Were there signs of a rift between Arizona Wildcats AD Dave Heeke and Rich Rodriguez during the season?

When the Star learned Wednesday that Arizona Wildcats athletic director Dave Heeke had made up his mind to fire Rich Rodriguez before the completion of an investigation into his workplace behavior, I started to think back to some past interviews with Heeke.

I spoke with the first-year AD in his office on Oct. 31. At that time, Arizona had won four in a row. The Wildcats were 6-2. They were flying high.

Here’s the portion of the Q&A that pertained to the 2017 team and Rodriguez:

Question: When you came here, the talk was that Rich Rodriguez was on the hot seat. Now he’s a candidate for Pac-12 Coach of the Year. What’s your take on the football team’s rapid resurrection?

Heeke: “I’m really pleased with the effort of our kids and the team. What they’ve accomplished has been terrific. In my time around them in the spring, when I was first here, and then all of fall camp, I felt like there was a lot of positive energy. There was a desire to prove that what happened last year is not the way it’s going to be.

“It’s played out really well. It’s been really exciting. I’m looking forward to the future to see what we can do.”

Q: Have you had any discussions with RichRod about his future?

Heeke: “Just like everything, we wait till the season’s over, have a conversation then and talk about what the next steps are.”

Q: When you started this job, did you come in with an open mind about every coach and program?

Heeke: “That’s what I tried to do. Just watch and learn and hear about their goals and where they wanted to take their programs. Try to evaluate where it sits and look and see if we’re headed in the right direction. I had a completely clean slate with everyone.”

Two things stand out to me after re-reading those quotes: (1) that Heeke didn’t specifically give Rodriguez any credit for the Wildcats’ win streak; and (2) that he didn’t give Rodriguez a vote of confidence despite having the opportunity to do so via the second question.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Heeke met with the media again on Dec. 3, the day the bowl assignments were announced. Arizona would face Purdue in the Dec. 27 Foster Farms Bowl.

By then, Arizona had lost three of four games. I didn’t ask specifically about Rodriguez, but I did ask this:

Q: What are your overall thoughts on the season the football team had?

Heeke: “I think it was a terrific season. You always want to win them all. The opportunity to get to seven victories, to be in a high-quality bowl, to have great national respect for our program. Those are all very, very positive. We’ve got a young football team. I think they learned a lot coming through that. The future is definitely bright.”

Again, no mention of Rodriguez. No props given to the coach.

It’s widely known that Heeke was not happy after the regular-season-ending loss at Arizona State – not only with the on-field performance but Rodriguez’s behavior afterward. When I asked Heeke about the ASU game, he practically clenched his teeth.

Q: What was your first Territorial Cup like?

Heeke: “Left a little bad taste in my mouth. It’s a pretty big game. Don’t want to be on that side of it very often.”

There’s nothing particularly noteworthy in that response, except if you watch the video – about the 1:55 mark – Heeke’s reaction and body language are telling.

Maybe we all should have seen this coming.