Pac-12 Media Days: Sights and Sounds from Arizona Football

Pac-12 Media Days with Arizona Football have been fun so far with Rodriguez and crew going first in the line up of 12 teams.

The Arizona Football season is upon us, and it can just not get much worse than last season, so there’s that. To add insult to injury, Arizona was voted by 52 media members who cover Pac-12 football to end up last in the Conference with USC winning. No, we weren’t included in the vote, but I don’t know how much stock to put in it.

Pac-12 Media Days are taking place today and tomorrow (7/26-7/27/17) in Hollywood, California at Hollywood and Highland, a five-story mall with a ballroom and a hotel on the top floor. This is the second year the Pac-12 has used this venue, and it works well for everyone, very convenient.

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The morning started out with opening remarks by Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. Scott brought up Women’s Washington Rowing Coach Yasmin Farooq, to talk about the conferences 500th National Championship. It was going to be between ASU’s Golf Team and the Huskies. With three injured or ill rowers, the Huskies pulled out an underdog win, and it was an excellent story. But I needed to know what the commissioner was doing about the East Coast Bias.

My Question:

A lot of our fans and some of the athletes have also talked about the late game times and the East Coast bias. And Pac-12 After Dark is fantastic for the West Coast, but the East Coast media don’t see it, so I don’t hear a lot of national media talking about the Pac-12 players a lot. People are concerned about rankings and seeding and stuff. So what are you doing? Do you believe there is an East Coast bias, and do you have any plans to help out with that?

Larry Scotts Answer (well part of it, he kind of repeated himself several times, and he basically doesn’t believe there is East Coast Bias):

"“What we’ve discovered with our media partners is our ability to play more night games has created value. It’s created value for our media partners that’s gone back to our schools in the form of exclusive and prominent national windows. And while it’s absolutely true that when we play night games, and about a third of our Saturday games are at night — I want to make that clear. There’s a perception that all of our games are at night, two-thirds of them are what you would consider during the day. But of the third of our games that are at night, while there is less East Coast viewership, we dominate it. We’ve got the most market share.”"

Satisfied? Neither was I, but it is clear it is all about the money, who cares of Wildcats fans on the East coast cannot stay up to watch the games?

On to what we really care about, the Arizona Football team. In a nut shell, there is no further down this team can be projected to go. So everyone, except for some media folks and a majority of fans are looking up! It’s great, no expectations, except for if there are not enough wins, Rodriguez may be looking for a job. But he feels confident if he can get his team to want to win and love the game of football as much as he does, he can have a successful season.

Take it from his players and me, this coach HATES TO LOSE! “I don’t give a shit what I’m playing, I want to win everything — I get pissed off losing a rep in practice — I think I’ve got to have more people feel more urgent to win than I ever have. Not that I have to be a prick, cause I already am half the time, but I have to portray that urgency right now, we had a terrible year, it was miserable —  I think I’ve got to have more people feel more urgent to win than I ever have.”

The way that Media Days work, is that that they start off each segment by playing a video highlight reel of the team. Then the Head Coach gives a one-minute speech followed by a rush of media to the front podium. In the back of the Main ballroom, there are two stations one for each athlete the coach brings. Coach Rich Rodriguez brought OL Jacob Alsadek and DL Luca Bruno who is subbing in for Deandre Miller who just underwent minor surgery on his foot. No worries though, Coach Rod told us he would be ready for game No. 1.

Rich is known to start with something funny, as he is usually the first coach to be interviewed, and he didn’t disappoint this morning. “I’ve got two big guys with me,” said Coach Rod, “Offensive lineman Jacob Alsadek and defensive lineman Luca Bruno. Brought those guys because I know we’d eat well. And they’ll be great representatives of our program. I’m sure you’ll enjoy talking to them if you get that opportunity.” Eating will be the theme of the day, I guarantee you.

