Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Rich Rodriguez playing nice on Twitter, but it may be too late to save coaching career

RichRod turns to Twitter for damage control

Since being fired, Rich Rodriguez has begun what appears to be a damage control mission on his seldom-used Twitter account.

He tweeted condolences after the deaths of Jerry Kindall, Keith Jackson and Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski. Strangely, he tweeted congratulations to Kevin Sumlin for getting RichRod’s old job. He also announced that his children, Rhett and Raquel would be continuing their education at the UA.

Compare that to a period from Dec. 16, 2016, to March 17, 2017, when RichRod’s twitter account was not used.

This is not the RichRod who ruled the Arizona football program with an iron fist and wasn’t one to communicate with strangers.

This nice guy routine is likely strategy from Phoenix attorney Leo Beus, who has called the sexual harassment and hostile work environment claims against RichRod “frivolous and a sham.”

Rodriguez signed his tweet to Sumlin as “Coach Rich Rodriguez.”

The term “coach” may not apply to Rodriguez again.

Congratulations to @UofA and @CoachSumlin. pic.twitter.com/vCGJnZUZU6

— Rich Rodriguez (@RealCoachRod) January 15, 2018

RichRod turns 55 this spring and the chances that he will ever be hired to coach a college football team again are remote. The same is true if he hopes to get into TV or radio; there is little precedent of college coaches surviving a messy litigation of any type, even if it is quietly settled out of court.

No matter how the legal process goes, the damage to RichRod’s reputation is probably career-ending.

At last week’s press conference introducing Sumlin, UA president Robert C. Robbins didn’t attempt to be subtle. One of the first things he said about Sumlin was that he will be “an ambassador for the university.”

RichRod was not that.

In his days as the CEO of the Texas Medical system, Robbins said he closely observed Sumlin, the head coach at Houston and then Texas A&M.

“I was able to see him speak in front of large groups,” said Robbins. “I watched him very closely in press conferences, and I watched his demeanor on the sidelines. No matter what situation, I never saw him out of control. He was poised and confident. He was the type of person I wanted to see here.”

That should be a requisite and an expectation for someone at the front of a $42 million-a-year college football program.

Ultimately, what’s unfortunate about Rodriguez’s coaching career is that it had so much potential. When he chose, he could be charming and entertaining. Instead, he chose the Angry Man routine and self-destructed.

How the search went down

Five things I learned during the UA coaching search and hiring of Kevin Sumlin:

Sumlin wasn't the first call

Sumlin was not the first man Arizona contacted. In fact, Sumlin made contact several times with a Tucson businessman/UA donor, and asked if he could assist in getting an interview with the DHR search firm.

It wasn't Heeke's first rodeo

UA athletic director Dave Heeke was smart enough to know who NOT to hire. In his 18 years as the No. 2 man at Oregon, and 11 years as the AD at Central Michigan, Heeke learned enough to know that hiring, say, Neil Brown of Troy or Beau Baldwin of Cal would’ve been greeted with yawns in Tucson.

A close second?

Heeke interviewed former UA offensive/defensive coordinator Duane Akina about 24 hours before Sumlin was hired. In my opinion, Akina is the leading assistant football coach in UA history, 1987-2001, a man who has since gone on to distinguish himself at Texas and Stanford and, at 60, somehow missed his calling as a head coach. As Sumlin said during his press conference: “You’re not going to come into this building and treat our young men any differently than you’d treat your own kids.” That’s the way Akina treated people at Arizona, too.

Expect a full house or two

I’ll bet you an El Guero Canelo Sonoran hot dog that attendance at Arizona Stadium in 2018 is greater than that at Sun Devil Stadium. It’s not that unusual; UA outdrew ASU 48,288 to 47,736 in the 2016 season. Arizona has three potential sellout games: BYU, USC and ASU at home. The Sun Devils play Michigan State at home, which is likely to mean 20,000 Spartan fans will help create a capacity crowd. Sumlin and QB Khalil Tate will sell tickets. Herman Edwards and ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins, not so much.

Arizona will always feel Tomey's influence

Even though Dick Tomey spent the week coaching in the Polynesian All-American All-Star football game in Honolulu, his influence was felt from start to finish. Even Sumlin phoned him a day after being hired. Given 48 hours to act, former UA All-Pac-10 and NFL player Ray Wells, now a development official in the athletic department, helped to arrange for an impressive group of ex-Tomey Wildcats to greet Sumlin on Tuesday: Lance Briggs, Bobby Wade, Reggie Gaddis, Brandon Sanders, Kelvin Hunter, Lamar Lovett, Heath Bray and on and on.

Former CDO and ASU standout in need

In 2001, Canyon del Oro High School lineman Stephen Berg was Tucson’s leading football player. He was offered scholarships by Arizona, UCLA and Arizona State and went on to be a three-year offensive line starter for the Sun Devils.

After establishing himself in his post-football days as the Arizona manager for Maquet Biosurgery medical products, Berg got married and had two children with his wife, Leslie Ann. Together, they have four children.

