The Star's longtime columinist writes about who should be the Arizona Wildcats' next baseball coach, a new role for former Sabino standout Tod Brown and Deandre Ayton's emergence in the NBA Playoffs.
Chip Hale would be perfect choice as Wildcats' next coach
In the space of two days earlier this month, Rice and Arizona State hired men with no (or almost no) coaching experience to be their baseball coaches.
The Sun Devils hired their 1999 Pac-10 Player of the YearΒ Willie Bloomquist, a 14-year major-leaguer, off the administrative staff of the Arizona Diamondbacks. βI am a Sun Devil man,ββ Bloomquist said in a press conference.
Rice hired its 1992-95 All-AmericanΒ Jose Cruz Jr., a former ESPN and MLB Networks analyst, to coach the Owls. Why mention Rice? The Owls have had a superior baseball program to Arizona the last 25 years, playing in seven College World Series and winning the 2003 national title.
Cruz was serving his first year as a coach at any level, as the Detroit Tigers assistant hitting coach. He was on the same staff as Tigers third base coach Chip Hale, who would like to be the next head coach at his alma mater, Arizona.
AfterΒ Jay JohnsonΒ made a quick exit last week, more than doubling his $540,000 base salary to become LSUβs baseball coach β inappropriately interviewing for the job before the Wildcats played in the CWS, according to The Advocate newspaper of Baton Rouge β UA athletic directorΒ Dave HeekeΒ began his sixth coaching search of the 2020-21 school year.
This type of transition and unsettling movement is unprecedented, both at UA and in the Pac-12. Until this academic year, Arizona had not lost more than two head coaches in the same academic year since the 1971-72 season, when baseball coachΒ Frank SancetΒ retired, tennis coachΒ Dave SnyderΒ accepted a similar job with the Texas Longhorns, and basketball coachΒ Bruce LarsonΒ was fired.
No Pac-12 school has lost its basketball, baseball and football coaches in the same school year since the league expanded to 10 in 1978. Yet Arizona also lost its cross country, softball and soccer coaches.
Heeke, who tried to keep Johnson by offering him a deal that wouldβve made him the Pac-12βs highest paid baseball coach, at close to $1 million annually with a lucrative deferred compensation package, immediately left town to find a baseball coach.
This is Heekeβs search. Heβs a baseball man, a former Albion College catcher whose sons played baseball at Central Michigan. He cannot waste time because the core of Arizonaβs roster has immediate access to the NCAAβs readily available Transfer Portal. Those Wildcats with remaining eligibility have surely learned how easily they can accompany Johnson to LSU, or, if the expected departure of pitching coachΒ Nate YeskieΒ to Texas A&M is realized, to play for the Aggies.
Thereβs almost no way to stop the exodus or to expect Heekeβs choice to inherit much more than a rebuilding situation.
Tigers third-base coach Chip Hale, left, had an unforgettable playing career at UA and would bring years of MLB coaching experience.
I doubtΒ Chip HaleΒ is Heekeβs No. 1 target because Heeke was not in Tucson when Hale put together an unprecedented Wildcat baseball career in which he became (and remains) No. 1 in school history in career hits, runs, total bases and games played.
Heeke surely doesnβt know that in 1987, as a double major in finance and real estate, Hale was named the Pac-10's Tom Hansen Medal Winner, as the UAβs top male scholar-athlete of the 1986-87 season, an award won by some of the greatest names in Wildcat history:Β Chuck Cecil,Β John Fina,Β Martin Keino,Β Joe Salaveβa,Β Ryk Neethling,Β Lawi Lalang,Β George DiCarlo,Β Channing FryeΒ andΒ Abdi Abdirahman.
The son of a school administrator from the Bay Area, Hale was such a superior student that he received a congressional appointment to enroll at the Naval Academy in 1983. He chose to play baseball at Arizona instead.
If new Sun Devil coach Willie Bloomberg says βI am a Sun Devil man,ββ Chip Hale can say βIβm a Wildcat man,ββ with twice the authority. He helped Arizona win the 1986 national championship, coached the Tucson Sidewinders to the 2006 PCL championship with the top winning percentage in Tucson minor league baseball history, married Sabino High gradΒ Judy SchlossbergΒ and has lived in Tucson for almost 40 years.
Hale played forΒ Jerry KindallΒ and is endorsed to be Arizona's next baseball coach by a roll call of many of the top names in UA baseball history:Β Terry Francona,Β Jerry Stitt,Β Eddie Leon,Β Nyal Leslie,Β Steve Strong,Β Jim Wing, among others.
