'There's a natural rivalry between' Tucson Sugar Skulls, Arizona Rattlers

In 10 attempts, the Tucson Sugar Skulls have beaten their in-state rival Arizona Rattlers just once, 74-63 in 2022.

Two years later, the Sugar Skulls (1-4) face the Rattlers (3-3) at the scene of the crime Saturday evening at 6:05 p.m. at Tucson Arena.

Sugar Skulls co-owner and Rattlers head coach Kevin Guy joined “Spears and Ali” on ESPN Tucson this week to look ahead to Saturday’s showdown in Tucson, the rivalry between the two franchises and how the Old Pueblo has embraced the IFL.

With your coach and ownership cap on, what is your earnest opinion of the Sugar Skulls this season?

A: “Well, I’m very impressed with (quarterback Mylik Mitchell). I know he hasn’t played in the last couple of games, but I think he’s the best newcomer to the league. Coach (Billy) Back has a winning tradition, but he’s made a lot of moves on the personnel side, so he didn’t get the guys he wanted going into training camp, and he’s trying to upgrade.

“He’s working hard to make some upgrades at some positions. ... They’ve been in a lot of ball games — a lot of close ball games. They played Bay Area tough, they played NAZ tough, twice. So I don’t think they’re that far away. When you look at this league, you gotta develop players.

“That’s hard when you’re changing the roster week-to-week. You gotta look in the mirror sometimes and say, ‘Hey, did I do a bad job evaluating them coming in or do I gotta spend more time developing these guys?’ I don’t know, I don’t coach that team. I hear from Coach Back every once in a while and we talk football, and then I hear from Cathy every once in a while. But whenever we’re two weeks out from playing Tucson, everyone stops talking to me. ... But you gotta be able to recruit and Billy has always been able to do that. ... He’s aggressive. He doesn’t sit and wait. If he thinks somebody can’t do it, he’ll get somebody else in there. I don’t think the roster changes have hurt him as much as his quarterback being out the last few games. But this is normal behavior from him. He changes the roster a lot until he gets the guys he likes. It is still early, but they obviously gotta get going here if they wanna make a run at the playoffs.”

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How is the intensity of the Sugar Skulls-Rattlers?

A: “Traditionally, they’ve been the biggest games for both teams. There’s a natural rivalry between the two cities, Phoenix and Tucson. It’s weird for me. It feels like just another game when they come up and play here in Glendale. ... But when I come down there, because in the offseason, I come down and do business with people around town and I see them sitting in the stands and they seem like nice guys when I’m meeting with them on the business, then on game day I get called every name in the book. It goes with the territory.”

The last time you coached against the Sugar Skulls in Tucson, you received a penalty and couldn’t coach on the field for the second half; what happened?

A: “There was a very sensitive referee. I’m still offended over what happened. He didn’t like what I had to say. I was probably 10 feet from him and the guy told a story to the league that I got in his face and I wasn’t closer than 10 feet. But when you’re a successful head coach and owner, let’s just say that referee isn’t employed by our league anymore. He was just very sensitive, that’s all I can tell you. I don’t know if he was having a bad day or what. I didn’t even cuss. Usually I throw three or four cuss words in there, and I didn’t even cuss at the guy and he took me off the field.”

Now that the Sugar Skulls have been in Tucson for five years, do you think the community has embraced the IFL coming to the Old Pueblo?

A: “I’ve certainly developed a lot of great relationships with people in Tucson. We certainly appreciate everything that the market does for the Tucson Sugar Skulls. We enjoy being there, and word is spreading across the country — across the league — that Tucson is a great place to play, and the players enjoy it down there. That always makes you feel good from an ownership standpoint. ... We’ve moved on from the coaches through the years, because when we really evaluated them, they did a good job and got to the playoffs but I didn’t know if we were ever going to win a championship. We were looking for a certain mentality.

“I think Billy has that mentality and he certainly knows how to put a roster together and compete for a championship. ... We want to bring a championship to Tucson. ... I think it’s a great rivalry and we’re looking forward to it. When I watch the film, I can see they’re close. They just gotta add a few more pieces and they’ll be in a position to go on a run.”