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.

Now there will be plenty of other questions to answer. Rodriguez still has the blemish on his resume that was the stop at Michigan, though he explains in the following interview why he still believes he was on the right track there. And people are already wondering if he can replicate what he did at West Virginia while he’s coaching in Tucson.

Rich Rodriguez joined KTAR in Phoenix with Doug and Wolf to discuss why he decided Arizona was the right fit, how much convincing it took, the vision for the program going forward, the biggest challenge he’ll face, what he learned from his stint at Michigan, if he can replicate his success at West Virginia and why he signed on to coach without visiting Tucson.

Why did you decide you’d like to coach at Arizona?:

“The thing that appeals to me is obviously they’ve had some success there. Mike Stoops had them right on the cusp and did a pretty good job and they were right there and just had some tough luck. … They’ve had success in a lot of other sports. Look what they’re doing in men’s basketball, what they’ve done in softball. It’s a great college town with tremendous fan support, tremendous alumni support. … The other thing that appealed to me was that the staff played such a big role in hiring me. … We’re building a brand new facility. … The timing, I think, is just perfect.”

How much convincing did it take and at what point did you decide, ‘This is it’?:

“It was kind of a process. Obviously I was hungry to get back into coaching. I enjoyed the media part of it. I don’t know about putting makeup on. … It kind of gave me a chance to stay involved in the game and see other programs and all that, so I was really hungry to get back in coach. And, again, [athletic director] Greg Byrne did a tremendous job of explaining his vision for the program. … He called everybody and their brother about me and did his due diligence on me, too, which is fair, and toward the end of the process … then I started asking more questions.”

More on the vision:

“I had a great meeting with some of the other administrators … and I just felt it was comfortable. I always thought that if you’re in a place that has the resources to have success — which we do there — and you’ve got everybody pulling the rope in the same direction, you’ve got a shot. … [At West Virginia] everybody was pulling the same direction.”

What is the biggest challenge going forward?:

“I’ve got to put together, obviously, a good recruiting class. That’s important right now, but I’ve also got to have the chance to evaluate where we’re at personnel-wise. A lot of people say, and it always bothers me, ‘when you get your kids in.’ I told the team that. … I said, ‘The day I agreed to become the coach, you became my kids.’ Obviously we’re going to recruit guys every year, but they’re my kids as soon as I signed that contract. We’ve got to find what we have and adapt to the things we do. … I’ve got a five-year contract to get it done. I don’t think it’ll take that long, but I think there’s a lot of pieces in place right now.”

What did you learn at Michigan and what would you do differently?:

“I’ve thought about that a lot. Going in, people say, ‘Well, it didn’t work for you at Michigan.’ I still believe it was working, it was just taking longer than I wanted. We went from three to five to seven wins and we thought this year we’d win nine, 10 or 11 and they’re already at that level. Then, Year Five was going to be even better. I just felt we ran out of time. We had a few obstacles in the beginning because there were a whole bunch of misconceptions about ‘This guy’s an outsider and doesn’t understand our tradition.’ … We had to fight that a little bit. … That being said, I think we’ve learned from that. … I think I’m a better coach now than I was three or four years ago when we were the cat’s meow at West Virginia.”

Can you take Arizona where you took West Virginia?:’

“Everybody wants to talk about offense and I was very fortunate to have some dynamic players offensively and did some really neat things. But it’s really more about an attitude and a program and what I call a hard edge. When you play with a hard edge, you can see 11 guys out there playing as hard as they can on every snap. … I love fast players, but I love physical players even moreso. That kind of attitude and culture is something we want to implement immediately.”

Did I hear correctly that you took the job without visiting Tucson?:

“Yep, I sure did. I talked to about probably 10 or 15 people that have either lived there for an extended period of time or spent quite a bit of time there. To a person, every single one of them said it’s a great place to live. If somebody would’ve said, ‘I don’t know about this or that,’ maybe I would’ve said I needed to see it first, but heck, I signed sight unseen.”

