Hansen's Sunday Notebook: RichRod must scramble to fill staff before Wildcats’ spring ball starts Saturday
- Updated
Star sports columnist Greg Hansen offers his opinion on recent sports news.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
When Cal announced the hiring of special teams coach Charlie Ragle last week, Golden Bears coach Justin Wilcox said Arizona’s special teams have been “consistently among the best in the nation.”
Well, probably not, but that’s the spin of the football hiring/firing cycle. Ragle appeared to be a useful coach and recruiter during his five Arizona seasons, but Rich Rodriguez essentially dictated policy and scheme of the UA’s special teams. Ragle’s true value was as a recruiter.
RichRod was vacationing off the coast of Florida last week, surely a welcome break after a choppy recruiting session. Now, before spring drills begin Saturday, RichRod will have to spend time toward replacing Ragle and receivers coach Tony Dews, who returned to his home turf of West Virginia earlier last week.
That’s not unusual at under-stress college football programs. Arizona State coach Todd Graham still has openings for a defensive line coach, receivers coach and offensive line coach.
After Arizona finished in last place for the first time in Pac-10 history, 2002 – after most of the squad met with president Peter Likins to discuss coach John Mackovic’s treatment of them — five UA coaches bailed out: Charlie Camp, Larry Mac Duff, Scott Pelluer, Rob Ianello and Rick Dykes. Some were pushed; some beat the posse out of town.
Mackovic delayed the start of spring camp until March 29 until he could hire five coaches; he had difficulty finding capable replacements.
He hired offensive coordinator Mike Deal, who was coaching the Scottish Claymores. Deal brought his son-in-law, Jeff Hecklinski, 26, to be the quarterbacks coach. The new receivers coach, Mike Borich, who had been released by BYU, worked for Mackovic for three months and then left the program. Mackovic was fired in late September.
Similarly, RichRod won’t have any leverage in hiring new coaches. A year ago, he could’ve hired Eastern Washington’s emerging coaching talent, Nicholas Edwards, who recently joined Ragle as the receivers coach on the new staff at Cal. But now it’s considered a risk to coach at Arizona.
ASU’s Graham said his program benefited greatly from hiring former Paradise Valley High coach Donnie Yantis, who knows the Phoenix-area prep football landscape. That was Ragle’s role at Arizona after he left Scottsdale Chaparral High School.
The one Phoenix-area prep coaching plum who would seem qualified to replace Ragle is Jason Mohns, who has won four consecutive state titles at Scottsdale Saguaro. But Mohns is an ASU grad and his father, Greg Mohns, coached for the Sun Devils. Mohns turned down a chance to join Rick Neuheisel’s staff at UCLA a few years ago.
Arizona’s remaining staff has three men who could coach for anybody: running backs coach Calvin Magee, offensive line coach Jim Michalczik and QBs coach Rod Smith.
From 2012-14, when Smith produced winning first-year starting QBs Matt Scott, B.J. Denker and Anu Solomon, his coaching ranked with any in school history. After that, injuries scuttled Arizona’s quarterbacking and, in turn, its place among Pac-12 contenders.
Now RichRod is trying to put all the pieces back together again.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Since retiring from four decades on the PGA and Champions golf tours, UA alumnus Don Pooley has become a volunteer assistant coach for the UA’s men’s golf team, and a member of the board of the First Tee of Tucson.
Last week he agreed to be marquee golfer in the third annual Edward Jones Short Course championships at Rolling Hills Golf Course. (He also won it, shooting rounds of 62 and 61).
I had the privilege to play with Pooley in the opening round and although it was a gorgeous day and course conditions were excellent, nothing (not even a birdie) topped the chance to listen to Pooley’s stories from a golf career that began as a non-scholarship freshman in 1970. He won four times on Tour, including Jack Nicklaus’ 1987 Memorial Tournament.
- “I decided to try to walk on and be part of the UA golf team my freshman year, and about 100 people showed up for the one-day tryout at Randolph North,” Pooley said. “I shot 77 on a very windy day, just grinding, and thought I had no chance. But coach Roy Tatum put me on the squad. A year later I was in the No. 1 spot on the team.”
- In his Masters’ debut, 1981, Pooley walked off the 15th green at Augusta National and stopped to look at the leaderboard. His name was on the top, at 4-under par. He then bogeyed 16, 17 and 18. “But I finished (19th) and that qualified me for the 1982 Masters.” Pooley’s best Masters finish was fifth, in 1988.
