Coaching alma mater Arizona 'feels a little surreal' for UA legend Bobby Wade

Temptations early in life nearly veered Bobby Wade down the wrong path.

A path that could’ve changed his life — or ended it — instead of coaching wide receivers at Arizona, his alma mater, and mentoring UA star Tetairoa McMillan, who could go down as the most productive pass-catcher to ever play in Tucson.

Wade, statistically one of the best receivers in UA football history, enters his first season as the Wildcats’ wide receivers coach on head coach Brent Brennan’s staff. The path to becoming a position coach at a power conference program for Wade is a compelling story, which started in Phoenix.

‘He’s a true survivor’

With his parents divorced, Wade grew up in a split household in Phoenix, but had a tight-knit relationship with his older siblings in brother James and sisters LaShonda and Roshawn; Bobby was the baby of the Wade brood.

“My childhood was rough, but it was good because I had my brother and sisters and we got through it,” Wade said.

Growing up in the Maryvale area in west Phoenix, Wade lived in an apartment and had a low-income lifestyle.

“We had an interesting childhood. When you look back on it, I realize, ‘Man, it was pretty rough.’ But we didn’t pay attention to it and worry about the living arrangements and if you’re eating every day. ... I got a lot of butt-whoopings from my parents and siblings, but it toughened me up,” Wade said. “I got a close family and the biggest decision I chose Arizona is so they were close enough to drive and watch me play. They’re a huge inspiration for me and how I’m handling myself. They’re often around and very supportive.”

When Wade started playing high school football, he transferred from Maryvale to newly-built Desert Vista in Ahwatukee and led the Thunder to its first-ever Class 5A state championship while setting the Arizona state record for touchdowns in a season (41).

“One of the best decisions I could’ve made,” Wade said. “Not sure how it happened, but it was a godsend to get me out of that neighborhood.”

The neighborhood he grew up in was littered with “bad influences and low income.”

Nearly 30 years ago, when Wade was a middle schooler, James was in a melee with someone over a gang-related dispute. The older Wade was shot in the neck, which paralyzed him from the waist down. James also has “very limited mobility in his hands,” making him quadriplegic.

“We’ve been dealing with that trauma for a long time,” Bobby Wade said. “All sorts of things happened in that neighborhood, from drugs, gangs, crime. ... I was challenged the same way.”

Added Wade: “When that happened to him, I did a 180 and made (me) realize that it’s not something I want to do. It affected him, too, because he didn’t want me to go down that path and it really helped me. He lived vicariously through me. It was a big part of my motivation when I played. That’s what I talk about with the boys: ‘It could be worse. You’re complaining about running and that you’re tired, but there are people who can’t even walk or use the bathroom by themselves.’ It was a constant reminder that if someone could, they would.”

While Wade played for the Wildcats, James went to every home game in Tucson to watch his little brother play, then went back to school to get a GED. He eventually got a degree from Arizona State and now works for Phoenix Job Corps, helping people find employment in the Valley.

“He’s a true survivor,” said Wade.

Tomey’s influence

Wade generated interest from colleges after his junior season at Desert Vista, but narrowed his choices down Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Arizona State — “and no Cali schools,” he said, because he didn’t want to be around other members of his family during his college days.

Former Arizona head coach Dick Tomey, wide receivers coach Rob Ianello and offensive line coach Charlie Dickey visited Wade at his Phoenix apartment. That visit sold Wade on playing at Arizona, which came off a 12-1 season and a win over Nebraska in the 1998 Holiday Bowl.

“(Tomey) comes into the house, and instead of sitting on the couch, he pulls the small coffee table out the way, sits on the floor, has boots with the jeans on, crosses his legs, looking like those senior prom pictures where they’re leaning out, and he’s like, ‘Let’s just talk.’ It was such a strange thing to do, but as you got to know Coach Tomey, that’s what it was about,” Wade said. “For him, it was more about the people than anything else. So, for him to be able to relate to me and my situation and then get my dad on the same page, it really felt comfortable.

“I felt like what he was telling us was the truth,” Waid said. “How I recruit is the same way. Just honest and transparent and I’m not making any promises. I can only promise you how I can develop you, what I can do for you and what this university can do for you.”

Wade said Tomey “is the biggest reason why I chose to play for Arizona football.”

“You can feel the realness about him. Nothing he said was fake or he didn’t say anything to just say it. ... You could tell by the way he moved and the way he acted. I love to watch people and see how they move and handle others, and he got the same reaction from everybody else. He was never putting on a show for me or anybody else. This is who this man is,” Wade said. “He loves football, he loves coaching and developing young men. I’ve been at four other places, and not that they were bad coaches, but the relationship with Tomey felt like someone was actually listening and cares about me as a person versus just a football player.”

As Tomey always said, football isn’t complicated, people are.

“He let you know that you’re going to make mistakes,” Wade said of Tomey. “The group of guys we had in the building at the time were not the most perfect kids, but the way he handled everyone individually with their actions and holding everybody accountable was powerful.”