Listen to Rich Rodriguez on KTAR in Phoenix here

Williams joined XTRA 910 in Phoenix with Bickley and MJ to talk about what went through his mind in the aftermath of being drafted No. 2 overall in this year’s NBA Draft, if he’s disappointed or upset that he wasn’t taken first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers, how much he thinks his stellar play in last year’s March Madness run with the Arizona Wildcats helped his draft stock, joining a Minnesota Timberwolves squad where he’ll likely have every chance in the world to play right away, whether he heard or read about all the pre-draft rumors about Minnesota potentially trading away the second pick, specifically the one involving the Phoenix Suns moving up to No. 2 and potentially selecting Williams, whether he plans to change his Twitter handle from DWillufA23 to include something Timberwolves related, and how important it was for Arizona to retain head coach Sean Miller so that the Wildcats program can continue to build on the momentum they established last season.

On what’s been going through his mind in the 24 hours since he was drafted No. 2 overall in the 2011 NBA Draft:

“It’s just a great experience for me and myself and also my family, just hearing my name being called by David Stern and walking on that stage and shaking his hand. I think that’s every basketball player’s dream and I’m finally here. I just really felt accomplished at that point.”

If he’s irked at all that he didn’t go No. 1 overall:

“It just shows a lot of motivation striving to be the No. 1 pick. Not everybody can be the No. 1 pick. There’s been a lot of great No. 2 picks — you look at Kevin Durant, he’s a prime example. He didn’t let that discourage him, he just took it as motivation. Whenever you have people like that, you can really learn from people that are older than you and have made it in this league already.”

On how much he thinks the great NCAA Tournament he had helped his draft stock:

“Yeah, I don’t think a lot of people gave our conference the respect we should have had. We had four [teams] in the tournament from our conference, so it was a great year for the Pac 10. I just wanted to represent the school I went to and the whole conference. So them not giving us enough respect, and then beating a powerhouse like Duke, it was a great experience. Even before that, they were saying the Pac 10′s weak, and beating a school like Texas; and then even before that one, beating a Conference USA team like Memphis. So all in all we beat three great teams, and then lost to the champions and we only lost by two and that was a great team. So I think I earned a lot of respect throughout the tournament.”

On joining a young team in Minnesota that he’ll get to play for right away:

“Yeah we’re one of the youngest teams in the league actually, and just adding me to the mix makes our whole team even younger. And whenever you have a great group of guys with fresh legs that want to win more games, it’s really important. There’s no veterans on this team. So everybody just wants to win more games, and when you have young players like that, that just becomes the main goal, the main focus — just to win more. So I think everybody just wants to win.”

If he heard any of the pre-draft rumors that hinted at the possibility of him joining the Suns were they to trade up to the second pick:

“Yeah I heard so many different rumors and things like that. I heard the Lakers rumor, I heard the Phoenix rumor, I’ve heard so many different rumors. That one actually really jumped out to me, that Phoenix trade. But they said they wanted to keep the pick and they want me to be here, so we’ll see. I heard that they wanted to keep me. So at the end of the day, I’m happy where I’m at and just want to get out there and play again.”

If he feels any pressure to uphold the tradition of great Arizona players to go on to productive careers in the NBA:

“Yeah, whenever you go to a great school like Arizona, you’re expected to go to the league and produce, especially if you’re a high draft pick. I think me and Mike Bibby have the highest draft picks ever in the school’s history. It’s up to me to determine, as long as I stay healthy and just keep my focus, I think I can have a good career. And everybody that goes to Arizona is supposed to have a good career, so I don’t want to let anybody down at that school. So they picked me No. 2 for a reason, and hopefully I can do things to live up to that.”

Whether he plans to change his Twitter handle from DWilluofA23 to a new name that includes anything Timberwolves related:

[Laughs] “I’m not going to change that part of it. I may change the length of the name, but I want to keep that U of A in there. I changed my number from 23 to 7, but I want to keep that U of A in there, but we’ll see, hopefully I can.”