- • Pooley shot an opening 74 in the 1986 Phoenix Open. A season-ticket holder (behind the UA bench) at McKale Center for more than 30 years, he drove back to Tucson to watch Arizona play reigning Pac-10 power Oregon State. It turned out to be the most remarkable finish in McKale history; Arizona beat the Beavers 63-62 in overtime on a 93-foot pass from Steve Kerr that was tipped to Craig McMillan for a buzzer-beating victory. Pooley drove back to Phoenix early the next morning and shot a career-record 61, which still stands as the low score ever at the Phoenix Country Club.
- Pooley sees how golf and college athletics have changed. Wildcat golfers have access to golf balls, clubs and gear in almost unlimited supply. “When I played at Arizona,” he said, “we got one sleeve of new golf balls. That’s it. We had to buy our own clubs and balls. Our only extra benefit was $50 a semester for gas money to drive around town for daily practice.”
- Pooley’s greatest day in golf was winning the 2002 U.S. Senior Open, beating Tom Watson in an epic five-hole, sudden death playoff. He was offered a spot in next month’s Tucson Conquistadores Classic, a Champions Tour event, but declined. A long and painful history of back injuries makes it difficult for Pooley, 65, to play golf in three consecutive days.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Arizona’s baseball team drew 1,249 fans for Friday night’s intrasquad game at Hi Corbett Field. That suggests that Jay Johnson’s 2017 Wildcats could strongly pursue the school’s career attendance record. Andy Lopez’s 2012 College World Series championship team drew a record 105,131 at Hi Corbett, and 103,877 a year later. Those are the only teams in school history to top 100,000. Arizona has 33 home games this season; if it matches last year’s average attendance of 3,043 per game it would exceed 100,000. If it is able to play host to an NCAA regional or super regional, it would likely break all attendance records.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
While in Oregon for the Arizona basketball series a week ago, I walked by (in the rain), Oregon State’s Goss Stadium, which seats 3,248. The Beavers and Wildcats were Nos. 1 and 2 in Pac-12 attendance last season, and the Beavers are ranked No. 1 nationally and are the coaches’ favorite to win the 2017 league title. It just doesn’t figure that OSU should be a baseball power. On a rainy and windy day when it was about 38 degrees and raining, the Beavers practiced outside on the artificial surface at Goss. (They also have an indoor facility.) When Arizona opens its season at home next weekend, OSU will spend 11 days in Surprise playing Duke, Gonzaga, Indiana, Ohio State and Nebraska.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The day before Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona reported to spring training Thursday in Goodyear, he was the guest speaker for the Utah Utes’ fundraising banquet at the downtown Sheraton in Salt Lake City. The Utes celebrated their 2016 Pac-12 championship and it seemed like old times for Francona and Utah coach Bill Kinneberg, who were college teammates at Arizona. The Utes had a capacity crowd of about 600 donors at the event. Former Salpointe Catholic and UA pitcher Mike Crawford, who is Kinneberg’s top assistant at Utah, and ex-Cienega High pitcher/outfielder Andre Jackson, a junior at Utah, were part of the celebration.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The Games of the Week in Tucson sports: Todd Holthaus’ Pima College women’s basketball team (18-5) will play 20-3 Cochise College Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. on the PCC West Campus. At 7:30, Brian Peabody’s 17-8 men’s team will play Jerry Carrillo’s 20-4 Cochise powerhouse. It might be the most anticipated home doubleheader in Pima College basketball ever.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Good genes: In 1961, Buddy Doolen led Catalina High School to the state basketball championship game. He went on to win the state championship in the decathlon, become a starting guard at Arizona, and, later, a starting defensive back for the UA football team. He remains one of the top athletes in Tucson history, and is certainly from one of the leading athletic families in state history. His father, B.C. “Bud” Doolen, coached Tucson High to state basketball championships in 1943, 1945, 1948 and 1949, establishing a state record with 51 consecutive victories. Buddy himself coached Mesa Westwood to more than 350 basketball victories. Over the weekend, Buddy was in Prescott to watch his grandson, Brock Doolen, the state’s No. 1 ranked wrestler at 182 pounds, compete for a state championship.