Hale won a World Series as the bench coach of the 2019 Washington Nationals. He was the manager of the Diamondbacks. He was the manager of the Class A Missoula Osprey and Class AA El Paso Diablos. His network of pro baseball scouts and coaches would be a huge asset in recruiting.
Recruiting? Can you imagine Chip Haleβs first conversation with UA freshman All-AmericanΒ Jacob Berry, who must surely be considering a transfer to LSU? Hale has developed professional ballplayers for 25 years.
Isnβt that what the college prospects are looking for? An MLB training grounds? Thatβs what Hale and his staff would provide.
Oregon State has been the top baseball program in the Pac-12 for almost 20 years. Two years ago, the three-time CWS champion Beavers hired their former star catcherΒ Mitch CanhamΒ to be the Beaversβ head coach.
Canham, a career minor-league coach, is Chip Hale with much less experience.
Canham had never recruited a soul before OSU hired him. He soon hired Grand Canyon University pitching coachΒ Rich DormanΒ to be OSUβs pitching coach, local junior-college head coachΒ Ryan GipsonΒ to be a recruiter/coach and former Beaver and MLB infielderΒ Darwin BarneyΒ to be his lead assistant. Barney had never coached a day in college baseball.
Given the instability of college sports rosters as driven by the Transfer Portal, there doesnβt seem to be a quick fix to the issues created by Johnsonβs exit to LSU. Hale would give Arizona a strong 10-year run and infuse the program with Wildcat blood and support. He wouldnβt be looking to jump to LSU or Texas or Florida.
As for people skills, after the Sidewinders won the 2006 Triple-A baseball championship, I asked Sidewinders ownerΒ Jay ZuckerΒ what Hale was like to work with.
βYou donβt often find someone as easy to work with,ββ Zucker told me. βHe knows people as well as he knows baseball.ββ
If Heeke can find and hire someone more willing, able and qualified to be Arizonaβs baseball coach itβll have to be a combination ofΒ Tommy LasordaΒ and Terry Francona.
Sabinoβs Tod Brown becomes head coach at New Mexico
Tod Brown. Photo courtesy of North Dakota State athletics
Tod BrownΒ flew to Tucson in the spring of 2015, hoping to be interviewed by Arizona ADΒ Greg ByrneΒ to replaceΒ Andy LopezΒ as Arizonaβs next baseball coach.
The Sabino High School grad, the UAβs leading pitcher on its NCAA Regional finals team of 1993, Brown had spent eight years as head coach at North Dakota State. At that time his rΓ©sumΓ© β he earlier was a UA graduate assistant and spent eight years on the Bowling Green staff β probably didnβt merit serious consideration.
But Byrne didnβt blow Brown off. Instead, the two met at length and discussed what Brown must do to get a major-college head coaching job.
Earlier this month, after 14 years at NDSU, coaching the Bison to a school-record 43 wins and the third round of the NCAA Regionals at Stanford, Brown was ready. At 49, he was hired as the baseball coach of the New Mexico Lobos.
In his introductory press conference, Brown spoke about how he played forΒ Jerry Kindall, coached withΒ Jerry StittΒ and had initially been recruited by New Mexico coachΒ Rich Alday, who then was a legendary coaching figure at Pima Community College.
βTwenty-two years ago, my wife and I packed up for the Midwest to learn how to coach,ββ Brown said. βWe learned a lot. It put me in position to take this job, to be successful at this job and learn how to navigate this business and get back closer to home.ββ
Tucson has been good to the Lobos baseball program and Brown will surely make the six-hour recruiting trip from Albuquerque to Tucson in an attempt to sign those like ex-LoboΒ Luis GonzalezΒ of Catalina Foothills High School, an outfielder who is now playing for the Chicago White Sox, or former Sabino pitcherΒ Jamie Vermilyea, who pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays, or SahuaroβsΒ Mike Brownstein, an infielder who was the MWCβs 2009 Player of the Year.
Brown signed a five-year, $825,000 base contract with the Lobos and didnβt leave NDSU on bad terms. He fulfilled his four-year contract that expired at the end of this season.
