Pac-10 change leaves fans uncertain

University of Oregon Duck fans were all over the playing field Thursday when responding to the news that the University of Colorado had accepted the Pac-10 athletic conference’s invitation to join the league — amid the possibility that as many as five more schools from as far away as Texas and Oklahoma may also soon join a “Pac-16” superconference.

UO faculty, meanwhile, appeared to be of a more singular mind on the proposal: opposed.

Nathan Tublitz, a biology professor and president of the UO Senate, said he heard from about 30 of his colleagues in the first day after news of the plan emerged, all expressing concern about the idea.

“I think it centers around the worry that this is being done solely for money, for raising revenues, and with very little explicit conversation about how this impacts academics,” Tublitz said.

The presidents of the Pac-10 schools recently voted to give the conference’s commissioner authority to explore and negotiate an expansion. But things moved beyond the exploration phase Thursday when Colorado announced it had agreed to become the conference’s 11th team.

“We are proud to accept this invitation from the Pac-10 and join the most prestigious academic and athletic conference in the nation,” Philip DiStefano, the University of Colorado’s chancellor, said in a written statement.

But that’s been about the only comment so far from the university presidents who have final say in the expansion. UO President Richard Lariviere and Oregon State University President Ed Ray both turned down requests for interviews on the topic.

Among UO students, Alex Horwitch, a sophomore from Calabasas, Calif., and president of the student Pit Crew known for its raucous support at basketball games, mirrored the ambivalence of many.

“I’m not sure,” said Horwitch, who grew up a loyal follower of the USC Trojans but is now a huge Duck fan. “I think it’s great that the Pac-10 wants to expand.

“It will bring much needed media attention,” he said, mentioning the much-perceived East Coast bias of sports writers and broadcasters. “We’ll have more credibility in the eyes of ESPN. (The Pac-10 won’t be viewed) as just USC and the rest of ’em” anymore.

“At the same time, I think it’s a little unfair to Arizona and Arizona State,” Horwitch said, referring to the proposal to split the Arizona schools into a division with Colorado, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State if the Pac-16 were to become a reality. “Instead of having to play Washington and Washington State, they’d be playing Oklahoma and Texas (on a regular basis).”

Horwitch said his phone was “exploding with text messages” from fellow Duck fans, even friends who attend the University of Colorado, after the news broke that Colorado was joining the Pac-10. “They’re really excited,” he said of Buffalo fans in Boulder. “Just for something new.”

Teigh Bowen, a UO senior, found the proposed realignment geographically baffling.

“I think it’s nuts if Colorado and Texas join the Pac-10 because it doesn’t make any sense,” Bowen said. “They’re not Pacific schools. They’re in central America.”

David Brill, a senior studying economics, expressed concern about the steeper competitive challenge for UO teams.

“The thing that sucks is that we will be fighting for third or fourth instead of being at the top,” he said. “But it will be good for the Pac-10. It will undoubtedly bring more respect.”

“I think it will be a little more competitive,” agreed Austin Loranger, a senior studying human physiology. “I was on the UO lacrosse team for my first two years, and it would have been nice competing against a team like Colorado.”

Older Duck fans also weighed in Thursday with mixed reviews.

Tom Hankins, 49, a furniture salesman who grew up in Eugene, ran track for the UO in the early 1980s and is a diehard Duck fan.

“What are they going to call it?” Hankins asked of the new conference. “To me, it just doesn’t make any sense.”

Current Pac-10 schools would have to travel farther for conference games, he said.

“I could handle (adding) two teams,” Hankins said. “But to add six, and to (travel to) multiple states? I don’t know.”

Laila Hood, president of the Daisy Ducks booster club, has been a UO fan for 40 years.

“I’m not sure that I like it, although I’m not completely against it,” she said. “Of course, I like the little Pac-10. I would like to just keep our little Pac-10 the way it is. People don’t like change. I just like things the way they are.”

The same can be said for some faculty, who are concerned that having more distant opponents will mean student-athletes missing more classes than they do now. Also, faculty members caution, the pressure to increase revenue could lead universities to accept demands by television networks to hold more weekday games, which could have effects on classroom work and exams for all students, not just athletes.

“This is a very ominous discussion because it demonstrates that fiscal priorities are trumping academic needs and the academic values of our institutions,” Tublitz said. “It’s very hard to understand how we have much in common academically with some of the schools that they are proposing.”

Tublitz said it’s not a foregone conclusion that the expansion will be a bad thing for students. But he said it’s important to have a more thorough discussion before moving ahead.

“I think it can be either a positive or a negative, depending upon how it’s done,” he said. “Therefore, I think it should be done wisely and carefully and should be done in an informed manner that allows the various constituencies on campus to have a voice and be heard, so it can be done right, if it’s done at all.”

Reporter Shaun O’Dell contributed to this report.