Dear Mr. Football: What usually happens to interim head football coaches?
A: ASU’s Shaun Aguano is the 21st interim head coach in Pac-12 history. Only three were elevated to permanent head coach: Washington State’s Jake Dickert, USC’s Clay Helton and Utah’s Kyle Whittingham.
Some interim coaches thrive even though they are bypassed for the top job.
After Arizona defensive coordinator Tim Kish replaced Mike Stoops in midseason, 2011, he not only upset No. 20 ASU, but then was hired as Oklahoma’s linebacker coach, helping the Sooners go 76-18 in seven years. Kish then returned to Tucson and is now president of the Southern Arizona chapter of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Some just fade away. In 1979, ASU fired Frank Kush and replaced him with defensive coordinator Bob Owen. Owen was not retained by the Sun Devils and coached at UNLV before becoming an assistant at Pasadena City College for 10 years and then a member of the USA Triathlon organization for 10 years.
And some become an interim head coach again. After Arizona fired John Mackovic in 2003, defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz went 1-6. He was hired by Colorado and became the Buffaloes’ interim head coach when Gary Barnett exited in 2005, and ultimately spent 16 more seasons as an assistant coach at Northwestern and Wisconsin.
Dear Mr. Football: What are the odds ASU hires Aguano full time?
A: I’d say it’s as close to zero as possible. Check out ASU athletic director Ray Anderson’s high-profile coaching hires. He goes for the big names: Duke basketball legend Bobby Hurley and former NFL head coach and ESPN personality Herm Edwards.
Aguano’s high school coaching profile won’t help him. He won four state championships at Chandler High School, going 88-19 in seven years. But the last time a Pac-12 school hired a head coach only three years (or less) removed from high school coaching was in 1946. That’s when ASU hired Mesa High School coach Steve Coutchie. Coutchie went 2-7-2 and was fired after one season.
Dear Mr. Football: Who’s the best Tucsonan to play football at ASU? Could it be Sun Devils starting quarterback Trenton Bourguet of Marana High School?
A: It was probably Sahuaro High School receiver John Mistler, who became captain of the 1980 Sun Devils and left school with 156 career receptions, then No. 2 in ASU history.
Mistler was so good at Sahuaro he set state records in season receiving yards and touchdowns and became a Parade All-American who chose ASU over an offer from Notre Dame. A third-round draft pick of the New York Giants, Mistler played four NFL seasons and is now president of First Fidelity Bank of Arizona, in Phoenix, and a member of the Phoenix Thunderbirds, the equivalent of the Tucson Conquistadors.
In Mistler’s final game against Arizona, 1980, he caught six passes and scored a touchdown in a 44-7 win in Tucson.
After Mistler, the two best Tucsonans to play at ASU were probably Amphitheater High School running back Mario Bates, who gained 2,025 yards in three Sun Devil seasons, and Salpointe Catholic High School running back Chris Hopkins, ASU’s 1996 team captain, who gained 2,381 yards as a Sun Devil.
Byron Evans is the best Phoenix-born Wildcat of all time, the Star's Greg Hansen says.
Dear Mr. Football: Who’s the best Phoenician to play for Arizona?
A: It’s a crowded list, but my top five would be:
1. South Mountain High School linebacker Byron Evans, the Pac-10’s 1986 Defensive Player of the Year and No. 2 behind Hall of Famer Ricky Hunley as Arizona’s career tackles leader.
2. Chandler High School quarterback Eddie Wilson, leader of the UA’s historic 8-1-1 team of 1961.
3. Rob Waldrop, a 1992 and 1993 consensus All-American nose guard from Horizon High School.
4. Dana Wells, a Phoenix Brophy Prep graduate, the Pac-10’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1987.
5. Bill Lueck, of Avondale Agua Fria High School, a dominating offensive lineman who became the UA’s first NFL first-round draft pick, 1968, played eight NFL seasons and won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers.
Waiting list: receiver Bobby Wade of Phoenix Desert Vista High; running back Trung Canidate of Phoenix Central High School defensive lineman Tom Nelson of Tempe High School; defensive end David Wood of Mesa Westwood High School; and offensive lineman Jon Abbott of Phoenix Central High School.
Dear Mr. Football: Has a Territorial Cup game ever failed to sell out?
A: If this year’s game doesn’t pack Arizona Stadium, it won’t be anywhere near a first.
In 2002, during a season marred by a player mutiny against head coach John Mackovic, the Wildcats drew just 47,605 for the Territorial Cup, about 11,000 empty seats. It was the first non-sellout of a Territorial Cup in Tucson since 1954. (UA-ASU games in Tucson subsequently failed to sell out in 2011 and 2016).
The most empty seats in a Territorial Cup were at the 2003 game in Tempe, when just 55,498 attended at Sun Devil Stadium, which then had a capacity of close to 73,000.
There are many variables that work against a sellout this year: ASU fans are unlikely to drive from Tempe to see a splintered 3-8 team; students have scattered for the Thanksgiving holiday; it’s Black Friday, one of the top shopping days of the year; and Arizona is coming off a 31-20 letdown against Washington State.
Dear Mr. Football: Does the national football public view the Territorial Cup as a big game?
A: Let’s just say Fox Sports 1 is not sending its No. 1 crew to Tucson to broadcast the game. The play-by-play announcer will be Adam Alexander, whose primary job is the NASCAR Xfinity Series voice.
Fox Sports 1’s top Pac-12 crew, Alex Faust and Petros Papadakis, will be doing the Stanford-BYU game, and the network’s top crew, Noah Eagle and Mark Helfrich, will work the Penn State-Michigan State game.
But that’s what you expect when Arizona and ASU are a combined 7-15.
The epic Arizona-ASU games of the 1980s were announced by, among others, high-profile personalities Vern Lundquist and Brent Musburger. It was Lundquist who called Chuck Cecil’s 106-yard interception return to beat ASU’s Rose Bowl team of 1986, the top play in UA history.
Cecil won’t be on the sideline Friday; he is assigned to do his assistant coaching (secondary) work from the press box on game days. This is one game that putting Cecil on the sideline might best ensure the Wildcats will play with, as Dick Tomey would say, “their hair on fire.”
I’m not sure the Sun Devils understand how important this game is to Arizona and its climb under Jedd Fisch. Many view Arizona Stadium as the Pac-12’s least daunting road venue. And that might include Aguano, ASU’s interim coach.
In Aguano’s four games against Tucson teams — a three-game sweep over Arizona and a 62-0 blowout of Tucson High School in 2018 — he has won all by a combined score of 194-36.
This should be the day the Tucson football community fights back.
Arizona 40, ASU 27.
Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura and defensive lineman Kyon Barrs preview the matchup with rival Arizona State for the Territorial Cup on Friday.