On how important he feels it was for Coach Sean Miller to remain at Arizona after the successful season Miller’s Wildcats had last season:

“Yeah it’s really important, especially since we still have a young team. And I think just having a coach there that’s stable. You have older players there that can help the younger guys with all the plays and the defensive strategies and what coach likes. Just things like that. I think that’s really important when you have a coach like that. And when you have a school that’s talking about changing coaches, it really hurts the future of the program, the future recruits that change their mind in the middle of the recruiting process that don’t want to go to Arizona. I don’t want that to ever be the case with a great school like that. I take pride in the school I went to in Arizona and I want all the best recruits to go there. I want a lot of people to go there and be better than me, and win a National Championship, things that I didn’t do.”

Listen here to Williams with Bickley & MJ ON XTRA 910 in Phoenix

Derrick Williams joined ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo to discuss how much thought and care he’s putting into where and how high he’s taken in Thursday’s NBA Draft, his breakout college games as a freshman against Wisconsin and Duke, the different trade scenarios he’s hearing during the lead up to the draft, why picking up and moving to a new city doesn’t sound completely foreign to him, how he sees himself being utilized at the next level and his impressions of the the draft process viewed in its entirety now that it’s almost over.

Does it matter to you what pick you are Thursday night or are you just happy going near the top?:

“I’m just really excited. Whether it be one or two, it really doesn’t matter to me. I’m just blessed to have this opportunity. There’s a small percentage that actually get to be in the talks of a one or two pick.”

On his breakout games against Washington and Duke:

“I think those are probably my two favorite games, the one against Washington where I had a block. A lot of people were just worried about my offensive game but to win a game on the defensive side, that was pretty amazing. And whenever you play a team like Duke, you always want to play your best. They’re one of the best programs in the whole nation. For me to have 25 points at halftime, I still can’t believe it. To have five 3s, the whole time I’m thinking, I really have 25 points right now? It’s crazy.”

What are the different scenarios he’s heard in terms of what happens at the top of the draft?:

“I hear a new thing every day. People say they heard something about the Pacers and Roy Hibbert. I hear Pau Gasol, if I go to number two, me and Kevin Love to the Lakers. I don’t know about that one. Something about the Wizards. I hear about new trades every day, but I just try to stay away from that and whatever happens on draft night is going to happen.”

Is it strange to think that soon you will be picking up your life and moving to a whole new city and you don’t know where?:

“It’s kind of like in high school. I was going to college, going to USC, kind of down the street, only 20 minutes from my house. All of the sudden I decommit and I have the choice to either go to Arizona or Memphis. … I’m from the L.A. area and either way I’m going to be on the east coast. It’s a whole different lifestyle out there. It’s the opportunity I have right now.”

How do you see yourself being used at the next level?:

“Nowadays there’s different types of 3s and 4s. You have hybrid 4s, combo 4s, like Lamar Odom who can get the rebound and push the ball up the court. … I’m a combo forward. I can do many things on the offensive side. Even like Dirk Nowitzki, he’s a forward, but he doesn’t sit in the post all game. He shoots perimeter shots all game. There’s just different types of forwards in the league right now that I think I can take advantage of.”

Has the draft process been fun?:

“Out of high school I was barely in the top 100. So I wake up every day and it’s crazy just to be in this situation. You wake up and turn ESPN on and it’s right there. I think that’s the amazing part of it, but I’m always staying humble and thinking of it as a blessing.”

Listen to Derrick Williams on ESPN Radio here (Interview begins at 32:00)

On the biggest stage and playing against the number one seeded Blue Devils of the West Regional, the Pac-10 Player of the Year was a man amongst boys and dominated the paint on both ends. Simply put Williams was remarkable. His breath-taking dunks, incredible finishes around the basket, three-pointers from what looked like San Francisco, and one-handed rebounds all led to Williams having a career night and Arizona shocking Duke in the Sweet 16. In easily the best performance of the tournament so far, Williams was unguardable and turned out to be the best player on the court last night despite sharing it with a National Player of the Year candidate and a top-three pick in the NBA Draft.

