BOULDER — Excitement and anticipation of Colorado’s move next summer to the soon-to-be named Pac-12 Conference was a popular topic Friday night as more than 75 members of CU’s 1990 national championship team and its coaches gathered for their 20-year reunion.
Nobody was more vocal about the impending switch in conferences than the evening’s No. 1 honoree, former coach Bill McCartney, who became fired up just thinking about the Pac-12. All that was missing was a pulpit.
“I would like to shout it — It’s an extravaganza! It’s a bonanza!” McCartney said. “It’s the greatest thing that could happen to Colorado.
“People have to understand, our (fan) base is not in the Big Eight or the Big 12. Our base is west. So when we go to games, (our fans) don’t travel. All we bring are girlfriends and parents. But now when we go west, wow. And we haven’t even worked on our fans out there. We have to activate that fan base. We have to energize them, corral them.”
The move also will be a “bonanza” from an academic standpoint, McCartney said. “Now we get to match what UCLA and Cal-Berkeley are doing. This can serve to galvanize CU. We need to come together on this. We need the administration, the alumni, the faculty, everybody has to do this. We have to do it right.”
Another former CU coach, Gary Barnett, said he pictured Colorado as a Pac-10 school as far back as the mid-1980s.
“The fit. Campus-wise. The same sort of students. . . . I don’t think there’s a player on CU’s (current) roster from another Big 12 state, other than Texas,” said Barnett, who coached quarterbacks and fullbacks on the 1990 team. “So what’s the purpose? You’re going to play in Oklahoma, Kansas . . . you’re not going to get any of those players. It’s logical to play in a conference with states where most of your players come from.”
Chad Brown, a linebacker on CU’s only national championship team, is originally from California but has made Colorado his home base since his college days, and that continued during his long career in the NFL. Obviously, he favors the move to the Pac-10.
“I think it will be fantastic for recruiting,” Brown said. “Now the coaches can go in and say to a kid, ‘Yeah, USC passed on you, but if you come to CU you can go back and beat them, and your family can be there to watch.’ “
There’s no comparison in the road trips, others pointed out.
“It’s certainly going to upgrade the golf trips for our fans,” said Jeff Campbell, a wide receiver and returner on the 1989 team that laid the foundation.
Bieniemy speaks to team. The 1990 squad’s star tailback, current Minnesota Vikings assistant Eric Bieniemy, spoke to the current team.
“E.B. challenged each guy to play for each other like we did,” said CU running backs coach Darian Hagan, the star QB on the 1990 team. “He told them, ‘Play with attitude!’ He told them that (in 1990) we used Texas as a turning point in the season and for them to ‘use Georgia as your turning point.’ “
Reunion attendees to follow Ralphie. The 1990 team, wearing personalized black replica 1990 jerseys bearing their names, will lead the current Buffs onto the field for the game against Georgia.
“I just hope I don’t fall down,” joked Mark Vander Poel, an offensive tackle on the 1990 team.
