*** The Pac-12 Hotline newsletter is published each Monday-Wednesday-Friday during the college sports season and twice-a-week in the summer. (Sign up here for a free subscription.) This edition, from April 3, has been made available in archived form.

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Spring Practice in Summer?

No official in the Pac-12 — no coach, no athletic director and no commissioner — is better equipped than Colorado AD Rick George to address the latest nuances with the high-priority issues facing college sports.

George is the conference’s representative to the Division I Council.

He’s on the NCAA working group addressing immediate eligibility for transfers.

He’s on the NCAA working group addressing name, image and likeness.

Heck, he’s even on the College Football Playoff selection committee.

So when George talks, we listen. Everybody should listen.

And George talked on Wednesday.

During a teleconference with reporters, George touched on a slew of relevant topics, from eligibility waivers for spring sports athletes to the timeline for a football restart to the wobbly revenue situation across the country to the status of NIL legislation.

His comments can be found in full at BuffStampede, the 247sports site for CU sports.

Our focus here is on spring football — specifically, the lack of uniformity thus far in a crucial aspect of the football offseason.

For some teams, spring starts in late February; for others, it starts in early April; add to the calculation the March 14 shutdown of organized team activities, and we‘re left with a significant disparity in the number of practices held out of the total (15) allowed by the NCAA.

Arizona State, for example, held seven practices before the shutdown.

Oregon State had five.

Utah had three.

USC held one.

And three teams never got on the field — the three with new head coaches: Colorado, Washington and Washington State.

The NCAA controls few aspects of major college football, but it sets the calendar.

So the Hotline asked George: Has there been discussion at any level about finding competitive equity? Could the practices not held be added to the preseason, perhaps tacked on at the beginning of training camp?

“We haven’t got that granular yet,’’ George said. “We are certainly looking at those things.

“I don’t want to sound selfish but we’ve got a football coach that was only hired (in late February) and hasn’t had the opportunity to build the culture and all the things you want around it.

“I don’t know if it is practice that is so important as much as it is creating that culture with your team. It is very difficult to do when you do it virtually.

“We’re certainly going to look at all of that. Because of the time frame and when this could potentially start back up again, there is going to be a lot of questions and a lot of modifications that will need to take place to create that balance.”

Balance — both across conferences and within conferences — will be vital to creating a playing field as level as possible once competition begins, whether it’s early September or the middle of October … or late January.

When it comes to the regular season, anything is possible and everything depends on recommendations from health officials and decisions by university presidents:

Until the campuses open for business in the classrooms, there will be no football games.

If you’re curious about the distribution of spring practices across the Pac-12, we’ve got your answer.

Please note that the completion weeks cited below are approximate. Teams typically hold three or four practices per week in the spring.

Arizona State
Start: Feb. 24
Weeks completed: two

Stanford
Start: Feb. 25
Weeks completed: two

Utah
Start: March 2
Weeks completed: one

Arizona
Start: March 2
Weeks completed: one

Oregon State
Start: March 3
Weeks completed: two

UCLA
Start: March 3
Weeks completed: one

Cal
Start: March 4
Weeks completed: one

Oregon
Start: March 5
Weeks completed: one

USC
Start: March 10
Weeks completed: none

Colorado
Start: March 16
Weeks completed: none

Washington State
Start: March 27
Weeks completed: none

Washington
Start: April 1
Weeks completed: none

Based on the current suspension of in-person team activities, the earliest the Pac-12 would allow spring practice is June 1.

However, George said there is a scheduled look-in date on May 1 in which the conference can “re-evaluate that time frame.” — Jon Wilner.

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Hot off the Hotline

• The Pac-12 stockpiled emergency cash and has more than enough in reserve to offset the revenue lost from the cancellation of March Madness. But should the conference deplete the reserves? We dug into the issue Wednesday morning.

