0-2 in volleyball).
There has been no head-to-head yet in M/W-indoor and outdoor track
and M/W-tennis, and only CU fields a ski team.
Q: What about donations
to the athletic department or to new facilities? The
who/what/when/where/why/how? (Brent Rourk)
A: Donations can be sent to the CU Foundation, care of the
Athletics 2010 Fund, 57 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0057. But the Golden
Buffalo Scholarship Fund (GBSF) will handle any individual
questions, telephone 303-492-5497.
SMITH COOKIN' IN BOULDER... Former CU lineman Corey Smith was recently hired by Boulder's Triana Restaurant as its new executive chef. Triana's, voted Boulder's Best New Restaurant in 2001, is owned by former Fairview standout football player Scott Lockwood, who went on to play collegiately at USC, he's the son of former Buff John Lockwood and his wife Lynda, who runs Silver & Gold catering at the Dal Ward Center. In announcing Corey, the release noted that he "brings a tremendous amount of culinary experience, talent and passion to Triana. His new menu, inspired by the many flavors of the Mediterranean is prepared using the utmost care and the finest ingredients available. His menu is meant to be shared with family and friends along with a glass of wine, lively conversation and music." Stop by and say hello and sample his fare at 1039 Pearl Street!
THIS WEEK'S NUMBER... 67.0. That's the percentage of overall losses suffered by Big 12 women's basketball teams in conference play. Through games of Feb. 8, 63 off the 94 losses accumulated by the 12 teams came at the hands of other conference teams, including 32 of 43 suffered by the top eight schools (74%). The league could make a case for at least seven NCAA teams and four hosts come tournament time.
TRIVIA ANSWERS... CU -- Colorado is 5-0 against Iowa State, with two basketball games remaining: the women play at Ames this Saturday and the men are there next Wednesday, Feb. 13. Plus, they could meet in the conference playoffs as well, volleyball was 2-0 and football 1-0, both hoop teams won the first encounter of the year. Godfather -- The protege was none other than George Lucas, the two worked together on THX1138 (Coppola executive produced, if you recall, in Star Wars, there was an "1138" reference at some point). Lucas directed American Graffiti in 1973, which sent his career skyrocketing as it did with others in the film (i.e., Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfus, Cindy Williams).
"Plati-'Tudes" features notes and stories that may not get much play from the mainstream media, offers CU's take on issues raised by those who have an interest in the program, answers questions and concerns, and provides CU's point of view if we should disagree with what may have been written or broadcast. Have a question or want to know CU's take on something? E-mail Dave at david.plati@colorado.edu, and the subject may appear in the next Plati-'Tudes.