Bohn confident; overconfident teams undone

So what is the thinking in the big office? You know the one, that of Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn. The Black and Gold Truth was hoping to find the his blueprints for success laying around but didn't need to as Bohn was open and forthright in sharing his vision for the Buffs.

Here is what he had to say about the present and future of CU on the field, courts and everyplace else it competes.

BGT: What is your model for success for the athletic department, whether its' another school or something entirely different?

Bohn: A lot of people have different measures of what is an ideal model in intercollegiate athletics and what I think is a neat thing at the University of Colorado is we've had model success, if you will, in many, many sports and continue to reach new benchmarks, whether it's a national championship in football, a Sweet-16 appearance and an Elite Eight in women's basketball, the cross-country team winning the national championship, the ski team winning the national championship, women's soccer going to the Sweet 16 -- we're trying to keep a standard that is very, very high.

BGT: How would you currently assess the progress of the programs you oversee, from the time you arrived in Boulder to today?

Bohn: The credit has to go to the coaches, who are doing a great job. The sentiment across the board is we want to continue to improve, we want to get better every day.

What does that mean? Is that the scoreboard?

Well, certainly. Is that the academic progress? You bet. Is it fundraising, is it marketing, is it the communication-collaboration across campus, is it leadership in the state? It's all those things.

BGT: Many fans believe CU is not on equal footing with other conference schools or nationally due to many variables -- academic requirements, facilities, financial resources, the lack of sufficient local talent and more. How accurate a perception is that in your eyes and if it is true, is it unalterable?

Bohn: It's all in the eye of the beholder. I could identify virtually any program in the country and shoot holes in it. We're making progress on addressing some of our shortcomings.

It's really not that important for us to stay at the same level as everybody else on some levels but on the other hand it's important for us to be competitive with them.

We recognize there's plenty of room for improvement and we're on top of those issues but it's just a matter of trying to keep those projects moving and making progress every day.

BGT: How does CU inspire prospective donors to come forward and give or are CU graduates not inclined in that way, no as athletically driven as donors at other schools?

Bohn: It's certainly not the latter. Our donors, our alumni, have been awesome. Donations are up 78 percent from a year ago and we're on pace to sustain that. I really believe the onus is on us to do a better job of articulating the need, making them feel good about the program, making them feel appreciated, helping them know they are investing in a ship that is headed in the right direction and towards clear waters.

We recognize we have to do a better job of connecting with all types of different donors and help them understand what's going on.

BGT: How do CU sports become what fans expect -- what specifically has to happen in your estimation and how long a drive is that road trip?

Bohn: That's difficult to ascertain. I think it's imperative for us to be transparent, imperative for us to be focused on the prize -- all the things we've been talking about but also helping them understand that we're not going to do it without them.

If we work as a team, everyone is going to be successful. That's why "Your team, the Colorado Buffaloes" is the marketing slogan we're using right now because we want to be successful teammates.

If the football program, basketball program, whatever sports you're talking about are successful that helps with applications, that helps with donations to other parts of campus, that helps with the new law building getting completed and featured, the new Atlas building, the new business building and all the new things on campus -- we're all interconnected.

BGT: Mike, you've made some hires since you've been at CU and you have another one to make soon -- what do you most look for in people when interviewing for a head-coaching position?

Bohn: Clearly, it's passion, work ethic, energy, a huge understanding of the big picture and having a great attitude. People who care about young people and are not afraid of rolling up their sleeves and working hard to make a difference.

BGT: What handicaps will CU have in attracting and hiring its' favored choices for the men's basketball coaching vacancy at the end of the season?

Bohn: We feel really good about where we are right now, the amount of interest we have from coaches that have teams in the top 25. It's not worth spending time getting caught up in obstacles. I'd like to feature the great attributes we have.

BGT: One issue mentioned is money. You don't sound like you believe that variable is as big as most think.

Bohn: It's a piece of it but it's absolutely not the cure-all.

BGT: Something else I sense, Mike, is from our brief conversation that you have complete confidence that the athletic department can meet the mountainous challenge before it and get the football and men's basketball program to where fans desire and expect them to be -- which is highly successful. No doubts?

Bohn: If we don't believe that then we have the wrong people trying to pull that together. We feel great about our future.

Now, are we moving as fast as some people would like us to? Well, maybe not but on the other hand, there are other areas where we are moving very quickly on -- fundraising is one of them.

We have to do a better job in our tickets and marketing efforts and I think you'll see with some of our new technology, that will help us on that customer service area.

Some bright days are ahead for the Colorado Buffaloes.

Trippin' the Big-12 courts

Ever have one of those days where nothing falls into place, where brushfires are the rule, where you just can't wait to get out and go home to mercifully end the storm?