• With so many roster comings and goings of late, the Hotline turned to an old friend Thursday morning: The Pac-12 stock report. We covered football, basketball and student support issues.

• ICYMI: The Tuesday newsletter featured commissioner Larry Scott’s perspective on the upcoming football season: The timeline for a decision, the role of the TV networks in revising the schedule, and the larger forces at work. Previous editions of the newsletter are available in archived form.

Your Voices: The Hotline is calling on readers to share a favorite Pac-12 memory via an email to me (address below). We’ll turn your words into a published collection. The memory could be of a player of coach, team or moment. The details are here. To those who have already submitted pieces for publication, thank you.

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Justin Wilcox Recommends …

With the help of Pac-12 coaches, the Hotline is providing book and movie recommendations to help fans find escapes during these difficult times. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham was gracious enough to play along. Next up is Cal coach Justin Wilcox, who gave us five picks in each category, thereby raising the bar for his peers.

Here’s the email Wilcox sent to the Hotline, via an intermediary …

Sorry – this was difficult!! These are in NO particular order.

• Books:

1) The Traveler’s Gift (great for all ages!)

2) What The Dog Saw (essays-interesting-educational)

3) The Road to Character (eulogy vs. resume?? that will get you thinking!)

4) Lonesome Dove (western epic … CBS miniseries is phenomenal as well… maybe better than the book!) 

5) The Alchemist (Find out what you’re passionate about… then do that!) 

• Movies:

1) Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Just Because)

2) Greenbook (Makes you feel good!)

3) Wedding Crashers / Old School (Impossible not to laugh)

4) Free Solo (WOW.. he has mind-blowing ability to focus on the moment!) 

5) Animal House (“Mr. Blutarsky….”) 

Many, many thanks to Wilcox for the selections.

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Support the Hotline

• The Hotline is providing continuing coverage of key Pac-12 issues on and off the field throughout the sports shutdown. Please consider supporting our endeavor with a paid subscription, which provides unlimited access to the content. (The newsletter is free.) I’ve secure a rate of just $1 per week for a full year or just 99 cents for the first month, with the option to cancel anytime. Click here. And thanks so much for your loyalty.

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In the News

(Note: The Hotline newsletter includes links to sites that could require a subscription once the number of free views has been reached.)

• The top roster development of the week in Pac-12 football comes from Eugene: Quarterback Anthony Brown, a three-year starter for Boston College, has committed to the Ducks and immediately becomes the favorite to start the opener.

• Here’s a thorough assessment/explanation of exactly what is not happening on the recruiting trail for Utah coaches — the same can be applied to everyone — courtesy of the Salt Lake Tribune’s Josh Newman.

• Arizona’s strength coaches are playing tag on Instagram in hopes of keeping the players in shape with remote workouts.

• Colorado’s strength staff is doing the same, tweaking the workout routines to match the level of resources available to the players.

• The tailback rotation and quarterback competition are among the storylines that UW fans won’t see this spring.

• Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith has a greater appreciation for teachers (don’t we all?) and a rough timeline in mind: Players will need a month of strength-and-conditioning on campus before training camp.

• An entertaining read for everyone except USC fans: The L.A. Times’ Gary Klein, who covered the 2006 Rose Bowl, recalls the epic game.

• Mike Leach — remember him? — got himself into more trouble on Twitter.

• If you missed this recruiting news: The dead period has been extended.

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Draft Room

Because the NFL Draft is on schedule for April 23-25 …

• NFL Networks analyst Charles Davis released his second mock draft and has Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert off the board with the No. 6 pick (to the Chargers). Davis also slots USC offensive tackle Austin Jackson, ASU receiver Brandon Aiyuk and Colorado receiver Laviska Shenault in the first round.

• CBS Sports’ Will Brinson likes Herbert to Miami with the fifth pick but isn’t projecting Jackson for the first round. He does include Aiyuk and Shenault, however.