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Sabino High School sophomore Madison Mariani continues her climb as one of America’s leading female gymnasts. The Michigan-bound standout last week won the Pikes Peak Cup in Colorado Springs, and a week earlier finished No 1 in the Fiesta Bowl championships in Phoenix. Mariani didn’t finish any lower than third in any event, and won championships on the vault and beam in addition to winning both all-around titles.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The football recruiting Class of 2018 should be well represented in Tucson. Salpointe Catholic junior offensive tackle Matteo Mele, grandson of former UA and Green Bay Packers lineman Bill Lueck, was offered a scholarship by both the UA and Washington State coach Mike Leach. Pusch Ridge linebacker Dakota Haynes; Cienega quarterback Jamarye Joiner, who has already committed to Arizona; and Amphi tackle David Watson, son of former UA lineman of the same name, are on the recruiting radar.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
It’s possible that former Canyon del Oro infielder Ian Kinsler, who is 34, and ex-Sahuaro outfielder Alex Verdugo, 20, could play against one another next month. Kinsler is part of the Team USA roster for the World Baseball Classic. Verdugo is one of four outfielders on Team Mexico’s roster. If their teams advance from their first-round groups, they would be scheduled to be part of the San Diego field March 14-19.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Arizona’s search for Greg Byrne’s replacement has covered considerable territory in three weeks and it’s likely an AD will be hired in March, if not sooner.
Whether the school chooses to hire one of the impressive mid-level ADs such as Houston’s Hunter Yurachek or stays with Wildcat blood and hires Texas A&M deputy AD Stephanie Rempe — or whoever — there probably won’t be a shakeup within the existing department structure.
Neither Byrne nor his predecessors, Cedric Dempsey and Jim Livengood, brought in a squad of new people.
New USC athletic director Lynn Swann last week told Los Angeles reporters that doing so would be a terrible idea.
“There’s no need really to come in and say you’re going to clean house,” said Swann. “That would be kind of a waste. You lose your institutional knowledge from all the years people have been here. You lose the bridges and all the relationships people have from our development people with our alumni base. So, really, I’m the new guy on the job learning from them, looking to see how things are structured, looking to see if I’m going to want to do some of these things a little differently. But that’s it.”
It appears Mr. Swann, with no previous experience in college athletics administration, learned quickly.
When Cal announced the hiring of special teams coach Charlie Ragle last week, Golden Bears coach Justin Wilcox said Arizona’s special teams have been “consistently among the best in the nation.”
Well, probably not, but that’s the spin of the football hiring/firing cycle. Ragle appeared to be a useful coach and recruiter during his five Arizona seasons, but Rich Rodriguez essentially dictated policy and scheme of the UA’s special teams. Ragle’s true value was as a recruiter.
RichRod was vacationing off the coast of Florida last week, surely a welcome break after a choppy recruiting session. Now, before spring drills begin Saturday, RichRod will have to spend time toward replacing Ragle and receivers coach Tony Dews, who returned to his home turf of West Virginia earlier last week.
That’s not unusual at under-stress college football programs. Arizona State coach Todd Graham still has openings for a defensive line coach, receivers coach and offensive line coach.
After Arizona finished in last place for the first time in Pac-10 history, 2002 – after most of the squad met with president Peter Likins to discuss coach John Mackovic’s treatment of them — five UA coaches bailed out: Charlie Camp, Larry Mac Duff, Scott Pelluer, Rob Ianello and Rick Dykes. Some were pushed; some beat the posse out of town.
Mackovic delayed the start of spring camp until March 29 until he could hire five coaches; he had difficulty finding capable replacements.
He hired offensive coordinator Mike Deal, who was coaching the Scottish Claymores. Deal brought his son-in-law, Jeff Hecklinski, 26, to be the quarterbacks coach. The new receivers coach, Mike Borich, who had been released by BYU, worked for Mackovic for three months and then left the program. Mackovic was fired in late September.
Similarly, RichRod won’t have any leverage in hiring new coaches. A year ago, he could’ve hired Eastern Washington’s emerging coaching talent, Nicholas Edwards, who recently joined Ragle as the receivers coach on the new staff at Cal. But now it’s considered a risk to coach at Arizona.
ASU’s Graham said his program benefited greatly from hiring former Paradise Valley High coach Donnie Yantis, who knows the Phoenix-area prep football landscape. That was Ragle’s role at Arizona after he left Scottsdale Chaparral High School.