Derrick Williams joined Into the Night with Tony Bruno to talk about the big win over Duke Thursday night, what changed in the second half, how excited the guys are in the locker room, and what Mike Krzyzewski said to him after the game.

Whether or not this is the best win for him at Arizona:

“Yeah this is the best win we’ve had since I’ve been here at Arizona and actually in the last couple of years. Whenever you beat Duke, not only by more than two points or ten points, but we beat them by 16 points and it’s a great feeling. We played hard tonight.”

What changed in the second half:

“We got a lot of stops. I think we led the second half in rebounding 40 to 27. So whenever you can outrebound people and get a lot of stops, you have a good chance of winning. That’s what we like to do. Get stops, push the ball, and get out in the open court.”

How excited the guys are in the locker room:

“Oh yeah. Whenever you’re in the Elite Eight the players are gonna be going crazy. Everybody is excited, we’re playing UConn next, and if we win that game, it’s going to the Final Four. We’re all focused on that and getting this win right here.”

What it was like to be back home:

“It was crazy. My high school being 15 minutes from here and just going back to my high school and practicing there brought back a lot of memories and a lot of wins. It translated to tonight and beating Duke.”

On the message Coach K gave him after the game:

“He just said I have a great talent, I’m a special player, and he looks for me in the future. Don’t take anything for granted and just keep working hard. I took a lot from that so far.”

Listen to Derrick Williams on Into the Night with Tony Bruno here (Audio begins 34:00 into the podcast)

Kyle Singler joined ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt to discuss coming back for his senior season, how he has zero regrets about his decisions and more importantly won’t later in life, how he and fellow senior Nolan Smith talked about repeating as national champs, playing for Coach K, what it was like to get Irving back from injury for the title defense run, and how taxing it is to play through a season with the target on their backs as defending champs.

Given that he could have opted to enter the NBA Draft, what has his senior year been like?:

“It’s been great. My experience at Duke has been kind of everything that I expected. … I did have the option to leave and do something else, but I really wanted to come back and do things that I probably would’ve regretted if I left.”

Has he made sure to soak Senior Night and final memories in?:

“Yeah, those are the moments I did want to experience, the reasons why I came back to school. I felt that, just being a part of Duke, I just really wanted to experience Senior Night, experience my last games, my last moments.”

Have he and Nolan Smith spoken about leaving as back-to-back champions?:

“Of course. Whenever we take the court as a team, our main objective is to win a basketball game. Now that we’re in the tournament, I think we’re in a good spot as a team. We’re playing well. I think winning championships really marks you as a basketball player and just as a sports person. I think we have the team to win another championship.”

Is there a moment or story with Coach K that we might not know but will stick with him?:

“There’s definitely a lot of instances where coaches taught me things, but I think the one thing that I’ve learned from him is Coach prepares for each game like it’s a national championship game. Just his work ethic and the way he prepares for games is something I really respect of him.”

What was it like to get Kyrie Irving back this late in the season?:

“It’s really not that difficult because Kyrie was with us in the beginning of the season and he went through the preseason with us. … Roles, they’re not getting changed much, but with a player like Kyrie and the things that he can do on the basketball court … he’s not going to hurt our team. He’s only going to help.”

How much energy does it take to go through a season where the bull’s-eye is on the back due to being the defending champ?:

“It definitely takes a lot of energy, takes a lot of focus. It kind of just shows Coach’s level of leadership and just his preparation that he makes us understand the value of each game. … I’ve kind of grown up with that my whole life. … I think it’s something our guys are used to.”

Listen to Kyle Singler on ESPN Radio here (Interview starts at 34:00)

Williams has impressed many NBA scouts with many in the media believing he could be the top player taken in the NBA draft this off-season. He attributes the improvement in his game to the work done on his jump shot and being physically stronger down in the lowpost. While the NBA accolades are a nice compliment for Williams, he is focused on bringing Arizona an NCAA tournament title and that journey starts in Pac-10 tournament play this week despite already having a birth sealed for the big dance.

