It took all of 15 seconds Thursday for the Board of Regents to approve the University of Utah's move from the Mountain West Conference to the Pacific-10 Conference.
It's the celebrating that's been going on ever since.
They're celebrating in the ticket office. They're celebrating in the president's office. They're celebrating in the chemistry lab and the book store and the genome lab and at The Pie, where they're no doubt thinking up a new pizza with a surf theme.
But no one's quite as giddy as the alumni.
Nobody celebrates like those who have made the road trip to Laramie — often.
The move means Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas and San Diego are out and Washington, Oregon and Arizona are in, along with all of California north of San Diego.
John Ashton, director of the alumni association, cannot overstate the upgrade.
"This is huge," he says. "The footprint for alumni now is so much better."
Within the boundaries of the Mountain West, the number of registered U. alumni is 19,000. In the expanded Pac-10 that number comes close to doubling — to more than 33,000.
In the MWC, the alumni held such game-day activities as tailgate parties and chapter meetings in three places: San Diego, Las Vegas and Denver. In the Pac-10, there will be plenty of alumni to hold such activities at every stop.
Paying for all the new parties will be a challenge, says Ashton, "but it's a pleasant problem to have."
"We've been talking about this for years, and there's always been some faint hope, but mostly we said to ourselves this is never going to happen," says Ashton. "Everyone is really still trying to internalize how much this means."
Dennie Dunn, though, isn't having a hard time grasping the full impact.
Much more than a casual observer of all things Utes, Dunn, 66, played freshman football at Utah, got hurt, switched to baseball, graduated and has been as loyal an alumni as ever walked the quad. He's seen his Utes go from the Skyline Conference to the Western Athletic Conference to the MWC to the Pac-10. He's a past president of the Crimson Club, has season tickets at midcourt in basketball and on the 50-yard line in football, has a son who played football for both Urban Meyer and Kyle Whittingham, and has driven to Laramie in more blizzards than a long-haul trucker.
"This is absolutely the best thing that's ever happened to Utah athletics," says Dunn. "We leave the connotation of mid-major behind. The whole nature of Utah athletics changes."
There is a reflective nature to Dunn's celebrating. He says it doesn't seem right to whoop it up about the future without pausing to recognize people from the past who have brought the Utes to the stature that the Pac-10 would want them.
"There were days when this wouldn't have happened," he says, thinking back to the 1970s and early 1980s "when you could walk up (on game day) and buy seats on the 50."
The turning point, in his educated opinion, came when Chase Peterson became president.
"Chase Peterson had a vision," says Dunn. "He empowered (director of athletics) Chris Hill to do things. I think really the rise of the last 20 years can be traced back to the relationship Chase Peterson had with Chris Hill. Very good football coaches and one peculiar but very good basketball coach were brought in, and with Chase's backing, Chris was able to put some really good staff people into place."
Dunn also credits BYU — and in particular former football coach LaVell Edwards — with helping out the Utes.
"BYU kept the old WAC alive," he says. "Without BYU and their presence and focus on athletics and their ability to win, I think the whole athletic program at Utah could have slipped backwards. LaVell did such a fine job we were able to stay alive based on the publicity he brought to the conference."
And how's that for happy? The Utes in their euphoria are cheering the Cougars.
"We're in the right place at the right time," says Dunn. "And the nice thing about it, there's plenty of room on the bandwagon."
In Utes lingo, that translates to: Until notified otherwise, the partying will continue indefinitely.
Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com.