Let’s see a show of hands from the few remaining (or on-the-fence) UA football fans: How many of you know which Arizona football players wear jerseys Nos. 8, 10 and 86?
That’s what I thought. Few, very few.
On Wednesday, Arizona produced a video and images of No. 8 Anthony Pandy, No.10 Jamarye Joiner and No. 86 Stanley Berryhill. They posed in 1990s-style uniforms, the simple red, white and blue look of the 1990s “Desert Swarm” period.
After 20 years of sometimes all-red, sometimes all-blue and various untraditional combinations of colors — everything but maroon and gold — the school announced it will dress the way No. 68 Tedy Bruschi, No, 18 Brandon Sanders and No. 49 Sean Harris did.
It’s a take on the old “Cheers” line, “Where everybody knows your name.” In the ‘90s, UA fans knew the numbers, too: No. 17 Richard Dice, No. 11 Chris McAlister, No. 30 Trung Canidate.
Now? Names, faces and jersey numbers are mostly unknown.
The changing of the colors was coach Jedd Fisch’s final motion over a seven-month period in which he creatively and justly did all humanly possible to change the image of what has become the Pac-12’s most hapless football operation.
If there was a final score to the offseason — to Fisch’s break-in period — it would be 70-7, Arizona. Get it?
Fisch spent about $6 million to refurbish the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility, which now includes a barber shop. He hired a staff that includes more than 50 years of NFL coaching experience, brought home UA Hall of Famers Chuck Cecil and Ricky Hunley, aligned himself with Steve Kerr and Adia Barnes, hired Tedy Bruschi, threw water balloons into the Zona Zoo with Rob Gronkowski and added 17 prospects from the NCAA’s all-important transfer portal.
He invited once-estranged fans to watch practice and unappreciated former UA football players to rejoin the family.
But at Wednesday’s local football media day, Fisch called it quits.
“The talking season has come to an end,” he said. “Now it’s time to start putting up a good fight. There’s no time for harping on the past.”
The first sign of optimism: Most Las Vegas oddsmakers list Arizona’s win probability at 2½ games this season. You’d have to go back to 1957 or 1958 to find an Arizona football team that received less public confidence entering training camp.
Arizona’s new-look staff includes Wildcats legend Ricky Hunley, who is coaching the defensive linemen.
But a few days ago, a friend phoned and asked what I thought about the Vegas odds and the over-under on a 2½-wins probability. I told him the Wildcats should beat NAU and have a reasonable chance to beat BYU and San Diego State. I added that Washington State and Colorado are beatable, and that except for Kevin Sumlin’s years, I cannot remember a season in which Arizona didn’t upset somebody.
He asked if I wanted to join him in betting big money on the Wildcats winning more than 2½ games. I balked. The UA’s 12-game losing streak wasn’t a fluke, although that’s not the way Fisch approaches his first Arizona season.
Said Fisch, Mr. Energy: “Seventeen transfers have joined the program and 16 high school kids. Six or seven guys who opted out last season have returned. So let’s call it 35 or 40% of our guys weren’t even a part of the game against the team from up north last season, nor were a part of the losing streak.”
In the spring, Mr. Energy told me that he seriously believes the Wildcats can win “two or three games on energy alone.”
Things change, and few in football know that more than the ever-mobile Fisch.
Four years ago this week, he was UCLA’s offensive coordinator, coaching for Jim Mora and working with quarterback Josh Rosen, a future first-round draft pick. Mora had gone 29-11 in his first three UCLA seasons and seemed poised to go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1998.
The Bruins imploded, Mora was fired and eight of Mora’s nine assistants lost their jobs, including Fisch. In the NFL, Rosen became a bust.
Football is a game of the quick change. Fisch has seen good go bad. He now talks optimistically that Arizona will soon do the reverse, turning bad into good.
In that 2017 season, underdog Arizona blew out Fisch’s fast-falling Brulns, 47-30. Arizona’s little-known QB, Khalil Tate, had a much better season than the overhyped Rosen.
As the Wildcats begin training camp Friday, Fisch has done everything but caution the dwindling group of UA fans to be patient.
“I’m very excited about my first training camp as a head coach,” he said. “It’s going to be an awesome opportunity for me to live my dream.”
Let’s see a show of hands: How many of you are willing to bet Arizona wins more than 2½ games?
Count me in, too.
