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Taking an open mind into BCS talks BEHIND THE DESK BARRY ALVAREZ • UW DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS I 'm anxious to see how the BCS process works, especially since I will be one of the athletic directors taking part in next week's meetings in south Florida. It will be interesting to be in the middle of it all — with the other AD's and conference commission- ers — and I expect the presenta- tions to be very informational. The meetings will include the TV partners and the bowl people and there will be a discussion on the some of the different playoff proposals and scenarios that are out there. There won't be any decisions made, but we will probably get a feel for what people are thinking and if there's any type of consensus that is building. I know there's a lot of public pressure to make a change — to do something with the BCS. And there are some options out there that maybe make a little more sense than others. I will try to be as open-minded as possible when I go into the meetings. But I feel like I have a responsi- bility to think not only like an AD, but a coach, a former coach. I don't believe there will be many people sitting in the room with previous head coaching experience. What I can bring to the dis- cussion is a coach's mindset and potential concerns about preparing a game plan and group of kids to play an additional game at another proximity following a bowl. I can speak to having players ready to play. I've been through that process. Now I understand that there are as many as seven or eight propos- als that we will be looking at. To my knowledge, there has been no talk of an eight or 16-team playoff. That's fine with me. I've heard several proposals that make sense. It can be confusing. There's a lot of pres- sure to make a change with the BCS. There are some options out there that maybe make a little more sense than others. I will try to be as open-minded as possible when I go into the meetings. But the more you listen, the more you talk about it, the more things start to crystallize. Without getting into an in-depth analysis, I've always thought a plus-one model would be good. That would entail playing just one additional game after the bowls to crown a national champion. I'd be in favor of a plus-one if we could protect the Rose Bowl, too. The Rose Bowl is one of the top 10 sports properties in the world and it's important to us. As a con- ference, we want to do everything we can to preserve it. One of the proposals I like is seeding four teams after the regular season and conference champion- ship games. The No. 1 seed would play No. 4, and the No. 2 and No.3 seeds would play. The winners would then play for a national championship. It would make sense to me if you could guarantee conference cham- pions being involved. By seeding four teams, you could also move closer to getting a true champion. Holding the semifinals games at campus sites would hold interest for me. It would be fan-friendly. But I don't know how much trac- tion that it would have. There would be a lot of opposition. The good thing about all of this is that we're looking at these pro- posals. With all the criticism of the BCS and the championship game over the years, there is the hope that we can make it better. Any recommendation, of course, still has to be approved by the presidents. But everything we're doing centers on preserving the regular season and the bowls. I'm just anxious to hear what people are thinking. 10 » VARSITY APRIL 19, 2012