? Larry Scott goes big or he doesn't go at all. Continuing its ongoing assault on the future, the Pac-12 announced a twelve-year deal with four different cable providers Wednesday to carry the Pac-12 Network, with more satellite and telephone companies still expected to join the fray. Actually, it's going to be the Pac-12 Networks: In addition to a national channel based on the Big Ten model, the conference is also establishing six regional networks throughout its geographical footprint ?�one network apiece devoted to covering Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Southern California and the new Rocky Mountain schools, Colorado and Utah. Altogether, the deal will put the network in at least 45 million homes that already subscribe to one of its cable partners (Comcast, Cox, Time Warner and Bright House) and guarantee that every Pac-12 football and men's basketball game is available to a national audience.
One thing the network isn't going to do, at least not yet: Fill any school's coffers. Unlike the Big Ten (which shares ownership of the Big Ten Network with Fox), the Pac-12 has managed to retain full equity in the project, but has no immediate plan to distribute revenue to member schools in the short term. Presumably, it wants to ensure that there is revenue to distribute before committing to that ? and considering the big fat deal the conference just signed with ESPN and Fox for its traditional television distribution rights, no one is about to complain if the checks don't come for a few years. [New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times]
? Next! Predictably, the early list of candidates to replace freshly fired head coach Butch Davis at North Carolina consists entirely of three current UNC assistants: Offensive line coach/associate head coach Sam Pittman, defensive coordinator Everett Withers and offensive coordinator John Shoop. Both Pittman and Shoop signed on as part of Davis' first UNC staff in 2007, but if the school is really in "turn the page" mode, don't count out the only remaining holdover from the pre-Butch era: 65-year-old running backs coach Ken Browning, who was originally hired by Mack Brown in the early nineties and has managed to remain in Chapel Hill for 18 years. [Raleigh News & Observer, Tar Heel Illustrated]
? Cool your stinger. Georgia Tech co-offensive line coach Todd Spencer will serve a one-game suspension as penance for making impermissible phone calls to recruits. According to records, Spencer and four other Tech assistants made 22 verboten calls to 12 different recruits over the first half of 2010, none of whom eventually signed with Tech. Spencer was reportedly responsible for 14 of the calls, and will pay by sitting out the Jackets' winner-take-all showdown with Western Carolina on Sept. 1. [Atlanta Journal Constitution]
? You can always go home again. Former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez ? he of "Jon Stewart is a bigot" fame ?�has landed on his feet as a color analyst for Florida International games. Sanchez, who was fired from CNN last October for his comments about Stewart and "a lot of the people who run all the other networks" (read: Jewish people), is a Miami native, began his television career in Miami and will have two sons attending FIU this fall. [Associated Press]
Quickly? Ohio State loses a backup linebacker. ? Splendidly named quarterback Shavodrick Beaver is transferring from Tulsa. ? Lane Kiffin on letting the Black Mamba get away. ? And even the Detroit Free Press' headline writer sounds a little contemptuous of Dhani Jones' new show on the Big Ten Network.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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