The definition of carousel in the dictionary might as well have a picture of the Arizona Wildcatsβ βBlock Aβ 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 Johnsonβs departure to LSU, itβll be an unprecedented sixth addition to the Arizona athletic department.
Whoever that person is will join Tommy Lloyd (menβs 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 β which will go down as one of the most memorable sports seasons in UA history β has been quote, unquote normal.
Over the next week, the Star is reflecting on β and awarding β the best of the best in UA sports from the 2020-21 season. The Arizona womenβs basketball teamβs run to the national championship after upsetting UConn earned top sports moment.
Up next: Best coaching hire.
Honorable mention
Lowe carries Candreaβs 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 Womenβs College World Series and a 1,674-433-2 (.794) record β all NCAA bests β and a gold medal as the head coach of Team USA in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece; Candrea also won silver in the β08 Olympics in Beijing.
His successor as Arizonaβs 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 Arizonaβs record-holder for stolen bases. She was also a part of the 2008 Team USA club in the Beijing Olympics.
New softball coach Caitlin Lowe, a four-time All-American as a player for the Wildcats, has the monster task of replacing legendary coach Mike Candrea.
Following her career with Team USA and National Pro Fastpitch, Lowe became a part of Candreaβs 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.
βIf I would have come in cold from somewhere else, I think I would have felt that way,β Lowe said. βBut just growing in this program, growing with him, itβs not how I am supposed to feel. Heβs taught me so much about being my best self and what that means. Heβs also let me go and let me be me within this program. Heβs not a micromanager so when he hires someone itβs, βYou do what youβre good at and we will shine as a team.β Heβs let me have my own personality in this program already to where I feel like it was an easier transition.β
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.
βThis is the only place I would leave Gonzaga to come, to be the head coach at the University of Arizona,β Lloyd said.
Added Lloyd: βItβs a program weβve always looked up to, always admired, enjoyed competing against,β Lloyd said. βIn competing against Arizona, Iβve witnessed in this building the full force of Wildcat Nation bearing down on an opponent. β¦ Iβve always been impressed by the following, the passion and itβs something that I wanted to be a part of.β
New UA basketball head coach Tommy Lloyd, right, has a long history of landing top international players.
As Mark Fewβs right-hand man, Lloyd played a huge role in landing some of Gonzagaβs 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.
Lloydβs list of international talent heβs 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 β and Arizona: The Wildcatsβ 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 Processβ (IARP) review of the four Level I violations the program is facing, Lloydβs 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.
βJedd is the best thing thatβs happened to this university since Iβve been here,β said Arizona menβs tennis coach Clancy Shields, a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year. βHeβs brought everyone together and heβs made us care more about each other. Heβs connected all of us coaches together β administrators.
βHeβs just brought everyone together and itβs been special for me, because you dabble in and try to support other programs, but then you see what heβs doing and how much time and energy heβs putting into other programs, and Iβm so jacked up to go watch the Arizona football team play this fall β and I know my team will and everyone else in Tucson.β
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 thereβs one thing he understands about what it takes to thrive in Tucson: Itβs about people.
Jedd Fisch, demonstrating how he wants his receivers to run their routes during a spring practice in April, has worked with some of the biggest coaching names in the sport.
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.
Fischβs 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 thatβs 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 Arizonaβs spring game. Between βGronkβsβ then-record-setting catch of a football dropped over 600 feet from a helicopter and Fischβs can-do β and positive β 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.
