Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller
Pac-10 media day is July 24. It's the day that tells fans the season is just around the corner, and for reporters it means they won't see their families again until February.
Here's the schedule of coaches and players.
9:35 am - Tyrone Willingham/QB Jake Locker - Washington
9:50 am - Jim Harbaugh/C Alex Fletcher - Stanford
10:05 am - Paul Wulff/FL Brandon Gibson - Washington State
10:20 am - Jeff Tedford/C Alex Mack - California
10:35 am - Mike Stoops/QB Willie Tuitama - Arizona
10:50 am - Mike Bellotti/ROV Patrick Chung - Oregon
11:05 am - Break
11:15 am - Rick Neuheisel/DT Brigham Harwell - UCLA
11:30 am - Mike Riley/CB Brandon Hughes - Oregon State
11:45 am - Dennis Erickson/QB Rudy Carpenter - Arizona State
12:00 noon - Pete Carroll/SLB Brian Cushing - USC
Did you just stifle a yawn and wonder what this means to you?
Well, wake up, because this list is meaningful.
Think about it: Including specialists, there are 24 starters on a team and typically a handful of stars. The player who will take the podium with his coach was chosen as THE representative of his team.
Why? A couple of reasons:
1. Star power.
2. An ability to handle a media grilling without saying something controversial.
To some players, it's a reward. Others view it as a drudgery. But, hey, it's a free lunch.
Of course, coaches and sports information directors sometimes opt to use a laconic senior instead off the mouthy superstar underclassman everyone wants to talk to because they want to keep said star from getting too full of himself. Or some star players just tell the SID to go jump in a lake.
For example, that was sort of the case (as in all of the above) when Cal kicked off Marshawn Lynch's Heisman campaign by bringing Daymeion Hughes to media day.
You'd be surprised at how relaxed and open some guys can be. Matt Leinart held court a few years back and was candid and entertaining for over an hour. And I'm going to miss Bill Doba, who was always fun to talk to -- even though he'd always toss a "that's off the record" after expressing a strong opinion.
My favorite time, though, is the evening before in the hospitality room, which fills up with Pac-10 officials, SIDs and freeloading reporters. A handful of coaches come down and hang out -- Mike Bellotti (every year), Jeff Tedford, Dennis Erickson, Jim Harbaugh -- and it's nice to get to casually chat about stuff other than next week's game.
Ted Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-10. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.
