Chuck Cecil drove from Los Angeles back to Tucson last week to attend Jerry Kindall’s memorial service. That’s one devoted Wildcat. Cecil didn’t play baseball at Arizona, he was a consensus football All-American who simply respected Kindall and, in turn, his school.
Cecil did not turn on Rich Rodriguez after he was fired. He took the time to tell me that he “never felt like an outsider” in his seven months under RichRod. In the business of college football, Cecil has no choice but to begin searching for coaching jobs in the NFL, where he spent 15 seasons, including those as a defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams.
His chance to be the next UA head coach is as close to zero as possible, but he would be a dynamic defensive coordinator at his alma mater, if the next head coach so chooses.
The UA didn’t fully tap into Cecil’s people skills because his role as a defensive analyst forbids him from speaking to recruits on campus or through social media. And he was not allowed to coach players on the field.
Essentially, at a time Arizona’s defense yielded 471 yards and 34 points per game, it got the minimum out of the most capable defensive coach on the staff. It makes you shake your head.
