Half the fun of being a sports fan is looking back on how certain plays affected certain games or who got picked and where in late rounds of professional drafts. But with the fun, comes the pain. For Arizona sports fans moments like the Cardinals trading for Calvin Pace and Bryant Johnson instead of Terrell Suggs, John Paxson’s jumper against the Suns, the Coyotes signing Tony Amonte or probably the worst, Chuck Cecil’s pick six against ASU in 1986. So with my 20/20 hindsight goggles on I look at the University of Arizona football program.
As with the hiring of all new head coaches fans ponder the greatness of the incoming regime and all the championships they’ll accumulate. And Wildcat fans are no different. With the hiring of their new football coach Rich Rodriguez, Wildcat fans are enjoying the holidays with a smug demeanor how they ‘got over’ on the rest of the colleges looking for their next great coach. But in reality, they had their potential new head coach all along and didn’t even realize it.
Enter Offensive Coordinator Sonny Dykes. In his three-year tenure at the University of Arizona as OC, the Wildcats became one of the most powerful offenses in the Pac-10. This after he helped Mike Leach and the Texas Tech Red Raiders become one of the nations most potent offensive units. Before his arrival in Tucson, the Wildcat offense was anemic, punchless and lacked any kind of big play ability. That changed in his three years in the Old Pueblo guiding receiver Mike Thomas and quarterback Willie Tuitama to conference honors as well as escalating the Arizona offense to national rankings in several categories. But unfortunately for Wildcat fans, the administration was so enamored with Mike Stoops and his two bowl invites (on the back of Dykes offenses) that they extended his (Stoops) contract. So when Dykes left, so did Arizona’s hopes of national prominence. Back to back seasons of 7-6 and 1-5 before Stoops was relieved of his duties.
So as the 2011 Western Athletic Conference coach of the year sits speaking to the media post 2011 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, one must wonder if Arizona made the right decision when it chose a football family coaching tree to lead their program. The Stoops or Dykes.
