ESPN College Gameday Shows Up Today

Obviously, there is quite a buzz on campus with the announcement of ESPN College Gameday being here for the Oregon game on Saturday. I thought I would throw some pictures on today's blog.


ESPN College Gameday taking over the Mall today:

Suzy Mason (woman in light blue) overseeing the set up of College Gameday on the Mall with her assistant Dick Bartsch in the golf cart:

Lot of offloading today on the Mall for College Gameday set up:

Part of the desk coming off of the semi trailer for the set of gameday:

College Gameday field set up on the mall. You can see the set and student union in the background:

Benny making sure the field turf is appropriate:

Gameday, built by HOME DEPOT! They have the tent to prove it:

They set the stage up right on the mall next to the student union:

The set, or stage, is waiting on the desk.....and the talent:

Managers Continue to Work Hard

Each day, managers arrive early to go out and set up the practice field for practice. We do not leave anything out on the field overnight. We have storage units to put things in each night.

Of course, after each practice they take everything down and put away for the next practice. Below are some pictures of them setting up for today's practice.


Mike Baranowski loads up agile bags on to the gator so they can be driven out to the practice field:

Mike Baranowski and Billy Worthington put the tops on the chutes for practice:

Mike Baranowski sets the time on the clock:

Michael Barnett puts out one of the clocks for practice:


Michael Barnett puts pop up on the gator so it can be taken out to the practice field:

Michael Barnett takes a heavy pop up dummy out of the storage shed:

Mike Harlow getting the jugs machine ready for practice:

Ben Hulka carries out one of the QB nets before practice today:

Managers go out plenty early to set up the practice field for practice each day:

Zack Risdon sets out the yardage markers before practice:

Willie Salzman gets the jugs machine ready for today's practice:

Willie Salzman cleaning up out at the practice field:

Billy Worthington works to get gear out of the storage shed out by the practice field:

Billy Worthington puts up signs on the entry gates of the practice field:

Manager Spotlight, Willie Salzman

To me, one word describes Willie Salzman.......PASSION. Whether it is his Wildcats, the Bay Area, or Google, he is extremely passionate about it!

I love being around Willie! He absolutely love the University of Arizona and the Arizona Wildcats. If you want to get him excited, just start talking about Wildcat Football.

He works with the offense and the receivers. He is on our biggest hustlers. He can run any drill out at practice, and be excited about doing it. He is NOT afraid of work either. He is always quick to volunteer for any duty.

One of his most enjoyable duties is handing Coach Stoops game balls in the locker room after a Wildcat win. I hand picked him for that job because he appreciates that job more than anyone else.

Willie is from Palo Alto, California and he is a fourth year senior.

He is a very simple guy too. His favorite meal is a hamburger and fries. His favorite pizza is a Hawaiian from Zachary's across from campus. His hobbies include traveling, playing all sports, and cheering on the Wildcats. His favorite team, other than the Wildcats, is the San Francisco Giants.

Rough Night in Berkeley

Other than the outcome of the game, a crummy locker room, and the fact we couldn't get our truck anywhere close to the locker room after the game and had to push trunks and carry bags a long ways......everything was GREAT.

Once again, Tim, Benny and the managers did an outstanding job on this trip. What was real nice was the extra help we go from a fellow co-worker and two UofA alums that live in the Bay Area. These guys helped run balls during the game, but were tons of help pushing trunks down to the field before the game, and after the game taking everything out to the truck that wasn't anywhere close to our locker room. Ed Garland and his staff ALWAYS do a great job of accommodating us and every team that visits them, but there was nothing they could do because of the construction going on around their stadium. Thank goodness we had extra help!


We had extra help for the game. (left to right): Jeff Cohn, former co-worker with me at WSU; Greg Clifton, UofA alum, and Ryan Bertapelle, UofA alum. All three live in the Bay Area.

Me and Jeff Cohn:

One of the best guys in the league, Dave Moosman, Cal equipment manager:

A look at the locker room before the team arrives:

Benny Conger getting our clock to work properly. Benny is so valuable!!!!!

Benny getting the clock hung in the coaches locker room:

Ben Hulka writing the schedule on the marker board:

Ben Hulka getting things done before the team arrives:

Good thing we pack our own hooks in Trunk 3:

Ryan Ewalt getting balls ready for the game and pregame:

Ryan Ewalt airing up balls for pregame:

Memorial Stadium:

Current Pressbox, which is HORRIBLE, and as you can see, two cranes for their renovation project.

Here for the BIG Game and SMALL Lockeroom

Well, we made it with no problems to Memorial Stadium in Berkeley California. Of course, now the challenge is making the visitors locker room as comfortable and functional as possible for our players and coaches. One of the certain things in life is that the visitors locker room at Cal is the WORST in the league! There are challenges everywhere!!!!

The lockers are incredibly small, the entire room is VERY small, the coaches lockers do not open, there is no equipment room or training room, terrible access to the field, and on and on and on. The good news is that since Ed Garland took over as equipment manager at Cal a few years ago, he has made improvements each year. Ed works hard to make the situation better, and he has succeeded!

As usual, Bob and Bob did a great job of getting our truck to the stadium. Speaking of challenges, those guys do NOT have much to work with on the Cal campus. Every thing is tight and winding. To make matters worse, with construction at the stadium, they had to back the truck and trailer up to the stadium!!! We are so fortunate to have two of the best drivers in the WORLD!!!! Thanks guys.

We leave our downtown Oakland Marriott at 8:45 this morning to head back to the stadium to get ready for this afternoons game against the Bears.




Not only two of the best equipment managers I have ever worked with, but two of the greatest guys I have been able to work with, Tim Pfenning (left) and Benny Conger (right):

The managers at the gate in Tucson, waiting to board our charter flight to Oakland:

As usual, the managers working hard setting up the locker room:

A view of the locker room at Cal:

Willie Salzman breaking a sweat:

Mike Reed unpacking bags:

Ben Hulka working hard:

I still think I have seen these showers before in the movies when there were prison shower scenes in the movie!

Robert Golden is dressing in a locker that has been used by many great visiting players in the past:

One of my all time favorite players, and one of the all time great receivers at UofA, Bobby Wade, autographed his locker after a career day:

I guess part of the renovation at Memorial Stadium is the addition of new hooks on the coaches lockers. Nice idea since the lockers are locked and in the past we had to put our own hooks on the locked lockers.