Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Cats' next coach likely working this weekend
- Updated
Star sports columnist Greg Hansen offers his opinion on recent sports news.
Cats' next coach is likely working this weekend
Most of the time in this business you don’t cheer for anything or root for anyone. That’s written in stone in Journalism 101.
But human nature sometimes intervenes. You root for the best story. And the best sports story in Tucson this spring would be walking into a McKale Center press conference this week to see Greg Byrne standing next to Pima College women’s basketball coach Todd Holthaus.
“I scoured the country looking for a coach,” Byrne would say. “And I found him right under my nose. Todd Holthaus is the new women’s basketball coach at Arizona.”
That’s not going to happen. After coaching the Aztecs to third place in the NJCAA finals last month, Holthaus will remain at Pima. To Byrne’s credit, he spent a Saturday night watching PCC win the regional championship, and later invested 3½ hours interviewing Holthaus.
It’s rare that a Power 5 conference school hires a local coaching hero. In 1996, the Oklahoma Sooners hired 31-year-old Norman High School girls basketball coach Sherri Coale. She has since gone to three Final Fours and taken her team to 17 consecutive NCAA tournaments. She’s an exception.
You can probably watch Byrne’s choice to replace Niya Butts during a championship-level TV game this week.
It might go this way:
1. Ryan McCarthy, Alaska Anchorage. The 33-year-old McCarthy will coach the 38-2 Seawolves into the NCAA Division II championship game Monday afternoon. His teams have gone 67-4 the last two seasons after picking up the pieces in 2012-13 when the school’s former coach was found to have broken NCAA rules. McCarthy, who played and coached at a small school in Idaho, is familiar with Arizona; his top scorer, Megan Mullings, was an all-conference power forward at the ACCAC’s South Mountain College. And McCarthy is affordable: His first Alaska contract was $70,000.
2. Adia Barnes, Washington. Byrne wouldn’t hire Barnes merely because she is Arizona’s career leading scorer in women’s basketball. He would do so because, at 39, she has become an accomplished coach and personality as an assistant coach at Washington, which will play Syracuse in Sunday’s Final Four. On the opposite bench in that game, Orange assistant coach Vonn Read, 43, is an intriguing job prospect. He coached on three tournament teams at Kentucky when Byrne was a UK assistant athletic director. He has also coached in the NBA and WNBA, specifically with the Phoenix Mercury.
3. Amy Williams, South Dakota. Some big-school AD will soon hire Williams, 40, who led the Coyotes to a win in Saturday’s Women’s NIT championship game. She was a standout player at Nebraska when Bill Byrne, Greg’s father, was the Cornhuskers’ AD. Her team finished this year 32-6, which included an 88-54 rout over Oregon in the semifinals. She’s also affordable. Her salary this year was $180,000.
4. Steve Gomez, Lubbock Christian. His team is 34-0 and ranked No. 1 entering the Division II championship game. His last three teams have gone a combined 80-8 in LCU’s first experience in Division II basketball.
Arizona has never employed a male coach for women’s basketball. Five women — Judy LeWinter, Wendy Larry, June Olkowski, Joan Bonvicini and Butts — have coached the UA for the last three decades.
But perhaps times are changing. For the first time in history, all of the Final Four teams are coached by men, including both Pac-12 entries, Scott Rueck of Oregon State and Washington’s Mike Neighbors.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Miller's connections could give Cats edge in race for Osetkowski
You’d never know it, but Sean Miller was a star in the inaugural McDonald’s All American Game, in 1978. Miller was 9.
He was the halftime entertainment at that game, performing a dribbling and ball-handling exhibition. Miller did so well that he was invited a day later to perform at halftime of a Philadelphia 76ers game. McDonald’s All American Game organizers arranged to have Miller as halftime entertainment for the next four years, through 1982.
Miller’s roots go so deep in basketball that you can connect him almost anywhere. For example, his father, prominent former high school coach John Miller of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, has a link to Dylan Osetkowski, a 6-foot 8-inch, 245-pound power forward who is leaving Tulane and reportedly scheduled to take a recruiting visit to Arizona this month.
Osetkowski was coached at Junipero Serra High School in California by Joedy Gardner Jr., whose father, Joedy Gardner, grew up in Ellwood City and later became the head coach at NAU. Gardner and Miller are the two most famous basketball coaches from Elwood City.