In Wade’s four-year career with the Wildcats, he recorded 230 catches for 3,351 yards and 23 touchdowns. Besides Arizona’s record-holder for career receiving yards, Wade also owns the single-season receptions record (93). He’s third in single-season receiving yards (1,389) behind Dennis Northcutt and McMillan (1,402), who passed Wade during Arizona’s win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. Wade was inducted into the Arizona Stadium Ring of Honor in 2015.

Wade revealed his game-winning touchdown against Washington State in 1999 actually hit the ground, but he was taught by Ianello to “show the football right away, because it shows that you caught it.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“There’s no instant replay, so show the ball to the refs because they don’t know,” Wade said. “This ball fell through my arms and the tip of it hit the turf, but I trapped it, flashed the ball so fast, it was a touchdown and we won the game.”

The following season, Brennan, who also played receiver at UCLA, helped coach Wade for one season.

“Brent was really good at the demonstration part and was really good with the player-coach relationship,” he said. “He was very, very relatable. ... He could run these routes, he could talk about separation and leverage. It was great to have him in the room.”

Not every memory at Arizona was a positive one.

‘It’s more about Arizona football as a brand’

After Tomey was fired in 2000, Wade starred at Arizona under head coach John Mackovic, albeit the Wildcats went 9-14 in Wade’s final two seasons.

Losing Tomey was a hard pill to swallow for Wade and even though he didn’t play during the transfer portal era, he was given the option leave Arizona and play college football somewhere else. But he stayed and finished what he started, a similar plan for others including McMillan and star quarterback Noah Fifita, among others.

“My introduction to the team was talking about that transition and how that was for me and how it’s relatable to what they’re going,” Wade said. “I wore the same shield and sat in those same seats, and it’s tough. A lot of these kids, the reason why they are here is it’s more about Arizona football as a whole and as a brand versus individual coaches, and I think you can really see that with the guys who are staying here.

“It’s more about Arizona football as a brand, which is tough because a lot of these guys had ties to coaches and kids rely on the relationship piece to recruiting. I just pour into them and let them there’s guys in this room that understand. There’s coaches that have been through it and I promise you that you will get through it. It’s not the end of the world, but it does become more about the why and why you chose this place to begin with. Our team chose to stick together. The core nucleus of guys that stuck together found out that was the better play.”

Wade was drafted in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, where he was primarily used as a punt returner. Wade also held stints with the Titans, Vikings, Chiefs and Redskins. Wade finished his NFL career with 244 receptions for 2,858 yards and nine touchdowns; as a returner, he had 1,854 yards and one touchdown.

After his playing career, Wade entered the coaching realm in Phoenix and coached at Cesar Chavez High School before becoming a senior offensive analyst and assistant receivers coach with the Arizona State Sun Devils from 2021-23.

T-Mac’s legacy

During the Territorial Cup game between Arizona and ASU, McMillan carved up the Sun Devils defense for 11 catches for 266 yards and a touchdown, all while Wade coached the Sun Devils, in the 36-point win in Tempe.

“Those are tough feelings,” Wade said. “It was tough, because I’m on one team and we’re getting slaughtered, but then I’m watching this kid hold down the brand. He’s playing hard, lighting it up, breaking records. That’s always good to see and I’ll always encourage that. It was tough to be on the other sideline because you want to be loyal and present, but you’re also secretly proud of him and happy for the guy.”

McMillan, a preseason Biletnikoff Award favorite and potential first-round pick for the 2025 NFL Draft, enters the ’24 season 1,248 yards shy of Wade’s all-time receiving yards record by an Arizona receiver and is on pace to break his record late in the regular season.

“That’s one of the biggest parts of this mission for me and he knows that. Truth is, I know I can help him get there and he knows that as well,” Wade said. “As our relationship grows and we’re building together, it’s all about trust.”

Dino Babers lauded McMillan for his “God-given ability,” but said, “If he improves on those little things, that’s what’s going to separate him.”

“We understand that we only got him for (this season),” Arizona’s offensive coordinator said. “We understand that. My thing is: we’re going to use him. I know how to use people, and he wants to be used and we want to use him.”

Wade’s biggest challenge for McMillan is “making sure he stays present.”

“What’s happening right now is the most important thing to him. He’s not worried about what’s to come, because those are only predictions,” Wade said. “When people look ahead, they lose focus on what actually got them there. We’re going to talk about the discipline, the technique, and I’m going to challenge him to being a better leader on the field, vocally.”

Under Wade’s watch, McMillan will lead a group that has returning starter Montana Lemonious-Craig, along with rising returners in redshirt sophomores Kevin Green Jr., AJ Jones and sophomore Malachi Riley.

“It’s a great group to have,” Wade said. “There’s definitely some room for improvement, but the shape it’s in now, it allows me to pick up and take them to the next level instead of having to start from the beginning. That’s a tribute to the prior coaching staff. I thought they did a great job and left it in good shape, but there’s definitely room for improvement.”

Wade is eager to tackle his new challenge in coaching Arizona’s receivers, an opportunity that “feels a little surreal honestly.”

“There’s also something special about remaining in the state of Arizona, where I played high school football and grew up in Phoenix,” Wade said.

“It’s really nice to be able to continue my career at a place where my college football career started.”