College fun and sun event mixed with a little news

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The interesting news coming out of this week’s college spring meetings in Phoenix was that there was actually interesting news.

These annual gatherings at the swanky Biltmore Hotel are orchestrated to mainly mix in as little work as possible around the getaway Fiesta Bowl Frolic, a schmooze-fest that includes a lot of golf, hobnobbing and libations.

The event has been deemed so coverage-unworthy that my colleague Andrew Bagnato, the Associated Press bureau reporter based in Phoenix, was the ONLY journalist at the Biltmore compound. And even Andy wouldn’t have been there had the Diamondbacks been in town.

But ‘Bags’ set up his one-man press tent in the bar, which had free wireless, and pulled out a few noteworthy bullet points:

-- American Football Coaches Assn. decides not to release results of a survey conducted on its college football poll. Isn’t this hilarious? The AFCA commissioned Gallup to study the USA Today poll, which is one-third of the Bowl Championship Series formula, and make recommendations as to how it might be more accurate and credible.

The poll was criticized for years for allowing coaches to vote anonymously. In 2005, the coaches finally relented and made their final ballots public. And now the AFCA won’t release its Gallup poll survey results?

My guess is Gallup recommended that Utah should have been No. 1 in last year’s coaches’ poll.

How credible can a poll be when its voters are mandated to vote the winner of the BCS title game as the national champion? In 2003, that meant dislodging the coaches’ top-ranked USC because the Trojans finished No. 3 in the BCS standings and didn’t qualify for the title game that featured Oklahoma and LSU.

Oh, and no matter what Gallup’s findings found, the coaches are still going to crown the champion of the BCS game no matter what Orrin Hatch or anyone says.

-- Big 12 Conference coaches decide not to change its tiebreaker rule. This became a huge issue last year when Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech finished in a three-way tie in the Big 12 South. The tiebreak got down to highest-ranking team in the BCS standings, which went to Oklahoma even though it lost to Texas. Oklahoma went on to defeat Missouri in the Big 12 title game to earn a spot in the national title game. Texas fans were/remain furious.

There was talk about amending the rule to eliminate the lowest-ranked team in a three-way tie and then use head-to-head, which last year would have benefited Texas.

Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe told the AP: ‘There’s risks to either one. We had one risk last year.’ The coaches’ recommendation will be forwarded to conference athletic directors, who could still revise the system.

Texas Coach Mack Brown didn’t attend the meeting because his wife Sally was having surgery.

Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops wasn’t there, either. He was believed to be on a retreat somewhere in Oregon with Pac-10 officials.

-- The Pac-10 is feeling this recession. Washington is cutting men’s and women’s swimming. The conference office trimmed expenses by not sending out as many staffers to this year’s NCAA tournament. Some schools are considering not housing their football teams at local hotels the night before home games. Stanford isn’t cutting any sports yet but laid off 24 people in the athletic department.

Stanford Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby warned: ‘I really think you’re going to see a lot of men’s Olympic sports, and probably women’s too, go away in the next two or three years.’

-- Chris Dufresne