When the Arizona Wildcats were shaking up the defensive coaching staff last year, they reportedly tried to hire alum Joe Salave’a away from Washington State. Well, as of Monday night, it appears the Oregon Ducks are on the verge of doing what Arizona couldn’t do and get Salave’a out of The Palouse. Football Scoop reported later Monday night that it indeed will happen. Salave’a was extended by Washington State through 2019 late last month. All Willie Taggart has done is poach some of the best assistants in the conference, and could also bring in Alabama’s offensive line coach. Oh, and maybe Braxton Burmeister too. Taggart is making his mark early on

- It was a busy afternoon for Arizona football news. We already knew that Anu Solomon and Cody Ippolito were transferring, but they picked Baylor and Utah respectively. We didn’t know John Kenny was going to leave the team, and that’s just another blow to the middle of Arizona’s defense

- Before all this happened, ESPN pinned linebacker as the Wildcats’ position of need this offseason. Yep

- During the Alabama/Clemson game, the ref got a lot of social media attention, but hey, he looks like RichRod’s older brother

Basketball

- Arizona plays ASU this week, so let’s check in on House of Sparky’s Pac-12 Power Rankings

- Will Allonzo Trier play on Thursday? Doesn’t seem likely. Will Parker Jackson-Cartwright start? Maybe

- After the home sweep, the Wildcats moved up another spot in the rankings

Baseball

- Arizona hired former ASU pitching coach Brandon Higelin in a developmental role

- Kevin Newman will be in Pirates Major League camp as a non-roster invitee

- No Wildcats were named to Perfect Game’s Preseason All-American teams. Not really a lot of Pac-12 on there in general

Other sports

- Softball began spring practice on Monday. Baseball will start up on Wednesday. Here’s some video from Hillenbrand

Tucson news

- Auld Dubliner is closed. All the more reason to only go to No Anchovies from now on

- An unmanned train crashed into the border fence in Nogales

- The vandalism at Pueblo HS is going to cost TUSD about a quarter of a million dollars

- Another massive residential complex is coming to downtown. This one will be at Broadway and Stone