Not bowl-or-bust: The reason Mike Stoops' job at Arizona is not on the line
by K_Zim on Aug 18, 2011 12:28 PM PDT
in Arizona Wildcats Football
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PrintSo I've been slacking with my posting duties for the slightly understandable reason of moving. I spent the past wild week by hauling all my crap from New York, to Phoenix and then to Tucson. When I got to the Old Pueblo for what will hopefully be my last semester at Arizona -- not that I don't like it here, but I'm down to become a big boy and get one of those job things -- I realized that little has changed. OK, so the Papa John's in the Park Student Union is gone and the glut of freshmen moving into some fancy new dorms look even younger than last year.
But it's Tucson; there's no freeways or Ikeas popping up. Hell, my apartment I'm moving into just so happened to be the same one my mother lived in when she went to the UofA in the 1970s. Kinda weird. Point is, it's still the same ol' Tucson.
Unfortunately for the football team (and I guess fortunately for the basketball team) their places in the sports landscape usually turns out to be consistent and unhinging as well.
This season, it's sorta daunting to begin the football schedule with the same teams that blew the whistle on a 7-1, Top-10 team in 2010. If you've followed along on the blog, you'll notice that I'm holding strong to my expectations of a 7-5 record by the regular season's end, most recently of which I predicted for a preview with Go Mighty Card, a Stanford blog. It's hard to stick with it considering all the conversations I have with people both more negative and more positive than I.
Though trying to remain objective, I could quite possibly be overly optimistic.
But I hold my belief because every year in Mike Stoops' tenure, the Wildcats take tiny steps forward. I know, last year was a disappointment and hardly a step forward following the Holiday Bowl run a year prior, one that was successful outside the beatdown at the hands of Nebraska to end the season
Yet, Stoops has never taken any large steps backward. How often in Arizona do the Wildcats make three consecutive bowl games anyhow? It's a question of consistency that Stoops has built from season to season. Now the question before this year is whether 2011 will be a far cry from 2010. It could go either way, too. The numbers and scheduling don't bode well for the Wildcats, so by "far cry," I ask whether this team could revert back to the first three years of the Stoops era record-wise. I also ask whether the Wildcats could surprise on the frontend of the schedule and jump into elite status should the kicking game and offensive line rise over the poor expectations.
Or like the city of Tucson, will we see another 7-5, 6-6 or 5-7 season? There's no easy answers in a reshaped conference and oddball of a schedule. Either way, I hold strong with my prediction of 7-5 for the sake of consistency.
Like the city of Tucson, Stoops has been, for seasons as wholes, largely consistent although incrementally improving in his results. Until it's clear he can improve no more and until it's clear there's a better candidate to hire at Arizona, where football has never been known to make three bowl games in a row (I know there's more bowl games now, but it's not like the Wildcats have appeared in three Potato Bowls), no jobs should be lost.
Dick Tomey couldn't take the Wildcats to three in a row, which makes me think that Stoops is here to stay.
DO YOU THINK MIKE STOOPS' JOB IS ON THE LINE THIS YEAR?
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No one is responding, which is unfortunate. But frankly this blog has really more of a basketball feel to it
Which is part of the reason. Before Lute Olson, the basketball team was in similar fashions to the football team. So yes, in my opinion, Stoops should have his ass handed to him if the team is not much better than last year’s team (and frankly it should have happened last year).
Incremental progress – in a fast moving world – is standing still. If Oregon can accomplish what it has (and likewise Stanford – assuming their success continues), then Arizona can and should do better.
As an aside, I was in Tucson over Memorial Day weekend. A lot of things do look similar (Gentle Ben’s, much of the housing on Euclid or University) but there’s a number of fraternities and sororities torn down for parking (or converted, such as the Parker House), lots of buildings that didn’t exist in the 90s, lots of new businesses (the main gate is VASTLY different).
I'd rather be surfing.
by Pac 10 Alum on Aug 19, 2011 4:50 PM PDT reply actions
Team needs to bowl
Agreed Stoops won’t be seeking another gig if this team doesn’t bowl, but that probably has more to do with the fan base’s attitude toward football than anything. This year’s offense, even with the O-line departures, should be the best in program history. SHOULD be. Whether or not that comes to fruition will tell a lot.
Most of this mediocre season talk stems from the initial stretch, and while I think OSU and UO are both overall a lot better, Stanford with a new coach and in Arizona Stadium is winnable. USC is overrated. Hell, even Oregon always gets fits in Tucson. The Pac-12 South is an attainable goal, but the program needs to buy into that.
Should UA not get six wins (frankly, anything fewer than eight should be considered a disappointment), there’s a great coach in Miami who will probably be seeking employment elsewhere. Just sayin’.
I do think this is a basketball school
And maybe that keeps the expectations for football down. Still, I think building an elite football program takes time. Maybe Stoops has used all that up, maybe not … But I think Greg Byrne has the mindset that, like the SEC he came from, profitability in football is something that Arizona is lacking.
I think he’s going to try to make this a football school. Stability (aka keeping Stoops for a little while longer even through struggles) might be an answer. Maybe I’m wrong. Either way, the hoops program will take care of itself. So now you must ask whether Stoops has peaked … I don’t think he has, even if this season doesn’t turn out too well.
Arizona being a basketball school is a Lute Olson thing
I am very proud and happy that he came here and built that tradition.
I’d be even more proud to see something similar happen with football. I used to work the football games, trust me – Arizona was NOT a basketball school when your Mom was here NOR when I was here (and well before all that). Arizona has a proud tradition in football and needs to own that and the fan base needs to own that as well.
I'd rather be surfing.
by Pac 10 Alum on Aug 22, 2011 7:29 AM PDT up reply actions
Byrne's got the right idea
Tucson is never going to be a “Football Town” as hoops is so ingrained in the culture, but I like Byrne’s pursuit of getting the two on equally footing. Arizona has the fan base and culture to be elite in both, and it seems like he’s the first AD to pursue that; in my time, at least.
I don’t believe Stoops has peaked either. He’s made good personnel moves around him, which shows maturity, and he’s recruited very well at positions UA traditionally hasn’t (namely offensive line and quarterback). I believe a lot of people forget just how dire the situation was when he took over. That last Mackovic team was sub-Washington State bad, because at least the Cougs are competitive.
Stoops changed the mentality immediately. Now it’s just a matter of getting over that hump from good to elite.
I’d agree letting Stoops go now amid the longest bowl streak in program history is the wrong move, but I am nervous about excuses being made before the season even begins. Though, those are coming from pundits and fans and not the program itself so we’ll see how the team takes on that first stretch of games.
Not sure
I hope Stoops gets this program on stronger footing. Granted, we’ve made improvements from the Mackovic era, but who wouldn’t after how far we’d fallen? I still see the team make crucial mistakes at the worst times and they’ve been destroyed in the last two bowls. I’m just not sure Stoops can get us to the next level. And let’s be honest here: nobody is expecting Arizona to compete for the Rose Bowl every year, but we have to eventually get there. Our athletics program has done a lot but that is a MISSING piece and it bothers me to no end. I trust Byrne and I hope the football team takes another step forward, but I’m cautious about it. I don’t think firing Stoops would make us better right now; I just don’t know if he’s going to take us to another level than where we are (a middle-of-the-pack team).
~Tommy~
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