Derrick Williams joined Fox Sports Radio with Petros & Money to discuss how the two losses out in Los Angeles in late February helped prepare his team against Oregon and Oregon State last week, what was the biggest catalyst in the jump of his game from last year to this year,  did he feel like Arizona didn’t get enough attention before Pac-10 tournament play this season, what is motivating Arizona going into Pac-10 tournament play considering they already have locked up an NCAA tournament bid and has he had any discussions regarding his future in the NBA with family or coaches.

How did the week in Los Angeles against USC and UCLA help you guys beat both Oregon teams to finish out the regular season?

“You know it really did help us with a couple of losses. I think we were just a little bit too cocky to be going into L.A. We were a top ten team and you know I just think that we got a little bit too cocky and thought we could beat anyone on our schedule. They had two great game plans and we went down there. You know it was the last game at Pauley Pavilion that they were going to play until they renovate it, so of course they’re going to come in and play hard. We didn’t match their intensity.”

What was the biggest catalyst in the jump of your game from last year to this year?

“Probably you know my jump shot. You know just being physically stronger as well as my jump shot. I think especially playing down low in the post, but stepping out as well. You just gotta be strong in there and just try and finish whenever I can.”

Did you feel like Arizona got enough attention before Pac-10 conference play?

“I don’t think we got enough credit you know. I could see with our record last year, but we only lost one player. And I think we only lose player and add a couple of more pieces to your team. You know I think you have a good chance of turning your program around. You know from the previous year, so I actually think we did do that so far and going from 16-15 to 25-6 so far. I think that’s a great jump.”

What’s motivating you guys in the Pac-10 tournament since you guys have already locked up a spot in the tournament? What’s the rallying cry for the team?

“We haven’t won you know a Pac-10 tournament in a while. I think that’s the main focus right now, even though we are already going to make the tournament. We still want to win the Pac-10 tournament to get that celebration, to get the crowd to rush the court, and I think that’s the main focus right now. It’s a real good focus. You don’t want to go into the tournament with a loss, so you want to win as many games as possible and hopefully carry that momentum into the tournament.”

Have you had any discussions with your family or coaches about your future possibly in the NBA?

“Yeah you know I haven’t really talked to my mom, my sister, my coach about it. I’m not really focused on that [future in the NBA] right now. I want to do as many things as possible at the college level that I possibly can and I had a long list to go before I got to Arizona. I have a few more to accomplish before I want to leave here and one of those is a national championship. You know hopefully we can get that this year and we’ll see what the future holds as soon as the season is over.”

Listen to Derrick Williams on KLAC here

The first meeting with the Huskies was a nightmare for coach Sean Miller and Arizona. Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points, handed out 10 assists and grabbed six rebounds as Washington handed the Wildcats one of just four losses on the season.

Arizona hosts Washington State tonight, but will likely hold a one-game lead over UCLA in the conference standings when it hosts Washington on Saturday. The Huskies entered today 1.5 games back. Win on Saturday and the final two weeks will be one wild ride.

Sean Miller joined KJR in Seattle with Dave “Softy” Mahler to discuss his sophomore sensation Derrick Williams, the race for Pac-10 Player of the Year, the upcoming pivotal weekend in the conference and if he is surprised only one Pac-10 team is ranked.

On sophomore Derrick Williams, who is averaging 19 points and 8 rebounds per game:

“Derrick, he’s a one-man wrecking crew in terms of getting to the foul line. I’ve never been around a player that just has such a knack of getting fouled. You guys know that fouls, on our end it gives us points. But on our opponents’ end, it has a way to getting into a second line of a team and taking good players and putting them on the bench.”