The one Phoenix-area prep coaching plum who would seem qualified to replace Ragle is Jason Mohns, who has won four consecutive state titles at Scottsdale Saguaro. But Mohns is an ASU grad and his father, Greg Mohns, coached for the Sun Devils. Mohns turned down a chance to join Rick Neuheisel’s staff at UCLA a few years ago.
Arizona’s remaining staff has three men who could coach for anybody: running backs coach Calvin Magee, offensive line coach Jim Michalczik and QBs coach Rod Smith.
From 2012-14, when Smith produced winning first-year starting QBs Matt Scott, B.J. Denker and Anu Solomon, his coaching ranked with any in school history. After that, injuries scuttled Arizona’s quarterbacking and, in turn, its place among Pac-12 contenders.
Now RichRod is trying to put all the pieces back together again.
Since retiring from four decades on the PGA and Champions golf tours, UA alumnus Don Pooley has become a volunteer assistant coach for the UA’s men’s golf team, and a member of the board of the First Tee of Tucson.
Last week he agreed to be marquee golfer in the third annual Edward Jones Short Course championships at Rolling Hills Golf Course. (He also won it, shooting rounds of 62 and 61).
I had the privilege to play with Pooley in the opening round and although it was a gorgeous day and course conditions were excellent, nothing (not even a birdie) topped the chance to listen to Pooley’s stories from a golf career that began as a non-scholarship freshman in 1970. He won four times on Tour, including Jack Nicklaus’ 1987 Memorial Tournament.
- “I decided to try to walk on and be part of the UA golf team my freshman year, and about 100 people showed up for the one-day tryout at Randolph North,” Pooley said. “I shot 77 on a very windy day, just grinding, and thought I had no chance. But coach Roy Tatum put me on the squad. A year later I was in the No. 1 spot on the team.”
- In his Masters’ debut, 1981, Pooley walked off the 15th green at Augusta National and stopped to look at the leaderboard. His name was on the top, at 4-under par. He then bogeyed 16, 17 and 18. “But I finished (19th) and that qualified me for the 1982 Masters.” Pooley’s best Masters finish was fifth, in 1988.
- • Pooley shot an opening 74 in the 1986 Phoenix Open. A season-ticket holder (behind the UA bench) at McKale Center for more than 30 years, he drove back to Tucson to watch Arizona play reigning Pac-10 power Oregon State. It turned out to be the most remarkable finish in McKale history; Arizona beat the Beavers 63-62 in overtime on a 93-foot pass from Steve Kerr that was tipped to Craig McMillan for a buzzer-beating victory. Pooley drove back to Phoenix early the next morning and shot a career-record 61, which still stands as the low score ever at the Phoenix Country Club.
- Pooley sees how golf and college athletics have changed. Wildcat golfers have access to golf balls, clubs and gear in almost unlimited supply. “When I played at Arizona,” he said, “we got one sleeve of new golf balls. That’s it. We had to buy our own clubs and balls. Our only extra benefit was $50 a semester for gas money to drive around town for daily practice.”
- Pooley’s greatest day in golf was winning the 2002 U.S. Senior Open, beating Tom Watson in an epic five-hole, sudden death playoff. He was offered a spot in next month’s Tucson Conquistadores Classic, a Champions Tour event, but declined. A long and painful history of back injuries makes it difficult for Pooley, 65, to play golf in three consecutive days.
Arizona’s baseball team drew 1,249 fans for Friday night’s intrasquad game at Hi Corbett Field. That suggests that Jay Johnson’s 2017 Wildcats could strongly pursue the school’s career attendance record. Andy Lopez’s 2012 College World Series championship team drew a record 105,131 at Hi Corbett, and 103,877 a year later. Those are the only teams in school history to top 100,000. Arizona has 33 home games this season; if it matches last year’s average attendance of 3,043 per game it would exceed 100,000. If it is able to play host to an NCAA regional or super regional, it would likely break all attendance records.
While in Oregon for the Arizona basketball series a week ago, I walked by (in the rain), Oregon State’s Goss Stadium, which seats 3,248. The Beavers and Wildcats were Nos. 1 and 2 in Pac-12 attendance last season, and the Beavers are ranked No. 1 nationally and are the coaches’ favorite to win the 2017 league title. It just doesn’t figure that OSU should be a baseball power. On a rainy and windy day when it was about 38 degrees and raining, the Beavers practiced outside on the artificial surface at Goss. (They also have an indoor facility.) When Arizona opens its season at home next weekend, OSU will spend 11 days in Surprise playing Duke, Gonzaga, Indiana, Ohio State and Nebraska.
