Around The Horn With The Pac-10 AD’s

Today, Jim Moore and I had the pleasure of talking to three of the ten AD’s in the Pac-10 conference – three of the most compelling guys as a matter of fact.

Among them were Mike Bellotti, Oregon AD, Scott Woodward, Washington AD and the newest athletic director at Washington State, Bill Moos.

Mike Bellotti is facing some of the most difficult issues down at Oregon, and he discussed some of them today.

Mike Bellotti, Oregon AD

On Football Team’s Troubles: “I think we’re on top of it. I don’t want to sweep anything under the carpet – our coaches and community are very concerned about the actions of the athletes. I think as this thing works itself out, it’ll be interesting to see how all the facts come out. I think Chip Kelly has been slow to judgment on some things and I think some people take that wrong. I’m not happy about, we’re not proud of it – we’re going to take preventative measures, we do already, but we’ll take more in the future.”

On Why Athletes Don’t Take More Blame: “One of my goals as a coach and now an administrator is education of the athletes – it’s a continual process. I do think they need to understand accountability and responsibility and I think generally we’ve done a great job of that at Oregon. The accumulation and frequency right now of these events right now is the cause of it – on a national basis, we’re probably not even in the top 10 or top 20 in terms of total arrests for any program or any team.”

On LeGarrette Blount Suspension: “I think Chip, some people felt that he flip-flopped, but basically he felt very adamant that he had to suspend him. See, we’re on the ‘quarter-system’ and not a lot of people understand that. We play three or four games before school even starts, so one of the things that Chip wanted to see was how committed LeGarrette was to really try and make amends. He registered for school, he got in his classes, and in talking to experts across the nation, Chip really found out that there needed to be some kind of carrot. It wasn’t a football issue – it was more of a behavioral issue, maybe a learning issue. I think it was a great lesson for our team to learn.”

On Chip Kelly: “I think that Chip is learning some things – he’s an unbelievable football coach, he’s also a first year head coach that’s had to go through some things. His first game of the season – I don’t think they prepare you for that. However, that comes with the job, and I think he’s very capable and willing and working at becoming the very best coach – and he’s certainly one of the best that I’ve seen.”

On Whether Chip Kelly Has Been Unfairly Criticized: “I actually think he has been, yes, absolutely, and I think that as this thing continues to go forward and as more information is available to the public they will see that. You’ve got to get all the facts, and you don’t rush to judgment. I think that over the years, that’s the one real strong lesson that I did learn and that I passed on to Chip. It may not keep some people happy out there, but the reality is sometimes, that if you don’t have the information, you’re really not capable of doing that.”

To hear everything Mike Bellotti had to say today, click right here.

Scott Woodward had some things to say regarding the Oregon Football program, as well as some of the issues surrounding the University of Washington today.

Scott Woodward

On What Oregon’s Problems Tells Him: “You try to be vigilant and you try to be very proactive with it. You try to use unfortunate things that have happened at other schools as examples of what you don’t do. We’ve been there before at this institution, and we don’t want to go back. It’s tough – they’re young kids and kids get in trouble. You hope that you can prevent a lot of that from happening.”

On Rivalry Between UW and WSU: “Last I saw, the competition in football was in Los Angeles. That’s where we have to focus as far as where the competition is, and I feel the same way in basketball. Nothing against all of our other colleagues, but when you set your sights, you set your sights at the top.”

On Bill Moos Becoming WSU AD: “Bill’s a great guy, he’s a professional, he’s been in the Pac-10 a long time. He’s going to have great insight in meetings and give us a great perspective – having a veteran guy around is always a good thing.”

On Student-Athlete Accountability: “There’s no doubt about it – and that has to be a key point when you discuss these things. You have to be accountable to yourself first and your team second.”

Scott Woodward’s full interview can be heard right here as well.

Finally, the newest Athletic Director to the Pac-10 (though no stranger to it), Bill Moos, joined us to talk about his new position.

Bill Moos, Washington State University AD

Why He Took The Job: “First of all, I love WSU, I have a lot of deep roots here. I’m from the state of Washington – and we found out from the three years we’ve been away from it, that we missed it, and this was a natural. I think I can make a contribution here – I understand the territory and the conference. We’ve got good people here already, and we can hit the ground running.”

Who He Wants to Beat Most in Conference: “Well, right now we want to beat somebody. We’re going to take our steps one at a time. I like rivalries and I have great respect. It’s a tough conference and it truly is a conference of champions. Our rivals are the UW Huskies. We need to lock arms in a lot of things, including our funding. We need to be cousins and brothers at times, but when it comes time for the game to start, that’s who we want to knock off.”

On Paul Wulff: “I like the prospects of a coach who’s had to do things with little or no resources. I was hoping that Paul would bring, and I still think he will, stability to the program once he gets some players in there. He’s had a wonderful recruiting class, I was quite impressed. It’s just a matter of how soon it will take that to transform into victories and we’re all hoping that’ll be this fall.”

You can hear everything the new athletic director had to say, right here. Tune in tomorrow for some more fun and games, as always.