Our longtime columnist on how USC and UCLA's decisions affected Dave Heeke, why Kim Haddow's former players are honoring the ex-coach and how Blake Martinez will land on his feet.
Fans lose when USC, UCLA leave Pac-12
I asked Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke last week if he would schedule non-conference games against USC and UCLA once the Trojans and Bruins abandon the Pac-12. He half-laughed, half-cleared his throat.
"I’m biting my lip," he said, then admitted that the USC-UCLA bolt to the Big Ten has "fractured some relationships in the league."
Now that the air has cleared, the reality of a future without UCLA and USC is sobering.
"The UCLA-Arizona softball rivalry is one of the great rivalries in college softball," said Heeke. "That may never happen again."
Since 1990, UCLA has been ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in 43 games against Arizona. Those games never fail to sell out Hillenbrand Stadium. Sad.
And what about the Arizona-UCLA men’s basketball rivalry? It is, without question, the No. 1 basketball rivalry in modern Arizona history. It goes beyond Arizona-ASU. Since 1990, the Bruins have been ranked in the Top 10 on 18 occasions when they’ve played Arizona.
When Arizona and UCLA met in basketball last season, the Wildcats were ranked No. 3 and No. 7, and the Bruins were ranked No. 7 and No. 3, respectively.
How do you replace that?
"It’s a (sports) tragedy," said Heeke.
And although the Arizona-USC football rivalry has not been played on a national scale, the Trojans have been the No. 1 draw in Tucson with the exception of the UA-ASU game. Since 1980, the Trojans have averaged 52,787 fans at Arizona Stadium (that’s 17 games). To put it in perspective, the capacity of Arizona Stadium is now listed at 50,800.
"I don’t know how this will play out in the long term," said Heeke, "but if you examine the (USC-UCLA) move to the Big Ten, they will be leaving a baseball league that is arguably No. 1 or No. 2 in the country for a league that is No. 5 or No. 6 in the country. The same is true for softball. There is a lot of fallout for them."
The losers in the USC-UCLA chase for the Big Ten’s almighty dollar are the fans, both in Los Angeles and Tucson and at other Pac-12 schools. The next question is whether Oregon and Washington will pursue membership in the Big Ten and abandon their historic rivals Oregon State and Washington State.
Anything goes, right?
Is it conceivable that Arizona and ASU could soon go their separate ways in pursuit of TV money?
"I find that hard to imagine," said Heeke.
LaRose on the golf course with Kim Haddow in 1993.
Ex-Wildcats coach Kim Haddow honored at U.S. Women's Senior Open
During Kim Haddow’s 12 years as Arizona’s women’s golf coach, 1983-94, she built the program from a low level to a No. 2 finisher in the 1992 NCAA championships and produced NCAA individual champions Annika Sorenstam and Susan Slaughter.
At the U.S. Women’s Senior Open last week in Kettering, Ohio, Haddow was honored by five of her former Arizona golfers. Sorenstam, Leta Lindley, Lara Mack Tennant, Janet Moore and Dana Bates all wore pink bracelets to support Haddow, who has undergone six months of chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.
Haddow, who lives in Prescott and is the women’s golf coach at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, will now undergo surgery and radiation treatments in her fight against cancer.
In Ohio, Lindley finished No. 2 overall, one stroke back of the championship. Sorenstam was fifth, Tennant 28th and Bates 47th. Moore missed the cut. Tucsonan Christa Johnson, who played for Arizona before Haddow was hired, finished 15th.
Since 1990, UCLA has been ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in 43 games against Arizona. Those games never fail to sell out Hillenbrand Stadium. Sad.
And what about the Arizona-UCLA men’s basketball rivalry? It is, without question, the No. 1 basketball rivalry in modern Arizona history. It goes beyond Arizona-ASU. Since 1990, the Bruins have been ranked in the Top 10 on 18 occasions when they’ve played Arizona.
When Arizona and UCLA met in basketball last season, the Wildcats were ranked No. 3 and No. 7, and the Bruins were ranked No. 7 and No. 3, respectively.
