The Star columnist discusses what could happen to the Arizona Wildcats basketball program after receiving the NCAA's Notice of Allegations, celebrities golfing in Tucson and RichRod's next chapter, among other headlines in the Southern Arizona sports scene.
Midway through Sean Miller’s season-opening Zoom conference last week, he said “pressure is a privilege.”
He qualified it by saying that “constantly looking in the rafters” at McKale Center reminded him of the platform — 25 years of excellence — he inherited in 2009.
A day later, the UA confirmed it received the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations. In the perspective of the school’s treasured basketball history, that’s pressure times 10. It is pressure without any privilege.
What matters now isn’t the 2020-21 season, which in many aspects will be a throwaway year in college basketball — especially at Arizona, which “might be the least experienced team I’ve ever coached,” Miller said.
What matters now is how the UA responds to the Notice of Allegations.
What Arizona’s basketball program will be like five years from now will be determined in the near future as much as by the reaction/strategy from UA President Robert C. Robbins as from anything else.
If the school and its attorneys elect to fight the allegations and pursue victory on the NCAA’s court, it could take a year to 18 months. Miller’s contract will have expired. The UA basketball program could turn to ashes.
Of the available options, Arizona could self-impose penalties in attempt to soften the NCAA’s blow. It could eliminate recruiting visits, reduce its roster by two or three players and opt out of the 2021 or 2022 NCAA Tournament — both of which might be out of the Wildcats’ reach anyway.
It could simply let Miller’s contract expire, avoiding a messy buyout and more seven-figure attorneys fees.
Or it could dig in and try to save the coach, the program and its reputation, one that has been in decline since the FBI investigation into college basketball began three years ago.
Remember this: There are three degrees of Level 1 violations connected to NCAA notices of allegations: (1) aggravated; (2) standard and (3) mitigated. If you resist the NCAA’s allegations and it doesn’t work out, you’re likely to get the most serious penalties.
The UA’s strategy will likely remain one of secrecy. That attorney-driven plan makes the most sense, even though it doesn’t calm the fears of diehard fans who probably hoped the school would say “we are going to fight this and prove our innocence.”
An alternative would be to admit there are Level 1 charges; that would set off a panic, both in recruiting and in the minds of ever-faithful Wildcats fans standing on the deck of what could be a sinking ship.
And if your option is to blame the FBI or the NCAA for this long-delayed situation, remember this: The most serious NCAA penalties in UA history arrived in the spring of 1983, a year Arizona’s football team rose to No. 3 in the AP poll. What might’ve been a Rose Bowl season under coach Larry Smith was scuttled by an NCAA investigation into all manner of UA football irregularities — slush funds, free airline travel and lodging, payment for bogus offseason jobs — that began in 1977.
There are few speedy trials in college sports. But at least now Arizona’s basketball program will finally get its day in court.
Mickelson revives memories of Tucson’s golf history
When Phil Mickelson helped to arrange a made-for-TV “Champions For Charity” event scheduled Nov. 27 at the Stone Canyon Club, it was a trip back to the glory days of Tucson golf.
Mickelson, who is the primary owner of the Stone Canyon Club located in the Tortolita mountains, will play with Steph Curry, Charles Barkley and Peyton Manning the day after Thanksgiving on TNT.
When Tucson emerged as a hot spot for golf in the 1980s — opening TPC Starr Pass and elite-level resort courses at the Jack Nicklaus-inspired La Paloma and the impressive Ventana Canyon — it staged the made-for-TV “Merrill Lynch Shootout” at Ventana Canyon in the fall of 1987 and 1988. The 10-man fields for those events included the game’s leading names: Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw, Payne Stewart, Fuzzy Zoeller, Ray Floyd and Lanny Wadkins, among others.
Zoeller won the $90,000 first prize in 1987 — one player was eliminated per hole — and did a dance on the green. “Even if I was in a wheelchair, I’d be here,” he said.
Now maybe Barkley will dance at Stone Canyon next month.
