COMMENTARY : Slower Is Better for the Pac-10 Conference

Expansion to 12 teams is a good idea for the Pacific 10 Conference.

But it’s not something members of the league should leap into in fear of what the Southeastern Conference and others might do.

C’mon now ... that whole Texas scenario was a reach, anyway.

The real bosses of the Pac-10 -- the university presidents and chancellors -- recognized that this week when they told the athletic directors to slow down and make sure they know exactly what they’re getting into.

Stanford athletic director Andy Geiger, adamantly opposed to quick expansion, said he couldn’t believe his ears as he sat in a meeting of his peers and heard the bubbling groundswell of immediate expansion.

“I whispered to one of my colleagues, ‘Is this the way you would plot and plan to expand your business?’ ” Geiger said.

“I tried to imagine what would happen if this were a seminar in a school of business at any one of our universities. Expanding the Pac-10? First things first: We’d do a case study.

“What are the givens involved? The aspirations of the league? The short-term and long-term goals? We’d do a mission statement, look at the potentials, and that would lead you to what your next steps would be.”

That takes time. More time, apparently, than Texas and Texas A&M; have to wait around for the Pac-10, so they’re probably headed for the SEC unless the political pressure forces them to remain with their fellow Texans in the Southworst Conference.

That’s OK. If a more complete approach convinces the Pac-10 that it should expand in a year or so, Colorado and Brigham Young, as well as Air Force and Utah, wouldn’t turn them down.

And considering the presidents really are in charge, pure football and basketball revenues will not be the only considerations involved in expansion. Sharing research between medical schools and the like is a vital part of the association of universities, as the chief execs see it, which is a wild concept to the rest of the country.

And in this “age of reform,” that’s exactly how it should be. The power of the TV buck shouldn’t reduce universities to a series of teams that happen to place each other on the schedule.

The Pac-10 likes to consider itself at the top of the integrity scale, and it generally takes a leading role in the NCAA insofar as reform is concerned. This might be its chance to elevate and expand its agenda further, with more direct results.

While the SEC is football grabbing and doing little for its generally awful academic reputation, the Pac-10 and Big Ten for starters (with the Atlantic Coast Conference another possibility, considering its prestige) could begin serious discussions about the role of athletics in universities.

More stringent admission and academic requirements? More and better cost-cutting measures? Shifting a handful of scholarships from football to other sports?

The huge TV dollars and possible conference expansion should be construed as an opportunity for improvement in college athletics rather than further reason for disgust.

The Kickoff Classic is just a week away, when USC plays Syracuse Aug. 30. But that’s almost a week later than the college football season kicks off.

Yessir, thanks to a scheduling conflict at Anaheim Stadium (the Angels and Rams get first crack at it), the inaugural Disneyland Kickoff Classic had to be pushed a week earlier than originally planned.

As a result, freshmen at Colorado and Tennessee had to show up for practice July 31. The Buffaloes face the Volunteers on Sunday at noon, when Anaheim Stadium will look pretty funny half empty for two Top 10 teams to officially open the season.

The way Augustin Olobia has looked in practice at Washington State, perhaps the junior from Nigeria is more than just a sprinter wearing shoulder pads.

Olobia has good enough size (5-foot-10, 194) and as much speed as anyone in the country. He has caught touchdown passes of 75 and 35 yards in the Cougars’ two scrimmages.

With Olobia’s world-class speed, coach Mike Price doesn’t have to teach him too many patterns -- just one, and then tell the quarterbacks to try to overthrow him.