Given all the talk about a pending update-remodel-renovation of Husky Stadium, Tyrone Willingham, the football coach, wanted to know when it might happen.

"That depends on you," Todd Turner, the athletic director, told him.

"Until our football program gives us something to celebrate, we can't undertake such a project."

But the wheels at the university have begun turning. A representative from HOK, the huge sports-architecture firm in Kansas City, has already viewed the site.

"A dynamic venue, in need of some loving care, " said Scott Radecic, who played football at Penn State.

No plan to redo the stadium could ever involve obstructing the views of Lake Washington. But will the stadium be clean and collegiate, as it has been, or lined with luxury boxes, as it could be?

Oregon State is undertaking an $80 million remodel of Reser Stadium that at one point, believe it or not, includes a huge room where club-seat ticket holders can play pool or listen to live music onstage.

Let's start with the basics at Washington.

Turner acknowledged the new Husky Stadium would likely be without a running track, allowing the playing field to be lowered "6 to 8 feet."

UW officials have said the running track could be relocated around the school's soccer field, where seating for a few thousand would be more in line with need.

Any major remodel could also mean replacing the south grandstand — now more than 50 years old — as well as pushing the west, or closed end of the horseshoe, up against the field.

Husky Stadium needs to be more intimate. People were happy to be in it when the Huskies were undefeated in 1991, even if they were a sand-wedge shot from the field in the west end.

But since then they've seen Qwest Field. They understand the intimacy that comes with Safeco Field, also the accessibility of bathrooms and concessions, not to mention escalators and elevators that get them to second-level seats.

The west end could also involve a new location for offices of the football coaches. Steps from a proposed light-rail transit stop, it could also be a more convenient place to purchase tickets. The possibilities are endless.

Unlike years past when tickets were scarce, there is no present talk about enlarging Husky Stadium's capacity. But instead, simply making it better for those who are there.

I'd like to think that college football in Seattle is forever different from pro football, that what happens here is unlike what has happened at Oregon and Oregon State — where the Ducks and Beavers are treated like little pro teams — and is about to happen at Michigan, of all places.

Separating college and pros was the reason UW athletic director Mike Lude refused to play games in the Kingdome when it opened. He wanted a Saturday to be different from a Sunday. He was right.

Notre Dame improved and enlarged its stadium without changing the essence of the place.

Oregon, on the other hand, dumped $90 million into an expansion of Autzen Stadium, adding 30 luxury suites, a huge club room and a couple of cocktail lounges along the way. And the place was never the same.

At Michigan, the plan to make the Big House even bigger includes lining it with three-story suites along each of the sidelines.

Why? Because suites not only provide revenues to pay for the construction of the stadium, but seem to be what people want.

"We are adding 22 skyboxes and have sold all but one," said Bob DeCarolis, the athletic director at Oregon State. The Beavers have also received a rush for loge and club seats in the expansion that will push capacity to 43,000.

"Luxury boxes were what our fans told us they wanted," said Oregon athletic director Bill Moos, discussing the expansion of Autzen Stadium to 58,000.

Turner isn't sure what the fans of Washington want, other than to start winning football games again.

"We'll have to be good listeners," Turner said. "Suites and specialized amenities create revenue that can help you pay the debt service on a construction project.

"But if our fans don't want that, then we'll have to go another way."

Seattle is different from Eugene and Corvallis, where there are no professional franchises. Here, so many corporate dollars have gone to Safeco Field — and to Qwest Field — that the Sonics can't sell their suites in KeyArena.

You wonder how many the Huskies could sell.

"We aren't going to change the character of the stadium, I know that," Turner said.

In fact, Radecic of HOK said his group would look at removing the giant scoreboard that obstructs the look at the lake.

"When we were trying to put together the new football stadium in Pittsburgh, along the river, we showed Art Rooney (owner of the Steelers) what Husky Stadium looked like with its giant, covered grandstands open to the view.

"It was inspirational."

Turner smiled.

"But, man, it's hard to get up to those seats. We need six or eight new elevators."

How to both rebuild and retain Husky Stadium, that's the question. The answer will come from those willing to pay for it.

Comments to Blaine Newnham can be sent to sports@seattletimes.com