Hansen's Sunday Notebook: 40 years of Arizona and ASU in the Pac-10/12

Plenty of highs, lows from UA and ASU

Forty years ago this month, Arizona and Arizona State were admitted to the Pac-10. How’d it go?

Basketball

Arizona has gone 492-222 in Pac-10/12 basketball with 15 conference championships and 32 NCAA Tournament appearances. ASU has gone 315-401 with eight NCAA appearances.

Football

Arizona has won 253 games and no outright conference championships. ASU has won 261 games and two conference titles.

Baseball

Arizona has won three NCAA championships. ASU has won one.

Golf

The most distinguished athletes from each school are golfers: Arizona’s Annika Sorenstam and ASU’s Phil Mickelson.

Heavyweights

The three most well-known sports figures from that 40-year period at each school: At Arizona, Steve Kerr, Rob Gronkowski and horse trainer Bob Baffert. From ASU, it’s James Harden, Barry Bonds and the late Pat Tillman.

Showtime

The best move made by Arizona’s athletic department in 40 years: hiring Lute Olson in 1983, changing the image of the school from low-key WAC refugee to that of a big-time winner. It triggered the UA’s growth into a top-10 athletics department from about 1990-2005.

The best move made by ASU’s athletic department, 1978-2018: It took decades. It might be the hiring of athletic director Ray Anderson away from the NFL. After 35 years of one clunker AD after another, the Sun Devils got it right by hiring Anderson to steward the department. He has rebuilt Sun Devil Stadium, hired Bobby Hurley to change the image of Sun Devil basketball, made himself available to the greater Phoenix media and put a face to a long-faceless athletic department lost in a sea of NBA, NFL and MLB news.

Try again

Worst move made by UA in 40 years: Hiring John Mackovic to succeed Dick Tomey as football coach in 2001. In the 20 years before Mackovic, Arizona won 143 games. In the 17 years since it has won 94.

Worst move made by ASU in 40 years: although it had to be done, football coach Frank Kush was dismissed in ASU’s second year in the Pac-10. He had been accused of mental and physical harassment of a punter. Kush was only 50, in the prime of his coaching career. The Sun Devils were a football school ranking above all but USC in the Pac-10. After Kush was forced to resign, the Sun Devils have been ordinary, at best, still searching for a flagship sport.

X's and O's

Best three coaches at Arizona in 40 years: Olson, softball coach Mike Candrea, with eight NCAA championships, and baseball coach Jerry Kindall, with three NCAA titles.

Best three coaches at ASU: women’s basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne, with 462 victories in 22 seasons; baseball coach Jim Brock, who died in 1994 when he was 57. Brock was the national coach of the year in 1981, 1984 and 1988. And baseball coach Pat Murphy, 1995-2009, who won four Pac-10 titles and played in four College World Series.

Highlight reel

Best moment in Arizona’s 40 years in the league: winning the 1997 NCAA basketball championship against Kentucky. Best moment in ASU’s 40 years: winning the 1987 Rose Bowl against Michigan.

Worst moments

Worst moment in UA’s 40 years: The death of women’s basketball player Shawntinice Polk in September 2005. Possibly the best player in school history, Polk died of a pulmonary embolism. In the previous decade, Arizona played in seven NCAA tournaments. Since: none, with no winning conference records.

Worst moment in ASU’s 40 years: basketball player Steven Smith was convicted of point shaving, leading to the firing of basketball coach Bill Frieder, who coached the Sun Devils to the 1995 Sweet 16, a threshold ASU has since been unable to match.

Present day

How do the UA and ASU athletic departments stand today? ASU finished No. 31 overall in the Learfield Directors’ Cup, which measures the total sports performance of each NCAA school. Arizona finished 51st.

Both have become middle-of-the-pack sports institutions, about what you might have predicted 40 years ago.

Ianello honored in her hometown

It’s difficult to imagine anyone in Tucson sports enjoying a more fulfilling spring and summer than UA women’s golf coach Laura Ianello.

After coaching Arizona to the national championship, she was awarded a five-year contract. It’s a credit to UA athletic director Dave Heeke to grasp Ianello’s value. She’s one of those coaches, a lot like UA baseball coach Jay Johnson, you don’t let get away. (Johnson also has a five-year contract).

No matter who coaches at USC, UCLA or Stanford — the league’s top 25 programs — Ianello stacks up favorably.

Multi-year contracts in women’s college golf are relatively new. USC lost 22-year coach Andrea Gaston to Texas A&M last month when the Aggies offered her a raise and a five-year contract.

Last week, Ianello returned to her hometown of Charleston, Illinois, where she was honored at the Charleston Country Club, where she grew up. Beyond that, UA golfers Haley Moore and Bianca Pagdanganan — key figures in the NCAA championship — both qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Aug. 9-12 in Tennessee.

All five of Ianello’s golfers are scheduled to return for the 2018-19 season.

Palo Verde grad Ben Kern breaks through

Palo Verde High grad Ben Kern, who was 2001 state golf champion, is now the head pro at the Georgetown Country Club outside of Austin, Texas. An accomplished golfer at Kansas State, and one of the leading golfers in Tucson history, Kern last week realized the most significant moment of his golf career: He qualified for next month’s PGA Championship in St. Louis, shooting rounds of 74-74-68-73 in Seaside, California, to get one of the 20 spots available to club pros for the fourth major on the PGA Tour.

