Mild-mannered and soft-spoken Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen moved quickly to address the blown game-changing calls made by Pac-10 officials in the Oregon-Oklahoma matchup Saturday. He suspended the officials involved in the plays that were called and reviewed. Tom did the right thing … and it’s about time!! We’d like to take the time this minor controversy affords us to focus on the job of Tom Hansen. Its time for Tom to go. Let us explain why, bear with us, we will tie it all together by the end.

For years, Tom Hansen has stood silently and meekly on the sidelines of the annual national debate on the BCS and big bowl bids. When Pac-10 teams were shut out year after year, Tom did practically nothing. While coaches and league officials from Nebraska, Florida State, Texas, Miami and other schools whined and caused a ruckus on national television day in and day out to get their schools considered for the title game or any one of the prized BCS bowl slots, getting any soundbites they could, Tom Hansen did nothing. Barely a peep. Sure, he threatened to leave the BCS in the 2000 season if #6 Oregon State was left out of the Fiesta Bowl (OSU did get to play in that game, and crushed #11 Notre Dame, after Kansas State thankfully lost in the Big 12 championship game to #1 Oklahoma).* We will give him credit for that. But Washington was snubbed from the title game that year in favor of a campaigning ACC and Florida State (who scored a grim 2 points in the title game loss to Oklahoma). So, Tom gets a wash that year at best.

Then there is the Oregon snubbing in the 2001 season. Ranked #2 in BOTH polls, Oregon should have played Miami in the championship game (Miami went on to crush Nebraska, who had given up 62 points in a loss to Colorado in the SEC championship game), but due to the ridiculous “computer rankings” Oregon had to settle for a 3-loss Colorado team in the Fiesta Bowl (who Oregon went on to crush).

That was followed by the embarrassment of Southern Cal’s BCS title game snub after being ranked #1 in both polls at the end of the 2003 season. The following year we had #4 ranked Cal’s 2004 BCS bowl snub after many Big-12 coaches left Cal off their final ballots to let a lower ranked Texas snatch the final BCS bowl, the Rose Bowl, and gain for the Big-12 conference the riches of the purse. Which was followed in 2005 by #6 Oregon, a 1-loss team (against Southern Cal), being snubbed in favor of lower ranked 2-loss teams Notre Dame (of course), Ohio State, Georgia, and 4-loss Florida State.

Where was Tom during all this?? Even before the dreaded BCS, there were a number of other snubs that we cant recall now but that occurred under Tom’s watch. How about our very own 1997 UCLA Bruins getting snubbed by the Sugar Bowl as the #5 ranked team in the country in favor of #9 Ohio State?* Where was Tom then? Prior to that we can only remember one other Pac-10 school who had a New Year’s Day bowl game, other than the Rose Bowl, since Tom’s Tenure began in 1983 (Arizona, Fiesta Bowl 1994).** Before we hear about how well other conferences’ fans travel, and how poorly Pac-10 schools’ fans travel, let us point out that Oregon State handled the Fiesta Bowl affair by promising 30,000 fans to the Fiesta Bowl committee. That is not hard to do, it only takes a little bit of creativity.

Pac-10 visibility nationally is part of the television and BCS snub problem. Tom has done a horrible job of getting Pac-10 games played on national television. We get 1 game with ABC on Saturday. Most of the East Coast gets 8 games to watch, only 1 of which is a Pac-10 game. The bulk of games goes to the SEC and the Big-10, and of course Notre Dame. Maybe its the games our teams are scheduling, maybe its the times they are playing at (10pm EST, on Saturday night!). Whatever the case, the responsibility for gaining visibility, exposure and television contracts lies squarely on Tom Hansen. And he’s never got it done in that area.

Then, of course, there is the annual issue of the quality of Pac-10 officiating (see how we tie it all together). There are too many cases to go over. What we had Saturday was par for the course. Yet, because the Pac-10 had a game on television against a powerhouse draw such as Oklahoma, Tom had to step up and do something. Its not enough Tom. The debate unfortunately has turned against the Pac-10 once again.

All this snubbing, lack of exposure, and incompetent officiating and oversight isnt just about respect, its about recognition and the riches of television revenues and BCS Bowl purses. Those funds are shared by all the schools in the conference. Tom Hansen has lost us, UCLA, tens of millions of dollars in television revenues and bowl games.

The visibility Tom Hansen is getting now highlights the lack of visibility he has given the Pac-10 for his entire tenure. We should give Tom Hansen a name that befits his brut and uncompromising style. Tom the Terrible? Hannibal Hansen? Bottom Line: it’s time for Tom to step aside.

DD

* minor revision from original post

** UCLA did play in the Cotton Bowl in the ‘88 season, and the Fiesta Bowl in the ‘84 season; Washington played in the Orange Bowl in the ‘84 season.

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