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It not unlike ASU football coach Kenny Dillingham saying “activate the Valley.� The difference is that Reed-Francois’ plan has much more to it than winning some football games.

What captured my attention is that Reed-Francois aggressively says she plans to balance the athletic department’s debt — many times estimated at between $45-75 million the last few years — by next June. If she does that, she’s a miracle worker. She reduced expenses by $4 million this year and has bold plans to increase donor income and retention of season ticket bases, as well as growing Zona Zoo involvement at historic levels.

Expenses in college sports are crazy. For example, last month, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s baseball team went on a road trip to Houston that cost close to $100,000. The Wildcats and their 40-man traveling party stayed in Houston and Dallas eight days before the Big 12 Tournament began. That’s about $4,000 a day for hotel rooms alone. And somehow, the school eliminated $4 million in expenses in Reed-Francois’ first year on the job.

The Big 12 is so “fair to middlin’� in most sports that I don’t think the UA will have much trouble reaching Reed-Francois’ goal of reaching the postseason in 75% of sports. The difficulty will come in vast rebuilding projects of the football, men’s and women’s swimming, track and cross country teams.

So much of the “Bear Down Blueprint� plan depends on Brent Brennan somehow finding a way to finish 7-5 or better this season. Winning seasons in swimming and track won’t make much difference if UA football can’t recover from last year’s 4-8 finish.