The day before Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona reported to spring training Thursday in Goodyear, he was the guest speaker for the Utah Utes’ fundraising banquet at the downtown Sheraton in Salt Lake City. The Utes celebrated their 2016 Pac-12 championship and it seemed like old times for Francona and Utah coach Bill Kinneberg, who were college teammates at Arizona. The Utes had a capacity crowd of about 600 donors at the event. Former Salpointe Catholic and UA pitcher Mike Crawford, who is Kinneberg’s top assistant at Utah, and ex-Cienega High pitcher/outfielder Andre Jackson, a junior at Utah, were part of the celebration.
The Games of the Week in Tucson sports: Todd Holthaus’ Pima College women’s basketball team (18-5) will play 20-3 Cochise College Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. on the PCC West Campus. At 7:30, Brian Peabody’s 17-8 men’s team will play Jerry Carrillo’s 20-4 Cochise powerhouse. It might be the most anticipated home doubleheader in Pima College basketball ever.
Good genes: In 1961, Buddy Doolen led Catalina High School to the state basketball championship game. He went on to win the state championship in the decathlon, become a starting guard at Arizona, and, later, a starting defensive back for the UA football team. He remains one of the top athletes in Tucson history, and is certainly from one of the leading athletic families in state history. His father, B.C. “Bud” Doolen, coached Tucson High to state basketball championships in 1943, 1945, 1948 and 1949, establishing a state record with 51 consecutive victories. Buddy himself coached Mesa Westwood to more than 350 basketball victories. Over the weekend, Buddy was in Prescott to watch his grandson, Brock Doolen, the state’s No. 1 ranked wrestler at 182 pounds, compete for a state championship.
Sabino High School sophomore Madison Mariani continues her climb as one of America’s leading female gymnasts. The Michigan-bound standout last week won the Pikes Peak Cup in Colorado Springs, and a week earlier finished No 1 in the Fiesta Bowl championships in Phoenix. Mariani didn’t finish any lower than third in any event, and won championships on the vault and beam in addition to winning both all-around titles.
The football recruiting Class of 2018 should be well represented in Tucson. Salpointe Catholic junior offensive tackle Matteo Mele, grandson of former UA and Green Bay Packers lineman Bill Lueck, was offered a scholarship by both the UA and Washington State coach Mike Leach. Pusch Ridge linebacker Dakota Haynes; Cienega quarterback Jamarye Joiner, who has already committed to Arizona; and Amphi tackle David Watson, son of former UA lineman of the same name, are on the recruiting radar.
It’s possible that former Canyon del Oro infielder Ian Kinsler, who is 34, and ex-Sahuaro outfielder Alex Verdugo, 20, could play against one another next month. Kinsler is part of the Team USA roster for the World Baseball Classic. Verdugo is one of four outfielders on Team Mexico’s roster. If their teams advance from their first-round groups, they would be scheduled to be part of the San Diego field March 14-19.
Arizona’s search for Greg Byrne’s replacement has covered considerable territory in three weeks and it’s likely an AD will be hired in March, if not sooner.
Whether the school chooses to hire one of the impressive mid-level ADs such as Houston’s Hunter Yurachek or stays with Wildcat blood and hires Texas A&M deputy AD Stephanie Rempe — or whoever — there probably won’t be a shakeup within the existing department structure.
Neither Byrne nor his predecessors, Cedric Dempsey and Jim Livengood, brought in a squad of new people.
New USC athletic director Lynn Swann last week told Los Angeles reporters that doing so would be a terrible idea.
“There’s no need really to come in and say you’re going to clean house,” said Swann. “That would be kind of a waste. You lose your institutional knowledge from all the years people have been here. You lose the bridges and all the relationships people have from our development people with our alumni base. So, really, I’m the new guy on the job learning from them, looking to see how things are structured, looking to see if I’m going to want to do some of these things a little differently. But that’s it.”
It appears Mr. Swann, with no previous experience in college athletics administration, learned quickly.
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Part 1 of the Star's series looking ahead to spring ball focuses on the all-important quarterback position.
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