Lute Olson on tv contract and recruiting

[Russ Smith]

Found on a UCLA board, interesting and I think it's great Olson is leading the fight on this it REALLY does make a difference.

Olson said a lack of national exposure hurts in the recruiting department more than anything, as well as with national media exposure.

"It kills us with recruiting, absolutely kills us, and it's used against us," Olson said. "The amount of damage that it does in our league, it's amazing how much it hurts us. I think it's time for our league to step up and recognize this."

"I think the league office's job is to put our conference in a position of maximum exposure," Olson said.

"With only one more year left on the contract with Fox, and Arizona Athletics Director Jim Livengood taking over as the chairman of the television committee in the Pac-10, Olson's ideas might carry more weight in the ongoing negotiations for Pac-10 basketball and football rights."

I hope Lute can convince the right people that this really is critical, it's just a huge disadvantage to not have a national deal these days. the time difference is tough enough to overcome, East coast kids are asleep when Pac 10 games are on and their newspapers don't carry the scores because the games start too late(morning papers). NOT being on ESPN is really a huge disadvantage.

Plus don't we all really want to hear about the next great recruiting class at Duke while watching UA and UCLA play?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Lute's got a terrific point and has essentially been the lone champion of the Pac-10 and it's weaknesses on both the national and local scale. Unfortunately, bitter coaches with agendas mostly due to jealousy over Lute's success haven't helped him in filling in the void left by Montgomery. I'm hoping young successful coaches like Howland and Romar (not to mention football coaches like Koetter, Carroll, and Stoops) can pick up the torch and get positive change in the Pac-10. Sorry, but the officiating and television contract in the Pac are garbage and it's a shame that Lute's the only one with the balls to step up to the conference leaders.

EDIT - It should be very easy to get on one of the ESPN networks when the Fox Sports contract is up. Between the original ESPN, ESPN2, and now ESPNU there's plenty of bowling and figure skating currently being televised that could be demoted in favor of Pac-10 sports so the West Coast could actually reach a national audience for once.

 

[Chaplin]

I think that it is crucial that all the other schools really get on board. The Pac-10 conference could be the best conference in the country if they just got the amount of exposure Lute is trying to get.

 

[Russ Smith]

Completely agree with both of you. The bottom line is not being on ESPN is hurting the Pac 10 just the same way it did in the early 80's when kids like Earl Duncan and Stevie Thompson went to Syracuse because every day when they came home, the only games on tv were Big east games on ESPN and USA.

I know a lot of UCLA alums on message boards have made it clear they feel the same way so I would assume Howland understands this and will hopefully join Lute in pushing the issue.

I also respect Lute for doing this, to be honest it's a distinct ADVANTAGE to him right now because he's the only coach in the conference with the pull to get kids nationally without the tv exposure. But he also of course realizes he'd get more kids and easier if he was on ESPN regularly and that what makes the conference as a whole better, also makes UA better.

 

[Gee!]

Lute is the man.

Thats all I got.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Lute is the man.

Thats all I got.

Wait, you didn't hear? Lute's a choke artist and the Cats are going to suck next year.

PS - It looks like Rodgers and Hassan are going to be back for a run in 2006 in case anyone was wondering.

 

[Renz]

PS - It looks like Rodgers and Hassan are going to be back for a run in 2006 in case anyone was wondering.