Drive

'Drive' will give Arizona basketball fans inside look

Sean Miller’s recruiting machine may have another tool at its disposal this season.

The Pac-12 Networks invited all 12 conference basketball programs a chance to be featured on the documentary style “The Drive” program and, according to Pac-12 Networks president Lydia Murphy-Stephans, No. 2 Arizona was one of the first to buy in.

The reason is simple: “The Drive,” as it is doing for UCLA’s football program this fall, offers fans and recruits alike an inside look at the programs while giving schools control over the content.

“There’s a benefit in allowing potential recruits, parents and guardians to experience your personality, to see what really happens there and to see it from a student-athlete’s perspective,” Murphy-Stephans said.

Because “The Drive” is a collaborative process with the schools, not an independent documentary, coaches don’t have to worry about being taken out of context or other scenes they don’t want shown.

Murphy-Stephans said the Pac-12 allows coaches to review the content and said “for the most part, it’s a rubber-stamp approval.” School compliance departments typically view it, as well, to make sure there are no recruiting or other NCAA issues.

“We definitely allow the coaches to participate in the executive producing,” Murphy-Stephans said. “Because we are the Pac-12 Networks, we are not looking for the ‘gotcha’ moment. We’re not investigative reporters. But we are looking for candor and to capture the real thing.

“So if a coach says something and we can’t keep it in context because it needs five minutes to explain, we’re not going to extrapolate 15 seconds and take something out of context. I believe with most coaches that’s the concern.”

The Pac-12 already agreed to some additional parameters UA asked for before agreeing to the basketball version of “The Drive,” athletic director Greg Byrne said.

“We wanted some influence over who and what they focused on,” Byrne said, noting that UA also asked that locker-room discussions not be filmed. “It’ll be a positive for us.”

That was the case even for Cal football coach Sonny Dykes last season, Murphy-Stephans said, when the former UA assistant’s Bears went 1-11 as “The Drive” focused on Cal and ASU in its premier season.

“Cal was having such a hard time and it was difficult to even watch,” Murphy-Stephans said. “But my son, who’s 12, was watching and listening when I was home sick and screening the shows. Three days later, I hear him talking to his posse of 12-year-olds, saying, ‘Oh yeah, I’d totally play for Cal. Sonny’s so cool.’”

While all 12 of the conference’s basketball programs will get a chance to appear this season, Murphy-Stephans said “The Drive” will focus a lot on Arizona if its year lives up to preseason expectations.

“Of course,” she said. “It’s a national story.”

Cramming every Pac-12 program into one season won’t be simple, but Murphy-Stephans said the Networks already proved itself “certifiably insane.” The Networks aired 550 events during its first year in 2012-13 while pulling together a gigantic Internet protocol network in which all 12 campuses are connected to the San Francisco studios and a Denver master control base.

While football and basketball games are produced traditionally, the Pac-12 has installed some of its equipment on each campus and uses video compression so it can send the live feed into its San Francisco studios and keep on-air talent and production staff there.

“We don’t have to send as many people to the site,” said Hal Reynolds, the Pac-12 Networks’ senior vice president for engineering and technology. “It’s a lot less expensive to do it that way, and by having it (in San Francisco), it’s more consistent. The production looks better.”

This year, the Pac-12 Networks is planning 850 live events and about 600 hours of other content, including pregame shows and “The Drive.”

Murphy-Stephans, a former Olympic speed skater and veteran producer, is looking forward to it.

“It’ll always be a lot of work,” she said. “I love storytelling. … It’s a lot of fun this year because we do have a solid foundation. We can start getting more creative.”

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