Ex-Tucson Sugar Skulls coach, GM Dixie Wooten set to face former team in Bay Area

Dixie Wooten could’ve been bitter, but instead he caught himself dancing and cheering while watching the franchise that fired him cruise to victory.

After the 2022 IFL season, Wooten, a three-year general manager and head coach of the Tucson Sugar Skulls, was fired from his post after posting a 15-16 record in the last two seasons; his first season with Tucson was canceled for the pandemic. Wooten’s offensive coordinator, Hurtis Chinn, succeeded him as the Sugar Skulls’ head coach.

In the second game under Chinn, Tucson took down the Arizona Rattlers for the first time at Footprint Center in Phoenix on April 8. Sugar Skulls co-owner Kevin Guy is also the head coach of the Rattlers, which is only on Tucson’s schedule once this season.

“I watched the whole game, so I’m cheering for Tucson the whole way. ... All my guys are over there, so I’m cheering for them. ... I got love for Kevin, but I’m glad Tucson won that game,” Wooten said.

Tucson (2-0) faced Wooten, who is now an offensive coordinator, and the Bay Area Panthers (1-1) on Sunday night for the last of the Sugar Skulls’ three-game road swing, before their home opener against the San Diego Strike Force on Saturday. It’s the first meeting between Wooten and Tucson since the Sugar Skulls dismissed him in August.

Leading up to the game, Wooten joined “Spears and Ali” on ESPN Tucson to reminisce on his time in the Old Pueblo, growing as a coach, and his evaluation of the current Skulls:

How do you look back on your time in Tucson?

A: “I think it was a great time, man. There was a lot of growing. At the end of the day, when I took over the program, we were building after the COVID season, so at the end of the day, I felt like it was a great success. My last year there, we were the third seed, made it to the playoffs, so it was great. But at the end of the day, it’s a business and people make business decisions. Overall, it was a great time.”

When you say ‘a lot of growing,’ what exactly do you mean by that?

A: “When you’re the general manager and head coach, there’s a lot of things you have to take care of outside of football and things like that. In Tucson, you have great ownership that gives you everything you need to be successful as well. Now when I become a general manager again, I know what I have to do to be successful. Overall for me, Tucson was a great experience.”

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What’s your evaluation of the Sugar Skulls?

A: “First and foremost, Coach Hurtis Chinn is doing a great, great job with those guys. Taking over this year, they’re 2-0 and they’ve played two road games in one week. That was pretty tough and pretty impressive, man. Coach Chinn is my brother and will always be my brother. We played together and we still talk every day. One thing about him is that he’s going to show a lot of different looks and keep us on our toes, so I think it’s going to be a tough game coming up in the Bay Area.”

How do you compare Hurtis Chinn, the football player to Hurtis Chinn, the coach?

A: “The fastest guy on the field. ... He understood the pass game and the run game, so he was always my number one receiver. As a coach, he’s smart. One thing that impressed me as a player with Hurtis Chinn was he always knew how to get other guys open, and he never was a selfish player. Now him as a coach, he’s the same way. He knows how to get his guys involved and he knows how to make people successful.”

Tucson is coming off a statement victory over the Rattlers; considering you were the head coach during last season’s first-ever win over the Sugar Skulls’ in-state rival, how would you describe that feat?

A: “It’s a great feeling, because Arizona has been around for a long time, and they have a lot of pieces in place to be successful. When you beat them, that means you really put something together and accomplish something that not a lot of people have done. One thing about Hurtis is that he was with me in Iowa when we beat (Arizona) three times, so that guy knows how to beat the Rattlers.”

How do you approach coaching against your former team?

A: “It’s very different, because when Tucson gets down here, the first thing I’m going to do after practice is go to the hotel and talk to them and laugh and joke around about old stuff. Those guys are my brothers, but at the end of the day, we know what we signed up for. You gotta play each other and someone has to win and somebody gotta lose.”

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