At 43, Olympic runner and Tucsonan still getting it done

Tucsonan Bernard Lagat, a five-time Olympic distance runner, won the AJC Peachtree Road Race, one of the top events on America’s road racing circuit. Lagat, 43, earned $10,000, winning by 3 seconds in Atlanta on July 4. He focused on the Peachtree race, cutting back his racing schedule for three months to concentrate on the Peachtree event. He was about two minutes ahead of Lawi Lalang, a seven-time NCAA champion at Arizona, who now lives in Colorado Springs and trains at the Olympic Training Center.

Wildcat great Neethling returns to site of Olympic gold

The greatest swimmer in UA history, Ryk Neethling, a nine-time NCAA champion and 2004 Olympic gold medalist, is 40 now. He has returned to his native South Africa and operates several businesses. Last week, Neethling was on business in Athens, Greece, where he won the gold medal in 2004. He drove to the facility, put on his swimming gear and swam a few laps at the site of his greatest triumph. Pretty good day for sure.

Sabino staple Demarchi dead at 75

Sad to learn of the death of Sabino High’s first-ever basketball coach, Tim Demarchi. He died of Parkinson’s disease in late June. He was 75. Demarchi coached the Sabercats to 348 basketball victories, and then changed sports and coached Sabino to the 1989 state girls volleyball championship at 22-0. He had a terrific sense of humor and was a humble man. He completed his TUSD career helping David Gin coach Palo Verde’s boys basketball team.

Marana cowgirl earns place in Hall of Fame

Four-time world rodeo champion Sherry Cervi of Marana, who owns the WPRA record with 19 appearances in the National Finals Rodeo, has earned the highest honor in women’s pro rodeo: She was selected to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame and will be inducted Nov. 1 in Fort Worth, Texas. Cervi, who has reduced her appearances on the WPRA tour, still returns to her home turf to compete. She is No. 4 on the Turquoise Circuit in barrel racing this year; the Turquoise Circuit is the Southwest Region, essentially like a Class AAA baseball league.

Future Wildcat is national player of the year

Incoming UA softball pitcher-hitter Marissa Schuld was selected the National Player of the Year by FloSoftball last week. And why not? Schuld, of Phoenix Pinnacle High School, hit .574 with 16 home runs and went 11-1 with a 0.74 ERA as the state’s top pitcher. If she’s effective as a freshman pitcher, the Wildcats should be able to contend with UCLA and Oregon atop the Pac-12. The Ducks, meanwhile, lost valued coach Mike White to Texas last week. White coached Oregon to five Pac-12 titles in the last six years and was to the Pac-12 what Mike Candrea was from 1990-2010. The Ducks, who usually don’t balk at any amount of spending, did not meet Texas’ offer of almost $500,000 a year; White was paid $237,000 at Oregon. Big loss for the Ducks. White told reporters: “They (the Ducks) didn’t step up to the plate, so to speak. I don’t blame them. That could be resources-based.” Where’s Phil Knight’s checkbook when you need it?

Ex-Cat Mermuys could be the big beneficiary in LeBron move

LeBron James’ move to the Los Angeles Lakers will surely affect coach Luke Walton as much as anyone. The ripple effect will be fascinating. Walton’s lead assistant coach is Salpointe Catholic and UA grad Jesse Mermuys, who could profit as much as anyone by James’ presence. With such visibility, Mermuys seems set to become an NBA head coach at some point. He has paid his dues and then some, serving in coaching/operations roles at Arizona, Southern Utah and New Mexico State, before entering the NBA, where he has worked for Denver, Houston and Toronto; he was the Raptors’ G-League head coach. That’s a long, long way from the days Mermuys was basically a walk-on at Pima College and helped to wash the Aztecs basketball uniforms.

Quiroz adds pair of Arizona softball standouts to Pima staff

New Pima College softball coach Rebekah Quiroz had her first victory when she hired former Arizona outfielder Eva Watson and ex-Tucson High and Wildcat standout Jen Martinez to be part of her coaching staff. The Martinez-Quiroz ties go way back: they were part of the USA NJCAA 2003 national team, and, of course, part of the Candrea dynasty at Arizona.

Sumlin makes one-of-a-kind hire

One of the most compelling of Kevin Sumlin’s personnel moves in remaking the image and approachability of Arizona’s football program was to hire Christina DeRuyter as the UA’s on-campus recruiting coordinator. She is believed to be the first female to occupy such a role in the Pac-12. DeRuyter is a Texas A&M grad who worked as an intern for the NFL Players Association, Sports Illustrated’s Campus Rush program and Texas A&M’s 12th Man Production firm. In short, she is well qualified. DeRuyter has the right genes: her father, Tim DeRuyter, former head coach at Fresno State, was a longtime assistant at Air Force, Nevada and Texas A&M.

My two cents: Hillenbrand Aquatic Center getting much-needed facelift

Arizona is spending close to $15 million to renovate Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, which 15 years ago was one of the top college swimming facilities in America, and was reflected by the UA’s two national championships and dozens of Olympic swimmers.

But now the Wildcats train at Amphitheater High School during a rebuilding process that will require about six more months.

“We were more than living on borrowed time,” says UA senior associate athletic director Suzy Mason, who oversees the project. “This is a massive infrastructure problem. You couldn’t even put a pencil in some of the pipes; the corrosion was that bad. Redoing filtration systems isn’t sexy, but it was necessary. We’re going to have a great swimming program again.”

Second-year UA swimming coach Augie Busch is off to a promising start. He hired John Appleman as the school’s new diving coach; he is a longtime coach at the USA Olympic Center, working with junior national teams. Appleman didn’t take long to make an impact in Tucson. He has added Atlantic Coast Conference diving champion Greg Duncan, a sophomore, to the UA roster. A former USA Junior Team member, Duncan will join, among others, 2020 Olympics contender Delaney Schnell of Tucson, a sophomore, to restore UA swimming and diving to prominence.