Tubelis brothers lead UA roster of players needing an introduction
Lithuanian big man Azuolas Tubelis is rated by many as the best European player to pick an American college this year.
While waiting to be admitted to the UA’s football practice last week, I noticed freshmen basketball players Tautvilas Tubelis and his twin brother, Azoulas Tubelis, leaving McKale Center in their basketball gear. I had to ask for help from the UA media relations staff to identify the Tubelis brothers. There’s going to be a lot of that going around this year as the UA men’s basketball program has become “Euro-Zona.” For the first time ever, I can immediately identify and name more UA women’s basketball players — Aari McDonald, Sam Thomas, Lauren Ware, Cate Reese, Sevval Gul, Helena Pueyo, Semaj Smith, Shaina Pellington — than those on the men’s team. How times have changed.
TUSD OKs high school football for the fall
Sahuaro Cougars seniors watch the coin during the coin flip before No.1 Sahuaro Cougars's 28-21 loss to No. 9 Gila Ridge Hawks at Sahuaro High School, 545 N. Camino Seco in Tucson, Ariz., on November 15th, 2019.
TUSD’s return to high school football, while risky, puts most of the responsibility on parents of the players. All of the players will be put in remote-learning programs. All parents must first sign waivers taking responsibility for their child’s health. TUSD encouraged its players and coaches to take frequent COVID-19 testing, and supplied them with a list of free testing sites. Athletic directors at Sahuaro, Sabino, Palo Verde, Catalina, Cholla, Pueblo, Santa Rita, Rincon/University and Tucson High are charged with staging a Zoom-type orientation with parents/players to reinforce safety protocols. The regular season is to run from Nov. 6-Dec. 11, with a maximum of seven games. A plan for a postseason city championship is in the works.
Relive Sunnyside's football state title game this week
Sunnyside Offensive Lineman Aaron Esquivel holds the championship trophy during the winning celebration after the game against the Greenway Demons at Sun Devil Stadium on December 8 2001.
Recommended viewing: Fox Sports Arizona will televise the 2001 Sunnyside High School state championship football game Thursday at 7 p.m. That was the year coach Richard Sanchez’s Blue Devils, which had built from the ground level a few years earlier, went 13-1 and beat Phoenix Greenway 28-6 for a historic state title. It mended wounds from the 2000 state title game in which the 13-0 Blue Devils lost to 13-0 Scottsdale Chaparral.
Legendary Chip Hale hits the coaching market
Chip Hale, former Wildcat player and current Washington Nationals bench coach, looks on.
One of the cornerstone baseball players in UA history, 1980s infielder Chip Hale, won’t return to his role as third base coach of the Washington Nationals. A year after helping Washington win the World Series, Hale and manager Dave Martinez agreed to part ways. “That’s the way it goes,” Hale told the Washington Post. “The more years you spend doing this, you understand that is just part of the business.” Hale, who spends the offseasons in Tucson, managed the Tucson Sidewinders to a franchise-best PCL championship in 2006 and thereafter has coached for the Diamondbacks, A’s, Mets and Nationals, and also was the D-backs’ manager in 2015 and 2016. Hale is 55; he’ll be in high demand on the winter job market. Also looking for a job is Tucson High grad Craig Bjornson, who was released by the Boston Red Sox this month. Bjornson, who was the Houston Astros bullpen coach during the 2017 World Series championship season, had worked for the Red Sox for three years.
Former UA equipment man George Birger dies at 91
Sad news: George Birger, the UA’s athletic equipment manager from 1988-98, a contemporary of Lute Olson and Dick Tomey, died earlier this month. He was 91. Birger was an engaging, gentle soul who succeeded one of the leading figures in UA sports history, Ed Thomas, who operated the school’s sports equipment system for a quarter-century and was one of the first Black men given an administrative role in UA history. After leaving the UA, Birger worked for Tucson’s Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as a fundraiser.
