Reliving the 2020-21 sports year: Football coach Jedd Fisch has hit the ground running

The definition of carousel in the dictionary might as well have a picture of the Arizona Wildcats’ “Block A” logo, especially after what athletic director Dave Heeke has endured over the last seven months.

When Heeke hires a new baseball head coach, following Jay Johnson’s departure to LSU, it’ll be an unprecedented sixth addition to the Arizona athletic department.

Whoever that person is will join Tommy Lloyd (men’s basketball), Jedd Fisch (football), Caitlin Lowe (softball), Bernard Lagat (cross country) and Becca Moros (soccer) as newbies in the UA head coaching realm.

But hey, nothing about this past year — which will go down as one of the most memorable sports seasons in UA history — has been quote, unquote normal.

Over the next week, the Star is reflecting on — and awarding — the best of the best in UA sports from the 2020-21 season. The Arizona women’s basketball team’s run to the national championship after upsetting UConn earned top sports moment.

Up next: Best coaching hire.

Honorable mention

Lowe carries Candrea’s legacy

Longtime Arizona softball skipper Mike Candrea stepped away from his coaching duties after 36 years, leaving a legacy unlike any other in the profession.

Candrea ended his career with eight national championships, 24 trips to the Women’s College World Series and a 1,674-433-2 (.794) record — all NCAA bests — and a gold medal as the head coach of Team USA in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece; Candrea also won silver in the ‘08 Olympics in Beijing.

His successor as Arizona’s head coach, Caitlin Lowe, was along for the ride in all aspects as a softball player and coach. Lowe played under Candrea at Arizona from 2004-07, earning All-American honors as a star outfielder and finishing her career as Arizona’s record-holder for stolen bases. She was also a part of the 2008 Team USA club in the Beijing Olympics.

Following her career with Team USA and National Pro Fastpitch, Lowe became a part of Candrea’s staff in 2013 as a director of operations, and worked her way up to full-time assistant coach before becoming associate head coach. So, when Candrea officially retired, Lowe was an unchallenging choice.

“If I would have come in cold from somewhere else, I think I would have felt that way,” Lowe said. “But just growing in this program, growing with him, it’s not how I am supposed to feel. He’s taught me so much about being my best self and what that means. He’s also let me go and let me be me within this program. He’s not a micromanager so when he hires someone it’s, ‘You do what you’re good at and we will shine as a team.’ He’s let me have my own personality in this program already to where I feel like it was an easier transition.”

Runner-up

Lloyd could have Cats in win-now mode

Just days after the NCAA Tournament concluded in April, Arizona fired Sean Miller as head coach with one year remaining on his contract and replaced him with 20-year Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd.

“This is the only place I would leave Gonzaga to come, to be the head coach at the University of Arizona,” Lloyd said.

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Added Lloyd: “It’s a program we’ve always looked up to, always admired, enjoyed competing against,” Lloyd said. “In competing against Arizona, I’ve witnessed in this building the full force of Wildcat Nation bearing down on an opponent. … I’ve always been impressed by the following, the passion and it’s something that I wanted to be a part of.”

As Mark Few’s right-hand man, Lloyd played a huge role in landing some of Gonzaga’s top players in program history. But Lloyd, a Kelso, Washington, native, utilized his international experience from his brief time as a pro player and a year-long backpacking trip with his wife, Chanelle, to recruit top foreign talent to Gonzaga.

Lloyd’s list of international talent he’s delivered includes Ronny Turiaf (France), Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Kelly Olynyk (Canada), Rui Hachimura (Japan), Przemek Karnowski (Poland), Robert Sacre (Canada), Killian Tillie (France) and Kevin Pangos (Canada).

Good news for Lloyd — and Arizona: The Wildcats’ 2021-22 roster is littered with international prospects, a recruiting tactic that was ramped up over recent seasons. The UA will have wing Bennedict Mathurin (Canada), guard Kerr Kriisa (Estonia), forward Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania), forward Tautvilas Tubelis (Lithuania), center Oumar Ballo (Mali), guard Adama Bal (France), center Christian Koloko (Cameroon) and sharp-shooting guard Pelle Larsson (Sweden) for the upcoming season.

Barring potential sanctions handed down from the NCAA after the Independent Accountability Resolution Process’ (IARP) review of the four Level I violations the program is facing, Lloyd’s prowess for developing international players could possibly have the Wildcats in position for a run in the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22 while competing with Pac-12 powers UCLA and Oregon.

Winner

Fisch quickly generates buzz

In order to understand the impact football coach Jedd Fisch has had at the UA since he was hired in December, ask any coach or Arizona staffer about him.

“Jedd is the best thing that’s happened to this university since I’ve been here,” said Arizona men’s tennis coach Clancy Shields, a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year. “He’s brought everyone together and he’s made us care more about each other. He’s connected all of us coaches together — administrators.

“He’s just brought everyone together and it’s been special for me, because you dabble in and try to support other programs, but then you see what he’s doing and how much time and energy he’s putting into other programs, and I’m so jacked up to go watch the Arizona football team play this fall — and I know my team will and everyone else in Tucson.”

Like Lloyd and Lowe, Fisch had never been a head coach prior to Arizona, and was an NFL assistant journeyman learning from some of the best minds in football, such as Bill Belichick, Sean McVay, Mike Shanahan and Brian Billick. But if there’s one thing he understands about what it takes to thrive in Tucson: It’s about people.

From the time Fisch was hired to take over the program which had hit rock-bottom, the Wildcats managed to pull several prospects out of the NCAA transfer portal, including five in-state natives whom Arizona failed to land in the Kevin Sumlin era.

Fisch’s cryptic posts on Twitter to announce coaching hires or important updates with the program drew positive attention to a UA football program fresh off a winless 2020 season and currently riding a 12-game losing streak. Fisch also managed to string together an on-field staff that’s a melting pot of UA legends (defensive line coach Ricky Hunley and safeties coach Chuck Cecil), college veterans (defensive coordinator Don Brown, quarterbacks coach Jimmie Dougherty and tight ends coach Jordan Paopao) and NFL coaches (cornerbacks coach DeWayne Walker and offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll).

Oh, and navigating through COVID-19 protocols, Fisch brought Rob Gronkowski, easily the most recognizable Wildcat in the NFL, back to Tucson for the first time in a decade to serve as an honorary coach against Tedy Bruschi in Arizona’s spring game. Between “Gronk’s” then-record-setting catch of a football dropped over 600 feet from a helicopter and Fisch’s can-do — and positive — spirit, a program that ended its season with a 63-point loss to its arch rival is ascending back to relevance.

Now comes the hard part: Winning games.