When you bring your biggest linebackers, some serious eating is going to be happening. Sophia Alsadek, Jacob’s very proud and lovely mom, joined us for lunch. Coach Rod at lunch told us about Miller’s injury and maybe why he brought Bruno, “Luca came instead and that allows us to eat better.”

Arizona Wildcats Football

When Mrs. Alsadek came back to the table with seconds, and I mean her plate was piled high with seconds, I almost fell off my chair. “See where Jacob gets it? He’s not the only one who can eat a lot.” High fives all around, I have come to adore Sophia, and we are like two peas in a pod, cracking middle age women jokes around all these male millennials. Met his Dad Louay for the first time, also an awesome guy, it is evident why Jacob is such a wonderful young man.

Onto the next Coach Rod sound bite worth hitting on, because this one is just too fun not to. Someone asked Rich a fun question about ASU, here’s how it went down:

Media: Speaking on the state of Arizona, do you feel both Arizona programs have kind of mirrored each other’s trajectories after competing for the south?

Rodriguez: What’s that?

Media Guy: Do you feel both ASU and U of A have mirrored each other?

Rodriguez:  I don’t look in the mirror and look at ASU. I promise you that. I could care less what they’re doing.

The two players plus their coach and SID’s Blair Willis and Daniel Berk all flew out to Los Angeles on a private jet, so they came in style and had fun with the entire experience. That was fun to see these two smiling and talking about their team with pride, knowing they both will have a huge job on their hands, helping the coaches get their team ready, keep them focused on winning on and off the field.

Asked about four and five-star recruits, Rod told us he doesn’t shy away from giving them offers, “We make them all tell us no,” said Rod, “We want players who love football.”

So we got a little personal with the Arizona Football Head Coach, we found out he got a second dog, and we could not stop laughing at his story. “I got a new puppy, yeah Rambo, and he s***’s everywhere, it’s really supposed to be my daughters. This dude, I’m telling you, he’s got no shame, you give him a bone, and ten minutes later, there’s a pile of s***. And that’s why Miss Rita ain’t here, and she’s cleaning up dog s***. I like his personality; he’s a wiry little b*st*rd, he’s competitive.”

Maybe the new puppy needs to come to practice?

Oh, my Lord, he was hilarious, I couldn’t stop laughing, while everyone else seemed serious. More questions about Rhett, Rhett was the focus of at least 25% of the questions Rich was asked today. For good reason, it is an interesting topic. How do you treat your son, so he feels like one of the team? Rich assures us, they are both doing the best they can so everyone feels comfortable, plus Rich thinks Rhett is way wiser than his years, so he welcomes his maturity.

We interviewed both Jacob and Luca which we will bring to you at some point, but just know these two mean business. They aren’t taking any prisoners or excuses from anyone. There are 50 new players in town, and Coach Rod and these two linemen are all on the same page, it is time to spit out the taste of losing last season and eat some winning pie.

On to the Pac-12 Instagram story with our two lineman…you can find it on the Pac12conference account:

Jacob: This is Jacob Alsadek, I play on the Offensive Line it’s pretty cool.

Luca: I’m a defensive lineman

Jacob: I just like to move people for fun.

Luca: Yes, I just like to hit people and uh this is what I look like without my helmet on.

Jacob: Alrighty we are going to go slime (the players are making slime in the Pac-13 Digital Lab they have set up.)

Rodriguez has learned that he needs players who love football and he can find them in Texas and Florida, so he hired some coaches with ties in those states. He also is looking to get more Polynesian players, his camp was a success and would like to double it next season.

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As far as top recruits out west? “We still go after them [five-stars] every year, they still tell us no,” said coach.  “This is the best recruiting class that we have had, and there will be 25 of the 50 including walk-on’s that will play this year.” It seems the Pac-12 and Wildcats fans may be pleasantly surprised next season, we sure hope so.

At the end of today, all the players and their coaches went to Universal Studios to have some fun. Bear Down Jacob, Luca, and Coach! Thanks for your time. More to come, video interviews, etc. So stay tuned to Zona Zealots!