Who is the Pac-10 Player of the Year?:

“I think there’s a few guys, but one of the fun parts with six games, or five games, remaining in the season, to me the champion of the conference has to get the most credit. I think if Washington is able to win our regular season championship … and you look at the role Isaiah Thomas has played, he’d be a heavy favorite. If we would be fortunate to win the conference, you certainly would have to give Derrick Williams a lot of credit. Ditto to UCLA on their end.”

If it feels like a pivotal weekend in Pac-10 play:

“I think it’s a big week for everybody just because you’re no longer dealing with a half a season or a lot of different variables and games left. … You have a lot of information gathered, so to speak, and then you have a four-game season. … We’ll know a lot more after this weekend and who plays well this weekend and is successful will determine the next two weeks.”

Is he surprised only one Pac-10 team is ranked?:

“Yes, but I’ll tell you that I have a feeling that there will be more than one ranked when it means the most, which is in a couple of weeks. … Washington is a great team and they’re a great team nationally. They’ve proven that by winning in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.”

Listen to Sean Miller on KJR in Seattle here

Guess what? Even though he hasn’t played in the league in 15 years, he’s still fiery.

That fact came out on Sunday, when Cecil, now the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans flashed the world’s most popular obscene finger gesture to an official while on the field.

That’s a no-no.

Last weekend’s 7-point win over Iowa has people in Tucson and beyond talking about the Wildcats as a Pac-10 contender. Hell, the ‘Cats jumped 10 spots in the AP poll by virtue of that victory. And while giving predictions, there’s some media down in the Old Pueblo that’s pretty confident about this week’s Pac-10 opener with Cal–a team that beat Arizona last season.

ESPN brought their Gameday crew to Tucson in anticipation of the Oregon-Arizona matchup that had a lot to say about whom would be representing the Pac-10 in Pasadena on January 1st.

The Wildcats took the lead with about 7 minutes to go as Nick Foles found Juron Criner on a 71-yard touchdown pass. As the clock wound down, students hopped over the holding fences at Arizona Stadium in anticipation of the ‘Cats upset win that would keep them in contention for the roses. It wasn’t to be. Oregon scored with :06 left, and pulled the game out in double overtime 44-41. The ‘Cats settled for a trip to the Holiday Bowl and were handed a 33-0 loss by Nebraska.

So where does that leave Mike Stoops’ football team for 2010? That’s a good question. Some think that since Oregon and Oregon State, who are favored to win the conference, are both breaking in new quarterbacks and since USC is on probation, that this is the Wildcats’ year. Others think they’ll be a decent middle of the conference team. More on that later.

The Wildcats are breaking in new coordinators on both sides of the football. Former O.C. Sonny Dykes bolted to take the head coaching job at Louisiana Tech while Mark Stoops, who ran Arizona’s defense, now holds the defensive coordinator title at Florida State. Mike Stoops chose to bring in co-coordinators on both sides of the ball. Seth Littrell and Bill Bedenbaugh take over the offense. Bedenbaugh has been with Arizona since 2007 and coached at Texas Tech with Dykes before that. Littrell joined Arizona’s staff last season and was in charge of running backs and tight ends. Before that, he was also a staff member at Texas Tech.

On the defensive side, Greg Brown and Tim Kish will be calling the shots. Brown is a veteran coach (he actually has USFL coaching experience!), but is getting his first crack at being a coordinator after nearly 30 years of coaching, including the last four at the University of Colorado. Kish has been on Arizona’s staff since 2004 and has coordinator experience at Illinois, Ohio and Indiana.

Nick Foles headlines an offense that didn’t lose much talent from last year’s team. Foles, a backup to start the season, took over the starting job from Matt Scott in the 4th game of last year, and didn’t let up once he got it, throwing for 2,486 yards and 19 touchdowns while going 6-4 as the starter. Scott is also back in the fold and offers the Wildcats a lot more mobility from the QB position, leaving the possibility he’ll be used in certain situations. All three of the ‘Cats’ top running backs return as well, including Nic Grigsby, who was limited to just 79 carries in 2010 because of injuries. Keola Antolin is a solid backup and Greg Nwoko gives the Wildcats one of the deeper groups of tailbacks in the league.