Former Wildcat Deandre Ayton finally being used correctly on court
Suns center Deandre Ayton is the first player in the shot-clock era β which started in the 1954-55 season β to shoot better than 70% in a 12-game span during the postseason, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
Watching Phoenix Suns centerΒ Deandre AytonΒ in the NBA Playoffs this year is a completely different experience than watching his season playing forΒ Sean Miller, 2017-18. The Suns do not clog the paint offensively, giving Ayton freedom to get to the basket and use his athletic ability and height to become a game-changing player. At Arizona, Millerβs old-style offense had both Ayton and 7-footerΒ Dusan RisticΒ crowded into the paint simultaneously. Thatβs how 13th-seeded Buffalo eliminated Arizona 89-68 in the first-round NCAA game in 2018, populating the paint area with so many defensive players that Ayton was limited to 14 points, after which Buffalo (now Alabama) head coachΒ Nate OatsΒ replied that stopping Ayton βwasnβt that hard.ββ
Cronin expects changes in college athletics with NILΒ
UCLA head coach Mick Cronin disputes a call against the Bruins that sent Arizona to the line for three free throws in the second half of their Pac 12 basketball game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., January 9, 2021.
UCLA basketball coachΒ Mick CroninΒ delivered one of the most insightful comments on the onrushing Names, Image and Likeness legislation that is about to change college sports dramatically. Cronin told the Los Angeles Times: "We just went to the Final Four. The days of players being told they have to show up an hour early for a practice because they have to do commercials for CBS and not asking any questions and just doing it for free are over. The days ofΒ Kareem Abdul-JabbarΒ just showing up and being thankful heβs in a UCLA uniform are over. Iβm glad Iβm not an athletic director trying to figure it all out.β
Key member of UA's CWS title team set for MLB debut
Arizonaβs Konner Wade helped set the pace during the Wildcats' run to the 2012 College World Series championship.
Nine years ago, pitcherΒ Konner WadeΒ was one of the central figures of Arizonaβs run to the 2012 College World Series championship. He went 11-3 and beat defending champion South Carolina with a six-hitter in the first game of the title series. At long last, on Friday, Wade was recalled by the Baltimore Orioles and is expected to make his major-league debut this weekend. The Scottsdale Chaparral grad is 29. His long road to the big leagues included stops for the Tri-City Dust Devils, the Modesto Nuts, the Hartford Yard Goats, the Sugar Land Skeeters and two trips to the Mexican baseball league. Never say never, right?
Ex-Cat to compete in OlympicsΒ
Rory Sabbatini came in second behind Stanfordβs Tiger Woods at the 1996 NCAA championships in Ooltewah, Tenn.
Former Arizona Wildcat golferΒ Rory SabbatiniΒ has won six PGA Tour events in his long golf career. But at 45, Sabbatini has more to do than wait to get on the Champions Tour in 2026. He will play in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics next month, a one-man team for Slovakia. How did that happen for a golfer the UAβsΒ Rick LaRoseΒ recruited out of South Africa 27 years ago? Sabbatiniβs wife,Β Tina, is from Slovakia and it helped Rory gain citizenship three years ago. Tinaβs cousin,Β Rastislav Antala, is the vice-president of the Slovakia Golf Association.
Tony Amato, Jay Johnson join short list of those who've left UA for a bigger name
In the last 50 years of Arizona sports, only eight Wildcat head coaches left their position for what would be considered a higher level college position. Soccer coachΒ Tony Amato, now at Florida, and baseball coachΒ Jay Johnson, now at LSU, became Nos. 7-8 this year. Hereβs how the previous job jumpers fared:
- Dave Snyder, men's tennis, 1972, Texas: Was the NCAAβs winningest active tennis coach when he retired in 2000. Elected to the ITA Hall of Fame in 1988.
- Larry Smith, football, 1986, USC: Coached the Trojans to three consecutive Rose Bowls, 1987, 1988 and 1989.
- Wendy Larry, womenβs basketball, 1987, Old Dominion: Coached ODU to the 1997 national championship game as well as 20 NCAA Tournaments.
- Kim Haddow, womenβs golf, 1995, Florida: She was inducted into the Womenβs Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1998 after leading the Gators to the top 10 of two NCAA Tournaments. Left Florida after four seasons.
- Todd McCorkle, womenβs golf, 2000, Georgia: Coached the Bulldogs to the 2001 NCAA title and was the 2007 SEC coach of the year before resigning for personal reasons.
- Tabitha Yim, gymnastics, 2017, Stanford: In four years at her alma mater, Yimβs team has not reached the NCAA finals and has finished seventh, seventh and third in the Pac-12 the last three full seasons.