Aztecs ranked No. 1 in both men's and women's soccer
Pima College’s undefeated men’s and women’s soccer teams are both ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA Division II poll, which isn’t much of a surprise.
Dave Cosgrove’s men’s team won the 2021 national championship and Kendra Veliz’s women’s team finished No. 2 in the nation. Both teams have been elite-level programs for more than a decade.
No school has had its men’s and women’s teams win NJCAA national titles in the same year. Monroe Community College of New York and Tyler Community College of Texas are the only schools whose men’s and women’s soccer teams have both won NJCAA championships, but not in the same season.
Cosgrove’s PCC team opens ACCAC play this week at Yavapai College, which from 1990-2015, was the west’s top men’s JC soccer program. It has since been replaced by Pima. The Aztecs lost four key starters from the ’21 championship team, but return Rincon/University standout Brian Vu, Salpointe Catholic’s Fernando Garate and Tucson High’s Daniel Rendon, key performers last season.
The PCC men’s team plays No. 7-ranked Phoenix College Sept. 17 in Tucson.
Veliz’s club has six top players back from last year’s national runner-up: Tucson High’s Savannah Gutierrez and Alexus Mendez, Sahuarita’s Mari Acosta, Catalina Foothills’ Caitlyn Maher, Salpointe’s Angelina Amparano and Cienega’s Delaney Buntin.
The most anticipated game on the ACCAC schedule is an Oct. 4 showdown at No. 13 Scottsdale Community College.
The 2022 NJCAA soccer championships will be held at Tucson’s Kino North Sports Complex in November. Wouldn’t that be a happy place for the Aztecs to win a pair of national championships?
UA breaks ground on new golf facility
The UA’s fundraising efforts to build a state-of-the-art college golf facility were so successful that it got the Phoenix Thunderbirds to contribute $1 million toward the $15 million project.
The Thunderbirds, who are Phoenix’s equivalent of the Tucson Conquistadores, announced that it is their first philanthropic endeavor outside of Maricopa County. The Thunderbirds sponsor and operate the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Waste Management Open.
As a result, the Wildcats will stage the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate tournament each January at the Tucson Country Club, which will be the home of the Bill Clements Golf Center. Ground was broken for the $15 million compound last month. Completion is expected next spring.
In addition to gifts from the Clements family and the Thunderbirds, the project was also supported by Peter Salter, former Wildcat golfer Jim Furyk, Humberto Lopez, Jim Click, Tim Garigan, Brian Hogan, Thomas Quebedeaux and Ken Coit.
When completed, it will rival the Stanford golf complex as the best in the Pac-12 and among the top five or 10 such facilities in college golf.
Sabino to name field after ex-principal
Sabino High School will dedicate its football field to former principal Carl Roberts (1987-96) in Friday’s neighborhood rivalry with Sahuaro. Roberts was the man who hired Jeff Scurran to coach the Sabercats in 1988, leading to three state championships in the 1990s and a Tucson record 108 victories in the decade of the ’90s.
Salpointe Catholic coach Dennis Bene pumps his fists in the air in front of the Lancers’ fans as the final seconds tick down during the Division II state championship game.
Dennis Bene back on the sidelines
Sahuaro’s presence at Sabino will include defensive line coach Dennis Bene, who has joined first-year coach Al Alexander’s staff after two years away from coaching. Bene coached Salpointe Catholic to 103 victories from 2010-19, including the 2013 state title. Bene is not the first former state championship coach to return to the sidelines as an assistant. Sahuaro’s Howard Breinig, the 1994 state champ, later served as an assistant at Sabino. Tucson High’s Ollie Mayfield, 1970 and 1971 state champ, returned as an assistant to help his son Todd Mayfield coach Palo Verde to the 2005 state championship. … Scurran on Friday began his sixth iteration as a head football coach in Southern Arizona. He coached Rio Rico High School, 0-9 last year, to a 10-0 victory over neighborhood rival Nogales. No surprise there. Scurran has now been a highly successful head coach at Canyon del Oro, Sabino, Pima College, Santa Rita, Catalina Foothills and Rio Rio. Unfortunately, Rio Rico is not scheduled to play any of Scurran’s previous schools.
