When the Arizona Wildcats played BYU in 1957, the Wildcats and Cougars tied 14-14 at Arizona Stadium.
During that game, the UA suited up a 210-pound center and field-goal kicker named Nick Balich.
Balich would retreat to his hometown of Bisbee during the offseason to kick balls toward an invisible goal post. His love of football stuck.
Balich became heavily involved with the Fiesta Bowl, at one point serving as president. Balich, his brother and his nephew would drive annually from their home in Playas, New Mexico — a no-stoplight town — to Tucson for the annual rivalry game between the UA and ASU. They’d trek to Tempe for the Fiesta Bowl, too.
Charlie Ragle has deep roots in Arizona, and with the Wildcats. Thank his Uncle Nick for that.
“It’s pretty cool how it all ties in for me,” Arizona’s assistant coach said, “and comes back to here.”
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Before Rich Rodriguez was hired to replace Mike Stoops in late 2011, before (false) rumors that Mike Bellotti would be Arizona’s next coach, Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne called Ragle. Ragle, then the coach at Scottsdale Chaparral High School, was in the midst of a season that would end with a state championship.
Byrne was direct.
“He said he was reaching out to some of the top programs in the state and wanted to know how we keep the top players in the state,” Ragle said.
Ragle told Byrne about the time Rodriguez, then the Michigan coach, came to Scottsdale to recruit Chaparral offensive lineman Taylor Lewan and linebacker Craig Roh, both of whom wound up playing for the Wolverines.
“I didn’t even get into the story, and Greg stopped me and started asking questions about Rich,” Ragle said. “I hung up the phone and I’m like, ‘I think they might hire Rich Rodriguez.’”
He was right.
Upon arriving, Rodriguez made a concerted effort to improve Arizona’s in-state recruiting. Ragle has been a big part of that: Rodriguez added the well-connected coach as a support-staffer at the start of 2012; a year later, Ragle was promoted to special teams and tight ends coach.
As a result, Arizona’s recruiting fortunes are slowly changing.
Four in-state players have already committed to the UA’s 2017 class. Two of them — Sabino athlete Drew Dixon and Catalina Foothills quarterback Rhett Rodriguez — are Tucsonans, while Mesa Desert Ridge athlete Jalen Harris and Gilbert Higley tight end Bryce Gilbert hail from the Phoenix area.
The Wildcats are still in pursuit of others, too, including Phoenix St. Mary’s defensive end Odua Isibor and Tempe defensive end My-King Johnson.
With a near-full class of 26 commitments — some of whom will enroll early — the Wildcats probably aren’t in the running for some of the other top undecided in-state talents. Five-star offensive lineman Austin Jackson and four-star safeties Isaiah Pola-Mao and K.J. Jarrell all visited Arizona’s campus this summer, though, and that’s progress.
“We know we’re not going to get every player, probably, every year that we want in the state, but we at least want them to visit,” Rodriguez said. “Our guys have done a good job with that. It’s important, this is our home base, we’ve got to recruit well in the state of Arizona when there’s players here.”
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Ragle wasn’t exactly helping Arizona’s in-state recruiting cause when he was the coach at Chaparral.
From 2007-11, the Firebirds went 63-7 and won three state titles. During that stretch, Ragle coached two five-star recruits, three four-stars and four three-stars, according to Scout.com. Only one of them, defensive end Dylan Cozens, committed to the Wildcats, and he never played a down at Arizona.
Shortly after he was hired at the UA, Ragle watched Chaparral’s two best players choose other schools. Five-star receiver DaVonte’ Neal picked Notre Dame and four-star quarterback Connor Brewer picked Texas. Eventually, both transferred to Arizona.
Arizona managed to land Trevor Wood, who played two seasons for Ragle at Chaparral.
Wood’s final four schools included Alabama, Oregon, UCLA … and Arizona. That’s not a battle that the Wildcats usually win.
“He was calling me from the day he got the job,” said Wood, whose father and brother played at the UA. “That’s one thing: We knew each other very personally, so he could call whenever. Half the time he would just call to say what’s up, just keeping the relationship. I consider Coach Ragle family.”
Ragle and UA defensive line coach Vince Amey, another former Chaparral coach, have helped to build many of the Wildcats’ recruiting bridges. Amey scouts the West Valley, while Ragle tackles the East.
Tony Tabor believes the Wildcats are making progress. When he was at Scottsdale Desert Mountain, Tabor coached quarterback Kyle Allen to Texas A&M and receiver Mark Andrews to Oklahoma. Neither considered Arizona then; they probably would now.
“You can see from the recruits and what’s going on, they’re doing a better job of getting kids,” Tabor said. “You’re not always gonna get everybody. Some kids are gonna go someplace just because, that’s just the way it is, but their effort they’re putting into it, the dedication. Those guys (Ragle and Amey) go meet kids and their parents and they’re the type of people that kids want to play for, that parents want to send their kids to.
“Charlie is doing U of A a great service because he knows the kids, he knows kids in the Valley,” he said. “I can mention anybody to him and he knows if the kid’s on the radar or not. Some coaches show up when you have players, but don’t show up when you don’t. Charlie isn’t one of those guys.”
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Ragle may have Wildcat blood, but he never actually attended the school. He played running back at Eastern New Mexico in the late-1990s.
Still, his passions get stoked on the recruiting trail. Ragle calls the pursuit of players “real personal.”
“Nobody is coming to recruit those kids with the same kind of passion and energy that I am,” he said, “and it’s coming from the right place.”
Ragle and the Wildcats will find themselves in the right place Saturday, when the Wildcats take on BYU in the Cactus Kickoff game at University of Phoenix Stadium. The coach knows his way around: He was there for the 2011 state title game, for a high school regular season game against the Anu Solomon-led Bishop Gorman and two years ago, for Arizona’s surprise appearance in the Fiesta Bowl.
Ragle will think of his Uncle Nick, who died in October 2014, when he leads UA kicker Josh Pollack onto the field and watches him warm up.
This time, the goal posts won’t be imaginary.
