It hasn’t taken long for Noel Mazzone to fit in at the University of Arizona.
Asked Monday how it felt to be back in this state — but on the other side of the rivalry — the former Arizona State offensive coordinator quipped: “What school you talking about? What? Where was that?”
Of course Mazzone knows all about the Territorial Cup. He spent two seasons at ASU, 2010 and ’11. He still has a home in the Phoenix area. He joked that he was going to spend 2018 as a pool boy if Kevin Sumlin hadn’t taken the UA job and brought him to Tucson as OC and quarterbacks coach.
Mazzone was, in fact, in the process of moving back to his old house when Sumlin called.
“I said ‘Yeah, I’m like 97 miles up the road,’” Mazzone said. “I came on down.”
Mazzone spent the past two seasons with Sumlin at Texas A&M after working the previous six years in the Pac-12 at ASU and UCLA. He has been coaching since 1980, when he served as a graduate assistant at New Mexico, his alma mater.
Mazzone spoke to the local media for the first time Monday after the conclusion of Arizona’s fifth spring practice. He discussed quarterback Khalil Tate, the Wildcats’ backup situation and other topics.
Many of his answers were laced with his trademark sarcasm. Here’s a portion of that conversation, which has been lightly edited for context and clarity.
You’ve got a quarterback in Khalil Tate who was a Heisman candidate for a bit last year. You get to work with him …
A: “So if he doesn’t win the Heisman, it’s my fault? That’s how that works, right?”
How has it been working with him?
A: “It’s been good. I recruited Khalil when I was at UCLA. He decided not to come because we had a kid named Josh Rosen on the team. So I kinda knew him but didn’t really know him.
“It’s been awesome to be around him. He’s still learning a lot. He’s still young as far as quarterback play goes. He’s a coachable guy, he’s got a lot of energy and he’s fun to be around.”
How is Khalil doing as far as reading defenses and figuring out where to be?
A: “It’s a process. I think he gets a little bit better every day. It’s true in all offenses: ‘Flanker drive’ is ‘flanker drive.’ I don’t care if you’re the Dallas Cowboys or us or Sahuaro High School. What changes is terminology. The hardest part for players is learning the new language. That’s the part we’re going through right now — them speaking the same language that I speak.”
How’s the evaluation process going so far?
A: “It’s been fun. It’s a really great group of kids. Fun to coach. Obviously, it’s been easier for me because of the carryover. There’s a lot of similarities to some of the stuff Rich (Rodriguez) and I do. In fact, I think I stole a bunch of his stuff at some point.”
At this stage, are you game-planning against the defense or are you just running your base stuff?
A: “We’re just trying to get lined up and point 11 guys in the right direction.”
From Philip Rivers to Brett Hundley, they must have had similar qualities that let you know they were going to be special. Does Khalil have any of those?
A: “They’re all different in their own ways. But there’s one common denominator in all the ones I’ve had a chance to coach, and luckily I’ve had a chance to coach some really good ones:
“They’ve all got a lot of passion for the game. And they play with a ton of energy. We’ll figure out the rest.”
You’ve been a lot of places. How has that helped you become who you’ve become?
A: “I’ve been lucky enough to be around a lot of really good football coaches. I’m so old now, I’ve kind of been around everybody once or twice.
“So yeah, we’re kinda like that — we plagiarize a few things and meld it into what you want to do offensively. But I’ve pretty much been doing what we do here for the last eight or nine years. Hopefully it works.”
You’ve probably been in situations where the backups don’t have a ton of experience. How do you prepare for the scenario where they might have to play?
A: “That’s an age-old problem, right? How many reps do you get the backup? Usually a backup doesn’t get his reps until you have to throw him in a game. This is the time of year you try to do that, and during camp.
“But once you start getting close to the end of camp and the start of the season, you’re probably going to put 75-80 percent of your reps into your starter. That’s the hard part of being a backup quarterback.”
You put a lot of emphasis on footwork and fundamentals. Is that how you start the process of coaching quarterbacks?
A: “I coach feet and eyes. If you’re feet ain’t right, it’s hard to be right. If your eyes ain’t right, you’re never going to be right. That’s mostly what we spend our time on.”
How has Rhett Rodriguez done so far?
A: “He’s doing a good job out there. He’s fun. He’s smart. He picks it up. I’m sure it’s genetic. He knows football.”
K’Hari Lane was pretty raw when he came in last year. What have you seen out of him?
A: “I would say he’s … medium rare right now. Not quite raw, but medium rare.”
What’s the goal at the end of the day? Well done?
A: “If we can get a little pink in the middle, medium … we’ll be good.”