Osetkowski chose Tulane over Pacific and Pepperdine two years ago, but has since lost about 20 pounds and improved his mobility. Texas and Cal are also recruiting him. He had 11 double-doubles at Tulane this season.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
All-century softball team ballot has Arizona feel
The final ballot for the Pac-12’s All-Century softball team includes 27 Arizona players. UCLA is next with 25. When the team is announced next month, it’s likely Jennie Finch, Jenny Dalton and Nancy Evans will be the three ex-Wildcats who make the club. The Pac-12 has been so good in softball that Arizona All-Americans like Caitlin Lowe, Lovie Jung, Alison McCutcheon, Laura Espinoza and Susie Parra probably won’t make the final list. Desert View High grad Lety Pineda and Salpointe Catholic grad Tairia Mims, who played at UCLA, are on the final ballot.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Tucsonans Scofield, Pantoja officiate women's Sweet 16
At the women’s NCAA Sweet 16 last week, Tucsonan Bob Scofield and ex-UA guard Brenda Pantoja were part of the officiating crew for the Oregon State-DePaul game. It was Scofield’s 17th consecutive year as an NCAA Tournament referee.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Sabino grad Jenkins flashing success at Wisconsin
Tucson athlete of the week: Ex-Sabino High infielder Kelsey Jenkins is hitting .402 for the Wisconsin Badgers through Saturday. Jenkins leads the Big Ten in walks (30) and is the Badgers’ leadoff hitter, playing third base. In her Wisconsin media guide bio, Jenkins lists Lowe, a UA assistant coach, as her favorite athlete.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Frost delays lowered play at Tucson golf courses
OB Sports, the operating arm of Tucson City Golf’s five courses, was jolted by about 70 maddening frost delays during January and February, lowering overall play from 2014 and 2015 by about 1 percent. It stopped the momentum built since OB Sports took over two years ago. It meant that many golfers with a 10 a.m., tee time on a sunny winter day didn’t get to tee off until almost noon. Many went home. Nevertheless, OB Sports projects it will net close to $65,000 this year.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Haase, Terry could one day square off on sidelines
When Arizona stunned 34-1 Kansas in the 1997 Sweet 16, leading to the UA’s national championship, KU guard Jerod Haase had an agonizing end to his college career. He scored two points. The game ended with Arizona guard Jason Terry grabbing a loose ball and jumping onto press row, celebrating the year’s top upset.
Last week, Haase was named the head coach at Stanford. On the same day, Terry interviewed for the coaching vacancy at UAB. Terry isn’t likely to get that job because, at the most elementary level, he can’t possibly be familiar with the vast NCAA compliance issues every coach must learn.
But at 38, in the last days of his NBA career, Terry would someday be a terrific head coach. He would probably need to put in two or three years on a college staff first, as Damon Stoudamire did at Arizona and Memphis before becoming head coach at Pacific. After news of Terry’s interview became public, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told reporters that Terry could have a job with the Mavs when his playing days are complete.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Sanders to be memorialized Sunday at Hillenbrand pool
A celebration of life service will be held for former UA associate athletic director Tom Sanders on Sunday at 6 p.m., at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. Sanders died last month; he was one of Arizona’s leading swim-meet officials, of high school, college and summer team competitions, and raised the money to build Hillenbrand Stadium and Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Former Tucson softball standouts to play at Hillenbrand Stadium
Two of the top high school softball pitchers from Tucson’s recent past will get a chance to play at Hillenbrand Stadium on Wednesday when New Mexico State plays a doubleheader against Arizona. Senior Makayla McAdams, who led Ironwood Ridge to the 2011 state championship game, and freshman Kayla Green, who won 19 games for Cienega’s state champs last spring, are expected to pitch for the Aggies. McAdams and Green have combined for 14 victories this season. NMSU also starts ex-Sahuaro outfielder Amy Bergeson. She was hitting .340 through Friday.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
My two cents: Mickelson's bid latest in flurry of golf course moves
Phil Mickelson, whose M Club conglomerate owns Oro Valley’s upscale Stone Canyon Club, attempted to add the 36-hole Gallery Golf Club property to his collection this spring.
But the Gallery was instead sold last week to Escalante Golf Inc., which earlier bought the former Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, now named the Golf Club at Dove Mountain.
Both courses, the Gallery and GC at Dove Mountain, staged the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship from 2007-14. The last time the match-play event was held at the Gallery’s south course, in 2008, Tiger Woods won in what became one of the most compelling sports events in Tucson history.
It was one of the five or six top golf events in the world.
But golf at Dove Mountain never did become Tucson’s equivalent of Scottsdale, as a tournament site or a players destination. It costs too much to play there, it is too far from population centers, and the courses are very difficult for an average golfer.
I remember the grand opening of the Gallery’s south course.
Billionaire owner John MacMillan, son of the head of the Cargill food processing giant, greeted each golfer at the No. 1 tee and gave them a dozen golf balls. When he saw that the golf balls were mid-brand Titleists, he told an aide to hurry to the clubhouse and retrieve as many more expensive Pro V1s as possible.
He insisted on only the best.
Now Woods’ career is in limbo. The match play is now played in Texas. And the Gallery Golf Club, originally a private club that has since been available for public play, has been sold.