• We found one mock draft (from CBS Sports) that slots Washington quarterback Jacob Eason into the first round — to Detroit as Matthew Stafford’s eventual replacement. “There’s a chance Eason would be available at No. 35, but the Lions don’t risk another team taking him ahead of them.”

• Finally, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller has Herbert to the Chargers. “Both quarterbacks (Herbert and Tua Tagovailoa) have their positives and negatives. Tua’s injury is potentially a major concern, both in the short and long term, and there will be questions about Herbert’s ability to read a complex defense and work through progressions after not showing that much with the Ducks.”

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ADs Corner

• Here’s a fascinating survey of major college athletic directors conducted by Lead1, which represents the ADs on legislative matters. Atop their list of concerns, by a significant margin, are academic progress and mental health. “The majority of the more than 100 FBS athletics directors who responded are seeing the strain on their student-athletes, with finances also top of mind for every department. While there was unity among the FBS in many areas, concerns about 2020-21 revenue streams illustrated key differences between Power Five and Group of Five ADs.”

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On the Hardwood

• Arizona Daily Star columnist Greg Hansen watched HBO’s documentary and doesn’t believe there’s a smoking gun. “My opinion is that (Sean) Miller is in a lose-lose situation, and it has nothing to do with the language he used in “The Scheme.” Whether he survives as Arizona’s basketball coach depends on the severity of the NCAA sanctions and his on-court success next season … Even without an NCAA investigation, it’s difficult to imagine a basketball school with Arizona’s platform retaining a coach whose team is not nationally relevant three years in succession.”

• Meanwhile, Yahoo columnist Pete Thamel attempts to explain the inexplicable: Why has the NCAA been so slow to move on the scandal? “At some point, a school may receive enough information to trigger a firing of the coach … But that’s relying on the universities to stop daring the NCAA to enforce its rules, as this whole process has become one long game of chicken where schools with elite coaches have happily played along. And, really, they’ve won.”

• ASU big man Romello White is the latest Sun Devil to declare for the NBA Draft, although his move appears exploratory — not nearly as definitive as Remy Martin’s announcement earlier in the week. Said coach Bobby Hurley: “They earned the right to go out and take a look at the possibility of turning pro and get feedback from NBA teams.”

• Washington big man Isaiah Stewart: Gone. (Nothing official from Jaden McDaniels, but it shouldn’t be long.)

• Colorado coach Tad Boyle believes forward Tyler Bey has played his last game for the Buffs, even though Bey has the option to return. “That’s where he’s at mentally in conversations with him,” Boyle said.

• Oregon star Payton Pritchard as a second-round steal? CBS Sports makes the case.

• Meanwhile, Oregon’s ultra-mega star, Sabrina Ionescu, has repeated as the Wade Trophy winner and becomes the sixth player to win her sport’s highest honor in back-to-back seasons.

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Money Matters

• Oregon’s leadership team, including president Michael Schill and athletic director Rob Mullens, will take voluntary pay cuts for at least six months.

• The Pac-12 in considering “executive salary adjustments,” according to a report in the Sports Business Journal. And no, that doesn’t mean they’re getting raises.

• USA Today’s Dan Wolken opines that pay cuts for football and men’s basketball coaches are a logical step for athletic departments strapped for cash and facing a potential crisis if the football season is scrapped. “The financial losses are likely to be steep. And in this climate, expecting that money to be made up with some type of government bailout or increased student fee would be naive beyond belief.”

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Looking Ahead

What’s coming on the Pac-12 Hotline:

• Next up in our look at the 2020-21 basketball season: The Hotline’s ridiculously early top-25 projections.

• Coverage of ways in which coronavirus is impacting recruiting, finances and competitive balance.

• More on Sean Miller and Arizona: Something needs to change.

The next newsletter is scheduled for Tuesday. Enjoy it? Please forward this email to friends (sign up here). If you don’t, or have other feedback, let me know: pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com.

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*** Follow me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline

*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.