The receiving corps does lose a few starters. Delashaun Dean was arrested on a gun charge and was kicked out of school, Terrell Turner has moved on and H-Back Chris Gronkowski is now fighting to make an NFL roster. But there’s plenty of talent back, led by star in the making Juron Criner, Dave Roberts, David Douglas, Bug Wright and Travis Cobb along with starting tight end A.J. Simmons.

On the line, Colin Baxter returns at center for his senior season. The Second Team All-Pac-10 performer has started 37 games in his Arizona career. Adam Grant, who started every game at right tackle in ’09, switches to the left side, where he’ll team with left guard Conan Amituanai, who started the first five games of last season at right guard. On the right side will be guard Vaughn Dotsy and tackle Phillip Garcia, both part-time starters last year.

Most of the questions surrounding the Wildcats are on defense, where they lost five of their starting front seven from a year ago. Senior defensive ends Ricky Elmore and Brooks Reed are back after combining for 12.5 sacks in 2009. All three linebackers are new this season in Jake Fischer, Derek Earls and Paul Vassallo. And the ‘Cats lost half of the steadiest secondary in the Pac-10 as corner Devin Ross and safety Cam Nelson extinguished their eligibility. Back are corner Trevin Wade and Robert Golden, a superb athlete who moves from safety to the other corner spot.

Lou Groza Award nominee Alex Zendejas is back for placekicking duties and punter Keenyn Crier returns for his 15th year in Tucson (ok, that’s not true, but it seems like that doesn’t it?)

Is this the season that the Wildcats finally break their 32-year drought and finally make it to the Rose Bowl?

I have to admit, coming off back-to-back 8-win bowl seasons, and with everything else that’s happening in the conference, that might increase the Wildcats’ chances of getting to Pasadena. But ultimately, I still think there’s too many questions about their defense, in particular their linebackers for the ‘Cats to do it this season. Don’t get me wrong, the Wildcats will go bowling for the third straight season, it just won’t be the big one.

Arizona Wildcats At A Glance

Head Coach: Mike Stoops, 7th year at Arizona (33-39)
Offensive Coordinators: Bill Bedenbaugh and Seth Littrell
Defensive Coordinators: Greg Brown and Tim Kish
Record in 2009: 8-5 Overall, 6-3 Pac-10
Record in Last 5 Years: 30-31 Overall, 21-23 Pac-10
Bowl Games in Last 5 Years: Lost to Nebraska in 2009 Holiday Bowl, Beat BYU in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl

Top Offensive Players: QB Nick Foles, C Colin Baxter, WR Juron Criner, RB Nic Grigsby
Top Defensive Players: DE Brooks Reed, DE Ricky Elmore, CB Trevin Wade, CB Robert Golden

Distinguished Non-Football Alumni:
• Denise Austin – fitness guru/television host
• Samaire Armstrong – dated E on first season of Entourage, when it was still good
• Bob Baffert – decorated thoroughbred trainer
• Jerry Bruckheimer – powerful Hollywood type
• Dennis DeConcini – U.S. Senator
• Bob Dole – Former U.S. Senator
• George Gray – Former host of “The Weakest Link” – the one that wasn’t a rude, red-headed female Brit
• Greg Kinnear – has appeared in every motion picture produced since 2002
• Linda McCartney – late wife of music legend
• Craig T. Nelson – actor/ Mr. Incredible
• Linda Ronstadt – Grammy Award-winning recording artist
• Geraldo Rivera – television host
• Ron Shelton – film director
• Gary Shandling – comedian/actor
• Kristen Wiig – SNL castmember/possibly the funniest woman on the planet

Some Not-So-Distinguished non-Football Alumni
• Khloe Kardashian – no comment
• Nicole Richie – still no comment

Things will be ok if: The Wildcats get off to a quick start in Pac-10 play by beating Cal and Oregon State in Tucson.

