The end of football conference media days takes us out west for the Pac 12. If you have ever watched the Academy Awards in the last four or five years, you know the Dolby Theater at Hollywood and Highland, and what could be more West Coast than to have the Pac 12 Media Days at that venue. Nothing says West Coast more than all of the coaches in polo shirts, a doughnut stand with a special make for each team, and a lunch for players, coaches and media of local Mexican food that includes vegetarian options and gluten free chips. Come on\u2026you all know this is how you think of the Southern California folks anyway.<\/p>\n
We generally don\u2019t give much space to the conference commissioner, but Scott did discuss the desire to shorten games. The conference is going to have an experiment during non-conference games that are on the Pac 12 Network. Halftime will be reduced by five minutes and there will be fewer commercial breaks in favor of on-screen sponsorship opportunities for advertisers. We also put Scott in here because he opened the event by doing the obvious; inviting the women\u2019s rowing coach from Washington up to speak. Not such an obvious? UW\u2019s national title was the 500th<\/sup> for the conference, so Scott was in a celebratory mood. By comparison, the Big 10 has 309 and the SEC is third with 222.<\/p>\n \u201cRichRod\u201d has had a couple of tough years. Each season he comes in with a little swagger, but the product on the field has not lived up to that.<\/p>\n The rookie coach had three years as an assistant under Jeff Tedford<\/a><\/strong> so he knows the program and what changes he wants to bring about. The biggest obstacle is a financially hamstrung athletic department, which he can only do so much about. The more immediate issue for him is to fix a defense that gave up 42 points per game last year.<\/p>\n Mora is coming off his first losing season in five years at the helm. The spotlight was on a porous offensive line which ultimately contributed to the season ending injury to quarterback Josh Rosen<\/a><\/strong> in week five.<\/p>\n Anderson is in his third year in Corvallis, and has a 6-18 record with no road wins in his tenure. He said the focus needs to be on the ground game in 2017.<\/p>\n The Buffaloes had a breakout season in 2016, winning the Pac 12 South in his seventh season in Boulder. It was a surprise to everyone but him.<\/p>\n The Huskies were the first Pac 12 team to make the College Football Playoffs. They also lost some of the most critical elements of that roster to the NFL draft, and thus depth is a concern.<\/p>\nRich Rodriguez, Arizona<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Justin Wilcox<\/a>, Cal<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Jim Mora, UCLA<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Gary Anderson<\/a>, Oregon State<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Mike Macintyre, Colorado<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Chris Petersen, Washington<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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