Never say never.
Cats' next coach is likely working this weekend
Most of the time in this business you don’t cheer for anything or root for anyone. That’s written in stone in Journalism 101.
But human nature sometimes intervenes. You root for the best story. And the best sports story in Tucson this spring would be walking into a McKale Center press conference this week to see Greg Byrne standing next to Pima College women’s basketball coach Todd Holthaus.
“I scoured the country looking for a coach,” Byrne would say. “And I found him right under my nose. Todd Holthaus is the new women’s basketball coach at Arizona.”
That’s not going to happen. After coaching the Aztecs to third place in the NJCAA finals last month, Holthaus will remain at Pima. To Byrne’s credit, he spent a Saturday night watching PCC win the regional championship, and later invested 3½ hours interviewing Holthaus.
It’s rare that a Power 5 conference school hires a local coaching hero. In 1996, the Oklahoma Sooners hired 31-year-old Norman High School girls basketball coach Sherri Coale. She has since gone to three Final Fours and taken her team to 17 consecutive NCAA tournaments. She’s an exception.
You can probably watch Byrne’s choice to replace Niya Butts during a championship-level TV game this week.
It might go this way:
1. Ryan McCarthy, Alaska Anchorage. The 33-year-old McCarthy will coach the 38-2 Seawolves into the NCAA Division II championship game Monday afternoon. His teams have gone 67-4 the last two seasons after picking up the pieces in 2012-13 when the school’s former coach was found to have broken NCAA rules. McCarthy, who played and coached at a small school in Idaho, is familiar with Arizona; his top scorer, Megan Mullings, was an all-conference power forward at the ACCAC’s South Mountain College. And McCarthy is affordable: His first Alaska contract was $70,000.
2. Adia Barnes, Washington. Byrne wouldn’t hire Barnes merely because she is Arizona’s career leading scorer in women’s basketball. He would do so because, at 39, she has become an accomplished coach and personality as an assistant coach at Washington, which will play Syracuse in Sunday’s Final Four. On the opposite bench in that game, Orange assistant coach Vonn Read, 43, is an intriguing job prospect. He coached on three tournament teams at Kentucky when Byrne was a UK assistant athletic director. He has also coached in the NBA and WNBA, specifically with the Phoenix Mercury.
3. Amy Williams, South Dakota. Some big-school AD will soon hire Williams, 40, who led the Coyotes to a win in Saturday’s Women’s NIT championship game. She was a standout player at Nebraska when Bill Byrne, Greg’s father, was the Cornhuskers’ AD. Her team finished this year 32-6, which included an 88-54 rout over Oregon in the semifinals. She’s also affordable. Her salary this year was $180,000.
4. Steve Gomez, Lubbock Christian. His team is 34-0 and ranked No. 1 entering the Division II championship game. His last three teams have gone a combined 80-8 in LCU’s first experience in Division II basketball.
Arizona has never employed a male coach for women’s basketball. Five women — Judy LeWinter, Wendy Larry, June Olkowski, Joan Bonvicini and Butts — have coached the UA for the last three decades.
But perhaps times are changing. For the first time in history, all of the Final Four teams are coached by men, including both Pac-12 entries, Scott Rueck of Oregon State and Washington’s Mike Neighbors.
Miller's connections could give Cats edge in race for Osetkowski
You’d never know it, but Sean Miller was a star in the inaugural McDonald’s All American Game, in 1978. Miller was 9.
He was the halftime entertainment at that game, performing a dribbling and ball-handling exhibition. Miller did so well that he was invited a day later to perform at halftime of a Philadelphia 76ers game. McDonald’s All American Game organizers arranged to have Miller as halftime entertainment for the next four years, through 1982.
Miller’s roots go so deep in basketball that you can connect him almost anywhere. For example, his father, prominent former high school coach John Miller of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, has a link to Dylan Osetkowski, a 6-foot 8-inch, 245-pound power forward who is leaving Tulane and reportedly scheduled to take a recruiting visit to Arizona this month.
Osetkowski was coached at Junipero Serra High School in California by Joedy Gardner Jr., whose father, Joedy Gardner, grew up in Ellwood City and later became the head coach at NAU. Gardner and Miller are the two most famous basketball coaches from Elwood City.
Osetkowski chose Tulane over Pacific and Pepperdine two years ago, but has since lost about 20 pounds and improved his mobility. Texas and Cal are also recruiting him. He had 11 double-doubles at Tulane this season.