Sure sign of trouble: The new corps of linebackers doesn’t cut the mustard, causing strife on defense.

Projected Record: 7-5 Overall, 5-4 Pac-10

Thirteen months later, some pics have surfaced that have some people speculating. About what? That’s open for interpretation.

You’d be wrong.

Legendary former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian is still at–still taking shots at Arizona in a “Where are they now?” article in the current issue of Sports Illustrated.

Thursday marked another Pac-10 Media Day in Southern California. Except this time, the festivities weren’t held at the Airport Sheraton. This year, the pomp and circumstance went down at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

Arizona head coach Mike Stoops, whose team was picked to finish fifth by the Pac-10 media in a preseason poll released Thursday, was joined by junior quarterback Nick Foles and both men faced the Pac-10 media, which included Fanster.com’s very own Michael Kossett.

Stoops talked about his team, including how he thinks the Wildcats will respond from their 33-0 drubbing at the hands of Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl, the changes to the ‘Cats coaching staff, his quarterback Nick Foles and much more.

Michael then caught up with ‘Cats signal caller Nick Foles, who was one of four Pac-10 quarterback to visit the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut on Wednesday, joining Washington’s Jake Locker, USC’s Matt Barkley and Stanford’s Andrew Luck.

Foles, who started his college career at ASU, before transferring to Michigan State and then ultimately Arizona, began the 2009 season on the bench behind Matt Scott. But when Scott faltered, Foles eased very nicely into the quarterback position the rest of the way, throwing for 2,486 yards and 19 touchdowns in leading the Wildcats to their second straight bowl appearance.

Sure it was leaked over a month ago as somebody snapped a picture of it on the field at Autzen Stadium–but the Pac-10 took the wraps off of their new logo and unveiled their new website today.

First thought…does this mean the name of the conference and the logo won’t be changing over the next two seasons when Utah and Colorado become full conference members? Otherwise, why do you spend resources on revamping your logo and online entity only to have to do it again a year later?

It’ll become one of those weird trivia questions. How many teams are in the Pac-10? Answer: 12. Ouch my head hurts.

Check out the new Pac-10.org here and watch the dramatic unveiling trailer here.

It’s a big week for the conference, as today, in addition to the logo and website, new commissioner Larry Scott is conducting the first-ever east coast media day for the conference (take that east coast bias!). Wednesday, it’s on to Bristol, Connecticut to make nice with the folks at ESPN, and Thursday is the annual Pac-10 Media Day held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The former University of Arizona ace, who led the Wildcats to a national championship in 2001, is calling it a career to focus more on her family.

Anthony Gimino of TucsonCitizen.com has the scoop.

You always hear pundits from the South that their brand of football is the best, and they thumb their noses at the Pac-10 for their perceived lack of passion.

And guess what? Gameday atmosphere is different on the left coast, but that doesn’t mean there’s none.

Arizona head coach Mike Stoops believes there is some atmosphere in the Pac-10…and he believes Arizona Stadium offers up the 2nd-best in the conference (behind Oregon). Stoops revealed this in an interview with Fox 11 in Tucson last week.

Looking at the statistics, he may have a point. Arizona ranked third in the Pac-10 in percentage of seats filled (90.9%), behind only Oregon (108.4%) and Oregon State (92.7%).

Here’s the entire list:

There’s certainly a buzz in Tucson about football again as the Wildcats have reeled off two straight bowl appearances for the first time since 1997 and 1998. We’ll see if Stoops and his Wildcats can keep the forward momentum going in 2010.

Linebacker Ricky Hunley, safety Chuck Cecil, cornerbacks Antoine Cason, Chris McAlister and Daryll Lewis, kicker Steve McLaughlin and and defensive lineman Rob Waldrop will all be honored during the game.

However, the players uniform numbers will still be able to be used by current and future Wildcats. Doesn’t that kinda defeat the purpose of retiring the jerseys? Sounds more like a “Ring of Honor” type thing.

Oh well, read more about it on AZStarnet.com.