Lucais MacKay
Cats strike it big with new hire
Arizona track coach Fred Harvey last week pulled off a hiring coup, appointing Penn State’s head throws coach Lucais MacKay to a similar position at Arizona. LSU and Illinois had both attempted to hire MacKay, who is a former offensive lineman from USC. He replaces T.J. Crater, who left the UA to return to his hometown, Spokane, Washington, to be director of the Spokane Sports Commission and help operate a shot put/discus youth program. MacKay inherits Jordan Geist, the Pac-12’s leading shot put/discus performer and incoming recruit Tapenia Havea of New Zealand, who is ranked No. 10 in the world among amateur shot putters and No. 12 in the discus.
Danny Preble chooses Salpointe over Yavapai
Yavapai College last week offered its head baseball coaching job to Salpointe’s Danny Preble, who has coached the Lancers to a 279-118 record in 14 years, including the 2019 state championship and a No. 2 finish in the 2020 and 2021 state tournaments. Preble chose to remain at Salpointe, where he is also the assistant athletic director. Yavapai’s long-time coach Ryan Cougill, who won the 2016 NJCAA national title, left to become the coach at Iowa Western College at a time Yavapai is reorganizing the financial structure of its athletic department.
Despite being stocked with catching talent, the Oakland Athletics picked UA's Daniel Susac 19th overall because they felt he was the best player available.
Ex-Cat Daniel Susac thiriving
Since being drafted in the first round by the Oakland A’s in July, Arizona’s All-Pac-10 catcher Daniel Susac has thrived. He is hitting .321 through 21 games for the Single-A Stockton Ports of the California League, whose regular season ends Sunday. Susac’s competition to someday become Oakland’s No. 1 catcher is intense. The A’s last month recalled catcher Shea Langeliers and made him their starting catcher. He was the No. 9 overall draft pick out of Baylor in 2019. No one said the road to the big leagues would be easy.
Heat, investgiation conspire against Devils
Arizona State’s 40-3 victory in its football opener against NAU on Thursday night began with the temperature at 101 degrees. It was not the best night to attend a football game. The Pac-12 Networks production crew and cameramen were careful not to show a panoramic shot of the nearly empty Sun Devil Stadium, but on a few punts, you could see that the 53,599-seat stadium couldn’t have been occupied by more than 12,000 to 15,000 people. It was probably the smallest in-house attendance at ASU since the stadium was built in 1958. ASU announced attendance at 44,764, which was surely based on tickets sold. If the Sun Devils lose at Oklahoma State on Saturday, their return to Sun Devil Stadium to play Eastern Michigan on Sept. 17 could be a repeat of the small NAU turnout. That’s what happens when you are under an investigation by the NCAA, coming off a season in which the Sun Devils lost to Oregon State and Washington State.
Expect former Canyon del Oro High Schools standout Blake Martinez to find a new team soon.
My two cents: Martinez should land with a stronger team
It was quite a surprise last week when the New York Giants and Tucson linebacker Blake Martinez mutually agreed to part ways.
Martinez has been among the most prolific tacklers in the NFL. From 2017-20, he led the NFL with an average of 149 tackles per year for both the Packers and Giants. He missed the final 14 games of the 2021 season with a torn ACL.
But two things happened that led both the Giants and Martinez to seek new ground: first-year NYG coach Wink Martindale’s system does not include a traditional middle linebacker role, as Martinez, a Canyon del Oro High School and Stanford grad, plays so well.
Just as important, the Giants hoped to reduce Martinez’s salary of $8.4 million for salary cap purposes. Ultimately, Martinez became a free agent last week and new Giants GM Joe Schoen apparently is to save about $3.3 million.
That’s pro sports, 2022. No matter how productive Martinez has been, a non-contender like the Giants and their new GM and coach decided that saving money was more important than putting the best ballplayers on the field.
A better team, a contender, is likely to pursue and sign Martinez this week.
