West Virginia is expected to announce the hiring of Arizona receivers coach Tony Dews, creating an opening on the Wildcatsโ staff less than two weeks from the scheduled start of spring practice.
Ideally, Rich Rodriguez will have a new receivers coach in place before Feb. 18. But these things invariably take longer than anticipated.
Here are five possible candidates for the job, listed in alphabetical order:
GARRET CHACHERE
Chachere spent the past four seasons at Cal, which fired Sonny Dykes and hired Justin Wilcox, who has turned over the staff. Chachere most recently coached running backs, but he served as Arizonaโs receivers coach in 2009 and โ10, tutoring Juron Criner, among others. Chachere coached from 1999-2006 at Tulane, one of Rodriguezโs former stops. Chachereย has extensive experience as a special-teams coach, so he could help in that area as well.
HUNKIE COOPER
Local football fans might remember Cooper from his days with the Arizona Rattlers; he is considered one of the best players in Arena League history. Cooper is currently the wide receivers coach at San Diego State, so he has a presence in Southern California. He played collegiately at UNLV; like SoCal, Las Vegas is an important recruiting area for the Wildcats. Cooper has Texas ties too, having played at Navarro College in Corsicana before UNLV.
DAMEYUNE CRAIG
Craig was let go by LSU last week, apparently because of a personality conflict with Tigers coach Ed Orgeron. It was former LSU coach Les Miles who brought Craig to LSU from Auburn, where he coached receivers and played quarterback. Craig worked at Florida State from 2010-12, earning recognition as the โ12 ACC Recruiter of the Year. Money could be an issue in luring Craig, who made $565,000 annually at LSU, according to USA Today. That same database listed Dewsโ salary at $290,000.
MIKE GRANT
Grant just completed his first season as the receivers coach at Wyoming. Before that, he served as the receivers coach and recruiting coordinator for North Texas, whose campus is about an hour north of Dallas. Rodriguez has prioritized recruiting in California, as he should, but Arizona could use a boost in Texas as well. Grant also has coached at Iowa State, Southern Mississippi and Western Michigan.
MIGUEL REVELES
Reveles is Arizonaโs director of junior college relations. He also helps out with the Wildcatsโ running backs and special teams. Reveles has ties in Southern California, particularly the Inland Empire. He coached high school ball in SoCal and also spent a season at Azusa Pacific, a strong Division II program. Rodriguez has gone the in-house route before, promoting Vince Amey from analyst to defensive line coach last year.
