Canzano: Fresno? Pac-12?? Brace for the battle cry of uninvited guests
"Anybody. Anytime. Anywhere."
Pat Hill had a secret.
The football coach kept a live piranha in his office.
The flesh-eating fish swam in a tank in the corner of the room. I walked in one day and found Hill holding butcher paper and tearing up tiny bits of meat he was dropping in the tank.
The Fresno State coach looked up at me, delighted. Then, he thought a little about it, and said, “I’d prefer if you didn’t mention this. People might freak out.”
The Pac-12 Conference is beefing up operations, planning to make some hires. Commissioner Teresa Gould is looking for a deputy commissioner. Also, the conference is hiring a head of communications. I have some advice for the Pac-12 as it moves to make the personnel moves, but first, a little story.
In 2001, I was a columnist working at The Fresno Bee. Hill’s team started the season with an upset win on the road at Colorado. Then, the Bulldogs knocked off No. 10-ranked Oregon State, 44-24. When they won a third time, beating No. 23 Wisconsin to start the season, 3-0, the hysteria set in and got quarterback David Carr on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
The magazine hit newstands.
It was big-time validation for people in the region.
Then, they read the headline: “Fresno?”