Tragically, Berg was diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago; the cancer is now untreatable and Berg has been unable to work. He and his family relocated to Tucson last year, but the fixer-upper they bought on the east side remains in transition.

On Saturday, 12 volunteers joined Tucson contractor Randy Jones in an attempt to make Berg’s home livable. Jones also established an account to help Leslie Ann pay expenses as her husband fights to stay alive.

That account is: gofundme.com/berg-memorial-fund.

Duncan’s youth baseball camp packs ‘em in

For about four hours Saturday at the Kino Sports Complex, a dozen former major-league baseball players staged a free camp for the Tucson Youth Baseball Association and Tucsonans aged 6-14.

Ex-CDO and Arizona standout Shelley Duncan, who played for the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians, arranged to have former MLB players J.J. Hardy, Chris Duncan, Eric Davis, John Rauch, Albie Lopez, Brian Anderson, George Arias, Gil Heredia, Adam Kennedy, Scott Hairston and Anthony Sanders provide free instruction to more than 200 young ballplayers.

Duncan, who created the TYBA three years ago, does so without charge. A week ago he held the Tucson Youth Baseball Championships for 12U teams, with the winner, Tucson Champs Academy, earning a free trip to the summer nationals in Branson, Missouri.

“Like I always believe, it starts with kids,” said Duncan, manager of the Diamondbacks’ Double A team in Jackson, Tennessee. “We get it going with the kids, build more fields, make it more affordable and keep going. We can then build the sport to a level like it once was. Then maybe one day we will be ready to bring back spring training or a Pacific Coast League team. Things are going in the right direction.”

Salpointe soccer star Alfonso Cabrera on pace for 100 career goals

There shouldn’t be much doubt about Tucson’s Athlete of the Week: Salpointe Catholic junior soccer player Alfonso Cabrera scored nine goals in just three games last week, leading the Lancers to victories over CDO, Walden Grove and Rincon. Cabrera scored foul goals against CDO and three on Friday against Rincon, which is ranked No. 8 of all boys soccer teams in Arizona. Cabrera now has 68 goals in his career and is on pace to become one of the select few to reach 100 in his career. Wolfgang Weber’s Lancers, 11-3-1, play Sunnyside on Monday; the Blue Devils were ranked No. 4 in Arizona last week, led by junior Manuel Quiroz, who has 18 goals.

Palomino eyes comeback as softball opener draws near

As Arizona begins preparations for its Feb. 9 softball opener, coach Mike Candrea said that power-hitting sophomore Alyssa Palomino is “80 percent” in her comeback from a second torn ACL surgery. Palomino, who hit 16 home runs as one of the top freshmen in college softball last year, tore her ACL in the NCAA Super Regionals 7½ months ago. She might move from the outfield to first base for the 2018 season, but it’s encouraging that she has returned to workouts in such short order.

Rillito Race Track entering 75th season

The Rillito Race Track opens its 75th season on Feb. 10. General manager Michael Weiss created a schedule that includes six weekends of racing, through March 18. Races for thoroughbreds and quarter horses will be held at 1 p.m. on each Saturday and Sunday. In my opinion, there are few afternoons in sports in Tucson to match a day at Rillito.

Aggie country?

One more positive reflection on the exciting New Mexico State-Utah State Nova Homes Loans Arizona Bowl: An Albuquerque TV station reported that NMSU has noticed a quick increase in student applications for enrollment from Southern Arizona since the Dec. 30 game. Thus, New Mexico State plans to spend $25,000 advertising in Tucson this winter and spring.

My two cents: Kevin Sumlin's first UA class could be stronger than expected

Arizona was one of nine Pac-12 schools to offer a scholarship to Honolulu quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who, as a freshman, led Alabama to the national championship two weeks ago.

On Friday, Kevin Sumlin was quick to offer a scholarship to Tua’s brother, Taulia Tagovailoa, who moved with his family from Honolulu to Alabama a year ago.

Taulia has already been offered by Nebraska, Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss and Oregon, but it’s telling that Sumlin has gotten involved at the highest level on his first week in Tucson.

Arizona has a strong connection to the Tagovailoa family: ex-UA quarterback George Malauulu, who played for Tomey from 1989-92, runs the influential AIGA Foundation, Polynesian-based summer camp and developmental program for Polynesian football players in Southern California. Tua was active in Malauulu’s program in 2016-17.

Landing a strong recruiting class in a short period isn’t impossible.

Tomey was hired at Arizona on Jan. 13, 1987, and in three weeks put together a recruiting class that included 11 future starters, among them future NFL lineman John Fina, three-year starting QB Ronald Veal, center Paul Tofflemire, clutch kicker Doug Pfaff, fullback Alonzo Washington, cornerback Richard Holt, guard Nick Fineanganofo and defensive end Brad Henke.

Given the 16 players signed by Rich Rodriguez in December — the first year football players were granted a December signing period — Sumlin could cap what looks to be a class much better than those signed by RichRod from 2012-16.