Sixth-ranked Texas A & M as well as vastly-improved groups as Kansas State and Oklahoma all had those big headaches before going to bed on Tuesday in Big-12 play.

The Aggies were the most shocked, at College Station no less, going down to giant-killer Texas Tech, 77-75, as Jarrius Jackson hit the game-winning jumper at the buzzer to give the Red Raiders their second win over Texas A & M this season, to go along with a victory over Kansas on its' resume.

What had to hurt most was that Jackson torched the defensively-strong Aggies for 31 points while his running-mate Martin Zeno added 19 more as Texas Tech hit 52 percent of its' shots from the field.

The Aggies big-three of Acie Law, Joseph Jones and Antanas Kavaliauskas weren't no-shows, combining for 59 points but the rest of the team were eating popcorn in the stands or checking out the cheerleaders, including forward Josh Carter, who finished with but five points after scoring 50 points total in his previous two games.

Ever the class gentleman and gracious winner, Red Raiders' coach Bob Knight could not contain his joy in victory.

“You came here to write a big story about A&M and we just (expletive) you,” Knight said in a Dan Wetzel column on Yahoo! Sports.

BGT: Texas Tech has been inconsistent this season with a team that while dangerous is just not strong enough to be a conference power. The Aggies and Jawhawks have felt its' painful bite but the Red Raiders were also coming off a five-game losing streak and a skid of six defeats in eight games, proving they aren't all that. Again, they impressed however, because they laughed at Texas A & M's notorious strength -- defense. Knight bested one of the hottest coaches in the game in beating Billy Gillispie and you have to know that the self-absorbed Knight will bathe in that in-your-face accomplishment like any ego-maniacal person does when they aren't getting all the attention they think they deserve. Small person but he has scoreboard for the night. Whatcha' gonna say to him? Oh yeah, that's right -- nothing.

In other games, Nebraska went chest-to-chest with the Wildcats in Lincoln and knocked them out with torrid 58-percent shooting from the floor while making Kansas State scrap to hit 41 percent in the Huskers' 74-63 win. Junior center Alexs Maric, maybe Australia's best since former Utah star Andrew Bogut, was unstoppable, scoring 41 points. No other teammate scored more than seven. Cartier Martin had 22 for the Wildcats.

BGT: After a seven-game winning streak, Kansas State has been worked by Kansas, beat up neighborhood-punching bag Colorado and now lost to Nebraska. All of a sudden there has to be some doubt about the strength of Bob Huggins' team. The stretch run that includes a rematch with the Jayhawks and games against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will more clearly define if the Cats can make noise come postseason. For Doc Sadler's boys, this was one of the three highlights of the season, to go with wins over Creighton and Texas Tech.

Iowa State was the other weakling who stood up and punched a bully in the nose at it upset the Sooners, 58-51, in Ames, ending OU's four-game winning streak. Center Jiri Hubalek battled the Sooners' center Longar Longar all night long in an entertaining matchup and led his team to victory with a career-high 26 points to go along with nine rebounds. The Cyclones won this game equally with defense, getting dirty on OU, holding them to 39 percent shooting. Longar had no problems with ISU, scoring 20 and grabbing 12 rebounds, but star forward Nate Carter was zero factor with two points and four rebounds. He had been averaging 19.3 points-per-game in Big-12 play.

BGT: Come on now, no way the Sooners actually believed the Cyclones could play with them. Oh, I'm sure coach Jeff Capel tried to warn them but hey, as college-aged men, are they going to believe all that typical coach "junk" when ISU had lost seven of its' last eight games, averaging a meager 59 points in those contests, getting outscored by an average of 12 points in the process. Like most of us, they had to learn things the hard way. OU was not ready. Yes, the Cyclones played KU tough, and other losses were to A & M, Texas, Oklahoma State and Kansas State, but fact is they were not getting it done. They tied it up tight and did Tuesday, though. ISU gets a confidence breaker, an affirmation the coaches needed for their team to have to ride them the rest of the season.

Husker improving

Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky is out of the woods with his health after an emergency-room visit for an undisclosed medical emergency.

Despite previous reports to the contrary, his family denies the reason for that occurrence was due to weakness or stupidity.

“We would like to make it clear that Marlon’s medical emergency did not come about as a result of the use of alcohol or any illicit drugs,” a family statement printed at HuskerExtra.com said. “We are very appreciative of the thoughts and prayers for Marlon during this time.”

BGT: Regardless of the the reason behind the scare, the important thing is a young man is still alive and apparently going to be fine. More news will come out of this situation, I'm sure, which for all of us curious sorts (hand raised) will be interesting but hardly more than rubbernecking.


BGT note: Spoke to Adam Munsterteiger of BuffStampede.com on Tuesday about CU's recruiting class. Look for the post of that breakdown conversation.