jotted some notes with Mark Harlan interview on ESPN 700
Alamo Bowl - there is a call with all the PAC-12 AD’s Wednesday before Friday championship game where we discuss slotting of teams in bowls, all signals were we would be in the Final 4 if we won. Our bus broke down right after the game (wind shield wipers), and I was working on the phone with the league and the Alamo Bowl through Saturday morning. We were confident if we weren’t in the NY6 (which we missed by a hair) we were solidly in the Alamo Bowl, wasn’t concerned that we’d drop to Holiday after those conversations. I know the fans were extremely depressed after the game, as were all of us, but the players, coaches and staff bounced back fast.
6,000 is our bowl allotment in tickets, trending good in ticket sales. There was certainly a lull where people were getting through the grief. People that have gone to the Alamo bowl previously have told me this is a great game to be involved in and that’s why it’s ranked #2 in the PAC-12’s bowl affiliation.
Morgan Scalley’s new deal – when you have someone who’s really good at what they do, you want to keep them here, he’s fantastic recruiter, coach and person and passed every test. What the guys say about him is the same is what they say in private. There was concern people were after him. He’s starting to stand out like a sore thumb. Whitt and I met and we knew we needed to keep him. Head coaching is in his future. I’ve used search firms and I haven’t used search firms in the past when hiring a coach, but the decision will be mine when the time comes.
Judging the season – what metrics you look at? Did we get better on a day to day basis, including classroom, community, chasing championships in the PAC-12 takes everything
9 am kickoffs – Fox executives are excited about this, I haven’t shut it off entirely but opponents, advanced notice, etc. are important criteria that we need more discussion. It’s still a couple years out, if it happens, some schools have shut down the idea entirely.
Beehive classic – not a big attendance success, the arena is a great facility, BYU and Utah will be home and home in the future, it was a good attempt. We’ve decided playing in state should be on each other’s court. I let Larry do his basketball scheduling, based on what he feels is best. We wanted UK at Hunstman, couldn’t do it, couldn’t get them to come to Vivint either, because of proximity to the campus. They agreed to Vegas.
Overall state of Utah sports based on where it was when you got here? were up in every metric – donations, academics, ticket sales, incredible year