Jim Monaco: 'I don't think community cares' enough about Pima football program to save it

Pima College’s football program has an expiration date. But the Aztecs aren’t done — yet.

“You don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get. God knows and he ain’t telling,” coach Jim Monaco said.

In Part 2 of the Star’s Q&A with Monaco, the coach talks about his expectations for Pima’s final football season, why junior college athletics are important and what message he will send to his players as the season opens:

How have players responded to the news?

A: “We haven’t lost a kid because of this yet. It’s a blessing. I’ve been blessed. These kids are coming and they’re going to fight and they’re going to play hard and they’re going to play harder than they ever have because it may be the last chance they’ll ever have.”

Will freshmen have more of a chance to play this year to try to get those reels to move on and find another place to play?

A: “In all honesty, we’re going out to win games. Those freshmen have every opportunity to go out and win a job. Where they’re at a disadvantage, a lot of these kids, no matter how blunt I am with them, believe this is the 13th grade. … The one thing we are changing is, the first week is going to be pretty much a hell week. It’s going to be a lot of conditioning. It’s going to be a lot of learning because we have to make sure Week 1, everybody we believe can play is able to play. And that means physically, mentally. We have a great team coming back. Is it going to be a free-for-all, like Little League — let’s get everybody to play? No. We’re going to win every game we can. And whoever can help us win those games is going to be on the field.”

There’s been talk about winning it all this year and having that great last season to give people something to talk about and maybe inspire someone to save this program. What are the chances that it could happen this year?

A: “Amen. You said it better than I could have. That’s exactly what our attitude is. We have to go out and make this community that upset. It’s a shame, but that is the business. In those meetings I said, ‘Hey, fire me. If you don’t think I’m doing a good job, fire me; don’t kill the program.’ Because you have to take responsibility. But in this day and age, in our world, not having half your team graduate and move on to Division I schools isn’t enough press. So, if it means we have to win it out, I’ll be honest with you — I don’t believe that will save the program. That’s my honest opinion. But that’s our only chance.”

Has it really set into these kids, especially the incoming freshmen, that they have to step it up more than they already had to?

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A: “We’ve conveyed that. When we were told this, that week before the meeting, we used that to contact our kids and we told them. Some kids and parents were upset. I asked this question before signing day and we were told we’re fine, everything is a go. Because I didn’t want to sign a bunch of kids if we were going to do that. ... And we probably had one of the best signing classes we’ve had here in Pima. But we’ve conveyed that to them and they have to understand. And that’ll probably be a deciding factor on really who is on the field because they have to understand that even though we’re going to place all these kids, when these kids are ready to leave — whether it’s big time or another (junior college) — it’s the fact that if you want to put your stamp on something amazing. Because there isn’t a tomorrow. There’s not another day. ... There is no reset button. Nobody’s sitting in the sidelines waiting to give this program money.”

Can the program be saved?

A: “I honestly don’t believe this community cares enough about this program to do that. You know, they did (once). I was fortunate enough for coach Jeff Scurran to bring me on here when they started. And at that time, it was an exciting time and people pledged money. I don’t think our community cares enough about this that somebody’s really going to do that. And that’s the message we’re going to give these kids. When it starts, all you’re going to have is what’s here. All you’re going to have is what’s on the field — your coaches, your brothers. That’s all you’re going to have. So, when you fight, when you play, you can’t let your brothers down, you can’t let your coaches down, you can’t let your team down, you can’t let yourself down. And they’re going to have to go on the field and play like that every single day. And in our conference — which is still one of the toughest in the country — that’s why you have the field of this many kids.”

Could football come back down the road?

A: “I think it will never make a comeback if they kill it. I don’t believe it will be very easy to do that. See, when we started this program, Coach (Jeff) Scurran was able to get guys in here for 18 months before we ever played a game. You can kind of recruit them, you didn’t have to start the clock. We kind of got them in shape and ready to go. But if you remember, after that staff left and the program was very bad for a while, when Coach (Pat) Nugent got here — a guy that had amazing high school records and done amazing things — had a very hard time recruiting here because the program was bad. ... When you’re looking at a community college as a start-up, why would they start it up again? I kept telling them, wait and see before you pull the program because they’re still doing stuff up there (in Maricopa). Even if Maricopa never, ever gets back to football, we didn’t have to cut it right now. If they cut it, how do you ever start it up again? You’re still missing guys in-state, so where are the games going to be? That’s still their big issue. ... They kept saying it was too expensive, but let me raise the money. I’ll raise the travel money. That was never taken under advisement. They want to do other things. ... This is it. It’ll never come back here again. It’s a shame because even Texas — and I lived in Texas for two years — and even Texas, which is football capital of the world, only has seven JCs now. And that’s a huge state.”

What do you think football means to the school?

A: “Our kids have gone to the greatest programs in the nation from this school. There’s no second chance; you can go anywhere you want from this place and it’s never out there. The best billboards we had were a few years ago, when they wrote the article about the best day in Pima College sports — when we went to the championship game, soccer was in the nationals and track did great. It didn’t even have football on it, but it said: ‘Pima Aztecs — Nationally-ranked athletics.’ We had more press and more love from those signs than anything. ... My kids, they’ve all graduated, they’ve gone on to play Division I football, but every one of them has taken a class or graduated from Pima College. And my daughter, who just graduated from our dental hygiene program at 30, has a Master’s degree in epidemiology, but she could do better and take care of her family by becoming a hygienist, so she just graduated from the hygiene program. … But that’s what I’m getting at — who knows all of this? Where is all of this put out? I don’t think we’ve marketed our college the way we need to. We have no fundraising. … We have nothing to go out there and say ‘listen, we need your help.’ And I’m sorry, athletics is incredibly important. It was said in that meeting and it’s the truth, centers of excellence, in order for any athlete at Pima College to play their sport — and that’s the only reason they’re here — they have to go to school. So, you want to talk about excellence? That’s the carrot. That football program, that baseball program, that basketball program is the carrot you hang in front of that young person to say ‘Get your education.’”

What will everybody’s mentality be heading into the fall?

A: “I’m going to go out and I’m going to do whatever I can do to help my boys and to win this conference and to do everything I can do so that, when we walk out the door, we’re going to walk out with our heads high anyway because we’ve won with a class program. And I have the greatest staff. My coaches are incredible. I told them, the dumbest award you can win is Coach of the Year. And when I got that in 2015, I told (Pima’s sports information director), ‘What a stupid award.’ Because there is no great coach. There’s great teams, there’s great kids, there’s great coaches. You can’t do this alone and any moron who thinks they can, is exactly that — a moron. And that’s quotable, because there’s no head coach in this country that does it by themselves. You’ve got to have an amazing staff and you’ve got to have those boys that believe in you, that go out there and play hurt, play beat up — just go play for the team, for the family. And that’s what we preach here. No matter what happens this season, I’m going to walk out of here sad, but there’s nothing more I could have done. So, if I go down in history as the worst head coach here at Pima, I’ve done everything I could and I can’t do anything more. And I think that’s how you should live life. You don’t have regrets. You do the best you could, but that doesn’t mean everybody always succeeds. We’re going to go out there and break our backs to succeed.”