Hours after fiercely proclaiming his innocence against a news report that he discussed paying a recruit, Sean Miller received a thunderous standing ovation from a sold-out McKale Center crowd.
It had been a long day — and week — for Miller. The coach was implicated in a Feb. 23 ESPN report that says he discussed a $100,000 payment to recruit Deandre Ayton. Miller told reporters Thursday afternoon that he did nothing wrong and defended himself, the basketball program and its players.
And while a new poll shows that most Wildcats fans say they value the UA athletic department’s reputation, as Thursday night crowd’s reaction indicates, most will continue to support the team regardless of what’s being reported in the news.
The UA’s reputation is extremely important when it comes to athletics, said 51 percent of those who participated in poll by the Arizona Daily Star and Strongpoint Opinion Research. The poll included 1,071 responses, and shows that despite the negative headlines surrounding the basketball and football teams in previous weeks, most fans’ support of the sports programs does not falter.
When it comes to basketball, 44 percent of people who took the poll said that they felt no change in support for the team in the wake of the recent scandals.
The poll was conducted after the ESPN report was released and before Thursday, when Miller held his news conference and the Arizona Board of Regents and with UA president Robert C. Robbins offered their staunch support of the coach.
Of those who answered the survey, one percent were current students, five percent were employees and 34 percent were alumni. Sixty-one percent reported “none of the above.”
Level of fandom among those polled was split, with the largest block of responders — 28 percent — reporting that they care a lot about their teams and their performance. And 11 percent said they “bleed red and blue.”
When it comes to the football team, 43 percent of those polled reported no change in support following the Jan. 2 firing of coach Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez has been named in a $7.5 million sexual harassment claim by his former assistant. He denies any wrongdoing.
The results of the poll are not a surprise to George Dohrmann, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, former investigative reporter for Sports Illustrated, senior editor for The Athletic and author of “Superfans” — a book that explores the difference between ordinary sports fans and the unwavering superfan.
“The way that fan psychologists look at fans is how much of their identity is tied up in their favorite team,” Dohrmann said.
“With what’s called ‘highly identified sports fans,’ this is a huge part of who they are. So when something like this scandal hits ... part of their identity is under attack.”
When that happens, a fan has a few options, Dohrmann said. He or she can deny the allegations or make excuses. Another tactic fans can employ is “blasting” of the media, opposing fan bases or the person making the accusations, Dohrmann said.
“If they were to say, ‘I am so disappointed at what’s happened at UA, it’s lessened my perception of Arizona,’ that’s essentially ripping a part of their identity away,” Dohrmann said. “For some of these people, they can’t have their support waver, because it would mean giving up a huge part of who they are.”
College football and basketball scandals have been somewhat common in recent years, Dohrmann pointed out, and the affected teams still fill stadiums and arenas.
Arizona fans won’t dump their team, either.
“Not going to happen,” Dohrmann said.
