The Livengood File
By Javier Morales
UA athletic director Jim Livengood arguably had a 4-2 record when hiring coaches for the men’s programs.
The hits: Mike Stoops in football, Andy Lopez in baseball, James Li in men’s cross country and Tad Berkowitz with men’s tennis.
The misses: His most significant blunder was hiring John Mackovic to head the football program in 2000. His hire of baseball coach Jerry Stitt to replace the legendary Jerry Kindall was not successful and Stitt eventually was forced out.
Although the hire of Sean Miller looks extremely promising with his first recruiting class and an excellent track record at Xavier, he has not had enough time to prove himself as the men’s basketball coach at Arizona.
In an act of fairness, and to set the entire record straight, I researched Livengood’s hiring for the women’s side.
Granted, none of the women’s teams are revenue sports such as men’s basketball and football, and senior associate athletic director Kathleen LaRose probably has as much to do with these hires as Livengood. However, Livengood has given his stamp of approval on all of them.
The final tally for the women’s coaching hires: 6-4. NOTE: I didn’t figure new UA women’s basketball coach Niya Butts or second-year golf coach Shelly Haywood into the equation. They have not been around long enough to evaluate.
The 6-4 women’s hiring record indicates that Livengood’s overall record for hires at Arizona is arguably 10-6.
The women’s hiring wins:
Rick LaRose. Livengood assigned the long-time men’s golf coach to the women’s position in 1994 instead of hiring other candidates. LaRose won a national title with the women in 1996.
Todd McCorkle. After relieving LaRose of his duties with the women in 1997, McCorkle coached the UA to the 2000 national title. He left to take the Georgia position after that championship.
Greg Allen. McCorkle’s replacement won two Pac-10 golf titles and the Cats finished runner-up for the 2002 national title. He was replaced by Haywood in 2007 after leaving for the Vanderbilt job.
Bill Ryder. The 11-year gymnastics coach has adequately replaced long-time coach Jim Gault, keeping the Cats’ 22-year postseason streak alive.
Vicky Maes. Two years after Maes’ hire, the UA won the Pac-10 women’s tennis title in 2003, its first such championship since 1994.
Stephanie London. She replaced long-time tennis coach Becky Bell in 1997 and took the UA to consecutive NCAA tournaments before having to resign for personal reasons.
The losses:
Lisa Fraser and Cathy Klein. The first two coaches in the soccer program’s history failed to lead the Wildcats to a winning record. Klein was hired from Iowa State of all places, not exactly a hotbed of soccer talent.
Brad Dancer. The tennis coach in 1999-2000 had an overall record of 16-26 before running away to the Fresno State job.
Dan Tobias. The UA soccer team failed to achieve a winning record in its first 10 years of existence until Tobias coached the Cats to an improbable Pac-10 title in 2004, only his second season in Tucson. However, in recent years, player revolts and personnel issues demised Tobias’ program and he was forced to quit midway through this season when the UA was 3-9-1. That’s three women’s soccer coaches: Three poor results in the long run for Livengood.
Overall: 19 hires, 10 of them successful for Livengood at Arizona. Good? Bad? I say: Average.
Livengood has not been forced to make hires in men’s hoops before this year, when he inked Miller, and also swimming and diving (Frank Busch and Michele Mitchell), men’s golf (LaRose), softball (Mike Candrea), men’s and women’s track and field (Fred Harvey), and volleyball (David Rubio). He inherited those coaches and they are still coaching.
Livengood terminated two coaches: John Mackovic in football and Joan Bonvicini in women’s basketball. He has forced five to resign: Dick Tomey in football, Jerry Stitt in baseball, Frase, Klein and Tobias. Noteworthy: Mackovic, Fraser, Klein and Tobias left amid turmoil with their respective players.
Tags: Livengood
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December 4th, 2009 at 7:43 PM
[...] A rundown of his UA hires can be accessed by clicking on this WILDABOUTAZCATS.com link. [...]