Greg Hansen's Notebook: This entry is part of longtime Star columnist Greg Hansen's weekly notebook.
Subscribers can read this week's "Hansen's Notebook" in its entirety in the Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024 edition of the Arizona Daily Star (Page C2) — either in print or at Tucson.com/EEdition. Or, dig into the Hansen archives at Tucson.com/Hansen.
Jack Kennedy was a basketball and golf standout at The Gregory School 20 years ago, leading to an interesting post-Tucson career in which he became an assistant basketball coach at San Jose State and the head golf coach of the USF Dons.
A few weeks ago, Kennedy — son of former Tucson City Councilman Doug Kennedy — became the head coach of the Colorado State men’s golf team. Good pick by CSU; Kennedy led USF to a 20th-place finish in the NCAA tournament a year ago.
Greg Hansen is the longtime sports columnist for the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson.com.
Kennedy is one of at least 15 individuals from a Tucson high school to become a head coach at a Division I college. It’s an impressive list:
• Jay John, Salpointe, basketball coach at Oregon State
• Sue Darling, CDO, women’s basketball coach at Air Force and NAU
• Shawn Charles, Santa Rita, wrestling coach at Arizona State
• Rich Ellerson, Salpointe, football coach at Army
• Carl Cooper, Tucson High, track coach at Arizona
• Thom Ortiz, Sunnyside, wrestling coach at ASU
• Herbie Behm., Catalina Foothills, swimming coach at ASU
• Bill Lenoir, Tucson High, tennis coach at ASU
• Kelly (Walbert) Cagle, Salpointe, soccer coach at Virginia Tech
• Dave Bingham, Palo Verde, baseball coach at Kansas
• Rich Alday, Tucson High, baseball coach at New Mexico
• Tairia (Mims) Flowers, Salpointe, softball coach at Loyola-Marymount
• Kelly Silva-McKee, Salpointe, volleyball coach at New Mexico
• Tod Brown, Sabino, baseball coach at New Mexico
Brown, a former Arizona pitching ace who coached New Mexico to second place in the Mountain West Conference last season, last month signed a five-year contract extension through 2029.
Hansen's Notebook: Marana football snaps 7-year Salpointe streak vs. Tucson-area schoolsFrom Greg Hansen's Notebook: This week's short stuff, including: Marana HS ending Salpointe's seven-year win streak against Tucson-area schools; UA women's golf facing ex-coach Laura Ianello, Texas twice early on; history of coach's kids playing on UA teams; more.
From Greg Hansen's Notebook: My good and long-time journalistic “rival’’and golf partner Jack Rickard died last week in Tucson. Rickard, who wrote for the Tucson Citizen for 30 years, probably got 189 years of enjoyment out of his 89 years.
From Greg Hansen's Notebook: Arizona AD Desireé Reed-Francois has changed the face of the UA athletic department, hiring new associate ADs, among other positions.
From Greg Hansen's Notebook: Colton Smith, who made the Final Four of the NCAA Men's Tennis singles draw in 2024, is among the leading Arizona Wildcat athletes heading into 2024-25. Other's near the top: Tetairoa McMillan (football), Salpointe alum Mason White (baseball).