All-century softball team ballot has Arizona feel
The final ballot for the Pac-12’s All-Century softball team includes 27 Arizona players. UCLA is next with 25. When the team is announced next month, it’s likely Jennie Finch, Jenny Dalton and Nancy Evans will be the three ex-Wildcats who make the club. The Pac-12 has been so good in softball that Arizona All-Americans like Caitlin Lowe, Lovie Jung, Alison McCutcheon, Laura Espinoza and Susie Parra probably won’t make the final list. Desert View High grad Lety Pineda and Salpointe Catholic grad Tairia Mims, who played at UCLA, are on the final ballot.
Tucsonans Scofield, Pantoja officiate women's Sweet 16
At the women’s NCAA Sweet 16 last week, Tucsonan Bob Scofield and ex-UA guard Brenda Pantoja were part of the officiating crew for the Oregon State-DePaul game. It was Scofield’s 17th consecutive year as an NCAA Tournament referee.
Sabino grad Jenkins flashing success at Wisconsin
Tucson athlete of the week: Ex-Sabino High infielder Kelsey Jenkins is hitting .402 for the Wisconsin Badgers through Saturday. Jenkins leads the Big Ten in walks (30) and is the Badgers’ leadoff hitter, playing third base. In her Wisconsin media guide bio, Jenkins lists Lowe, a UA assistant coach, as her favorite athlete.
Frost delays lowered play at Tucson golf courses
OB Sports, the operating arm of Tucson City Golf’s five courses, was jolted by about 70 maddening frost delays during January and February, lowering overall play from 2014 and 2015 by about 1 percent. It stopped the momentum built since OB Sports took over two years ago. It meant that many golfers with a 10 a.m., tee time on a sunny winter day didn’t get to tee off until almost noon. Many went home. Nevertheless, OB Sports projects it will net close to $65,000 this year.
Haase, Terry could one day square off on sidelines
When Arizona stunned 34-1 Kansas in the 1997 Sweet 16, leading to the UA’s national championship, KU guard Jerod Haase had an agonizing end to his college career. He scored two points. The game ended with Arizona guard Jason Terry grabbing a loose ball and jumping onto press row, celebrating the year’s top upset.
Last week, Haase was named the head coach at Stanford. On the same day, Terry interviewed for the coaching vacancy at UAB. Terry isn’t likely to get that job because, at the most elementary level, he can’t possibly be familiar with the vast NCAA compliance issues every coach must learn.
But at 38, in the last days of his NBA career, Terry would someday be a terrific head coach. He would probably need to put in two or three years on a college staff first, as Damon Stoudamire did at Arizona and Memphis before becoming head coach at Pacific. After news of Terry’s interview became public, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told reporters that Terry could have a job with the Mavs when his playing days are complete.
Sanders to be memorialized Sunday at Hillenbrand pool
A celebration of life service will be held for former UA associate athletic director Tom Sanders on Sunday at 6 p.m., at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. Sanders died last month; he was one of Arizona’s leading swim-meet officials, of high school, college and summer team competitions, and raised the money to build Hillenbrand Stadium and Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
Former Tucson softball standouts to play at Hillenbrand Stadium
Two of the top high school softball pitchers from Tucson’s recent past will get a chance to play at Hillenbrand Stadium on Wednesday when New Mexico State plays a doubleheader against Arizona. Senior Makayla McAdams, who led Ironwood Ridge to the 2011 state championship game, and freshman Kayla Green, who won 19 games for Cienega’s state champs last spring, are expected to pitch for the Aggies. McAdams and Green have combined for 14 victories this season. NMSU also starts ex-Sahuaro outfielder Amy Bergeson. She was hitting .340 through Friday.
My two cents: Mickelson's bid latest in flurry of golf course moves
Phil Mickelson, whose M Club conglomerate owns Oro Valley’s upscale Stone Canyon Club, attempted to add the 36-hole Gallery Golf Club property to his collection this spring.
But the Gallery was instead sold last week to Escalante Golf Inc., which earlier bought the former Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, now named the Golf Club at Dove Mountain.
Both courses, the Gallery and GC at Dove Mountain, staged the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship from 2007-14. The last time the match-play event was held at the Gallery’s south course, in 2008, Tiger Woods won in what became one of the most compelling sports events in Tucson history.
It was one of the five or six top golf events in the world.
But golf at Dove Mountain never did become Tucson’s equivalent of Scottsdale, as a tournament site or a players destination. It costs too much to play there, it is too far from population centers, and the courses are very difficult for an average golfer.
I remember the grand opening of the Gallery’s south course.
Billionaire owner John MacMillan, son of the head of the Cargill food processing giant, greeted each golfer at the No. 1 tee and gave them a dozen golf balls. When he saw that the golf balls were mid-brand Titleists, he told an aide to hurry to the clubhouse and retrieve as many more expensive Pro V1s as possible.
He insisted on only the best.
Now Woods’ career is in limbo. The match play is now played in Texas. And the Gallery Golf Club, originally a private club that has since been available for public play, has been sold.
Never say never.
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