Ex-Arizona AD Greg Byrne discusses COVID-19 experience
Former Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne, now with Alabama, talks and shakes hands with Wildcat fans during half time of game at McKale Center, Saturday, December 9, 2017, Tucson, Ariz.
In an interview with Paul Finebaum on ESPN, former Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne last week spoke candidly about being sidelined with the coronavirus. It was a sobering reminder how dangerous COVID-19 can be. Byrne, 48, said: “The first couple days I had a pretty constant fever. After a few days, the chills and the body aches went away and after 10 days I shouldn’t be contagious anymore. But this has gone on longer than anything I’ve dealt with before, far more serious than the flu.” Byrne chose not to travel with Alabama’s football team to Saturday’s game at Tennessee.
Ex-Wildcat George Cunningham finishes another pro season
Arizona golfer George Cunningham. Photo by Stan Liu / courtesy of Arizona Athletics
Tucsonan George Cunningham is the leading men’s golfer from the UA in the last decade, although Wildcat junior Trevor Werbylo may soon surpass him. Cunningham just finished his second year on the PGA Tour’s Korn Ferry Tour by finishing sixth in the year’s final event, at 19 under par. It was a struggle for Cunningham in 2020; seven tournaments were canceled and he missed 14 consecutive cuts — yes, 14 — until his sixth-place finish in the recent Orange County National Championship. Cunningham earned $80,255 this season.
Former UA walk-on finds success in coaching world
When the Lakers won the 2020 NBA Finals recently, assistant coach Quinton Crawford was prominently pictured celebrating with LeBron James and the other high-brow Lakers players. Crawford quietly enrolled at the UA in 2012, a transfer from Middlesex Community College in New Jersey. Crawford was granted a walk-on role on Sean Miller’s fourth Arizona team and played in nine games. Talk about good contacts: Crawford’s father was the personal security guard for Shaquille O’Neal at the time; Shaq is Quintin’s godfather.
After graduating from Arizona, Crawford was hired as a video coordinator at Pepperdine, worked Miller’s summer camp and then got his foot in the NBA door by working on the video crews for Sacramento, Charlotte and Orlando before hitting it big on Frank Vogel’s coaching staff in Los Angeles. Crawford’s career statistics at Arizona? He did not score in 15 total minutes.
My two cents: RichRod returns to Tucson, but says he hopes to be a head coach somewhere again
Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez greets wide receiver Shun Brown after his catch set up a Wildcats touchdown against UCLA during their 2017 game at Arizona Stadium. Rodriguez will be introduced as the next head coach at Jacksonville State in Alabama on Tuesday, according to a report from the Anniston (Ala.) Star.
Rich Rodriguez, who is not coaching this season while being paid about $1 million from a buyout as the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss, has moved back to Tucson.
In the “Hard Edge Football Podcast,” which he co-hosts with his daughter Raquel, RichRod said he hopes to be a head coach again. “I think I’m a whole lot smarter,” he said. “If I get another shot, I’ve got a great plan, I’ve got a great staff in place.”
Even though RichRod was fired by Arizona and Michigan, college football is a recycling business. It’s not inconceivable that a mid-level school from the MAC or Sun Belt Conference will hire the 57-year-old.
As for his days at Arizona, RichRod said: “I still get upset about how it ended. There’s not a better place to live than Tucson, but it’s not in a great location to recruit.”
RichRod’s old-school, in-your-face personality isn’t for everybody; it works less and less in 2020 than it did in 2000. And his fast-paced offense is no longer a novelty or difficult for defensive coaches to combat.
Of the 29 FBS head coaches hired in 2012, including RichRod, not a single one is still coaching at the school that hired them: 19 were fired, seven upgraded to better jobs and three either retired or resigned.
RichRod is the seventh (of eight) former UA football coaches who ultimately moved back to Tucson after leaving the UA, joining Ed Doherty, Jim LaRue, Bob Weber, Jim Young, Larry Smith and Dick Tomey.
