"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Hall of Fame coach talks to Memphis in locker room after win

TUCSONCITIZEN.COM LINK OF INTEREST: Gimino: Ranking the biggest home games in Arizona football history

By Anthony Gimino and Javier Morales

Lute Olson and a Memphis fan pose for this photo taken Friday before Tennessee Tech played Memphis

Former UA coach Lute Olson followed through on his promise to visit his protege Josh Pastner as he attended Memphis’ game with Tennessee Tech on Friday night. The Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote this about Olson’s visit: Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson, who brought Pastner to Arizona as a player and then hired him as an assistant coach, was in attendance Friday. Olson was in the Tigers’ locker room after the game and spoke briefly to the team. The 75-year old Olson retired from coaching in October of 2008. “This guy has 780 wins, he’s in the Hall of Fame, 24 consecutive years he took Arizona to the NCAA Tournament and from 1988-2005 had more players in the NBA and at one time than anyone,” Pastner said. “He was great. I’m glad he was here. I’ve been fortunate to learn under a guy like him.” Olson reportedly received an ovation from the Memphis fans. …

This should be interesting: Olson is staying in Memphis for the weekend and is slated to attend the Bucks-Grizzlies game Saturday night. Former UA guard Damon Stoudamire is an assistant coach with the Grizzlies. Milwaukee features former UA recruit and current NBA phenom Brandon Jennings, who Olson and Pastner recruited to Arizona. You know the rest: Jennings never qualified academically, and Olson went on a leave of absence because he was going through a heated divorce. Jennings eventually played professionally in Italy. It will be interesting to see if Olson and Jennings say their hellos. They always maintained a decent relationship. It’s just that their paths unfortunately did not cross. … Last week, we asked you to contribute questions to a Matt Minkus‘ podcast interview radioexiles.com with Memphis coach Josh Pastner. He did, indeed, fit in some of your suggestions. Was he approached by Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood during the school’s coaching search last spring? “At of all honesty, I talked to Mr. Livengood once and he let me know to hang on and another time he let me know that they were looking in another direction. I understood that. I think Mr. Livengood made a tremendous hire with Sean Miller.” Regarding Pastner’s year as an assistant under interim head coach Kevin O’Neill – when everybody was thrust into an uncomfortable situation — Pastner said of O’Neill’s style: “Everybody does it different. That is just a fact. … There is no exact way. There is no wrong way or right way. He was the head coach and I was his assistant, and as an assistant, your responsibilities and loyalties are to always back the head coach. If he wanted me to run a lap around the court, I would have done that because he was the boss man.” You can listen to the entire podcast at radioexiles.com and Minkus also started blogging this week at TucsonCitizen.com. …

We know of Sean Miller‘s dislike for discussion of his dribbling exhibition on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” when he was a kid, so he probably won’t be thrilled to hear there’s another, even worse, video of his childhood exploits out there. And it belongs to his next opponent, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Miller performed a ball-handling routine — in a Superman costume — at the Wisconsin Fieldhouse when he was 9. Ryan helped organize the event. “So Sean had this cape flying behind him with the tights on, and I have video,” Ryan told the Journal Sentinel. “And I sent Sean a copy of this. Just see the smile on the kids, the kids had a great time. And Sean and his dad were there and he did some ball handling and some shooting and did some things. And it was very well received. And that’s how I first met Sean Miller.” … Word is that Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount, suspended after the season opener for punching a Boise State player, will play tonight against Arizona. Big deal. Arizona probably would rather take its chances with a potentially rusty Blount than speedy redshirt freshman LaMichael James, who has five games of more than 150 rushing yards this season. Blount was reinstated before last week’s game, but did not play. …

Arizona’s bowl possibilities are all over the map, from the Rose Bowl if it wins three games to possibly being left out of the Pac-10′s contracted bowls if it loses all three games. For that latter scenario to happen, UCLA would have to sweep ASU and USC to finish at 7-5, giving the Pac-10 six winning teams, while the Wildcats would be 6-6. The most likely possibility, of course, is somewhere in the middle. Among the more intriguing possibilities are the Holiday Bowl or Sun Bowl, where each bowl could maneuver for an Arizona-Oklahoma matchup: Mike Stoops vs. Bob Stoops. Neither brother has wanted the schedule the other, but if the meeting occurs in a bowl, well, “Wouldn’t matter,” Bob Stoops told the Daily Oklahoman. “We’d go play Arizona. What’s to hate about it?” Bob added: “In the end, both of us would prefer not to. That’s fair to say. But it would make it easy on my mom to see both of us.” … Good to see ex-Cat Chris McAlister get back into the NFL, signing this week with the unbeaten New Orleans Saints. McAlister, who missed most of the past two seasons with knee injuries, practiced full speed all week and has a chance of being active this week for the Saints, who have a need at cornerback. … Olson won our poll for who you want to see pick the games with the GameDay crew, but of course, he is in Memphis. ESPN went with Amanda Beard, who is a solid choice. Beard is a former UA swimmer who is a four-time Olympian and now a saucy model. …

Oregon has scored at least 42 points in each of six Pac-10 games in which quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has played. The Ducks scored 45 in the first half against Arizona last season. “They’re difficult to defend and they are going to put you in a bind,” said defensive coordinator Mark Stoops. Typically, in the read-option game, the quarterback reads the defensive end and then makes a decision on whether to hand off or keep the ball. Mark Stoops said Oregon’s offense has evolved past that, just another reason why the Ducks are so hard to defend. “They’re very interesting and very innovative in what they do,” he said. “The pressure used to be on the ends, now they put the same pressure on nose guard, the three-technique, the ‘backers and the ends. They zone read everybody. It’s going to take a great effort.” … Stoops praised the physical running of Masoli, which makes him different than ex-Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon. “I would say Dixon was a little flashier at times and a little bit more difficult to defend in the open field,” Stoops said. “But Masoli just gets it done. He is very streaky. He is very physical. Masoli is stronger (than Dixon).” …

Former UA quarterback Bobby Watters and his 7-year-old daughter Emily

Where are they now? We managed to touch base with a couple of former UA football players recently, both residing in Dallas: Doug Pfaff and Bobby Watters. Pfaff is the place-kicker who beat Oklahoma in 1989 with a field goal with 2 seconds remaining at Arizona Stadium. Watters is the SMU quarterback who transferred to Arizona to operate Dick Tomey’s hybrid wishbone and run-and-shoot offense. … Pfaff’s field goal gave the UA a 6-3 win over the sixth-ranked Sooners. It was Tomey’s first victory over a Top-20 club. The Wildcats drove 37 yards on 12 plays — yes, only 37 yards on 12 plays mostly because of penalties — to give Pfaff room for the winning 40-yard kick. Pfaff currently is a businessman with Windsor Industries. “We manufacture janitorial equipment, some used at the U of A,” Pfaff said. … Watters says he is operating the sales division for a managed care company. He added that he spends a lot of time with his 7-year-old daughter “and ride my Harley when I have time to do so.” Watters had one year of eligibility remaining in 1987 when SMU was served the death penalty by the NCAA for serious recruiting violations. Tomey was hired that year to replace Larry Smith and he and new offensive coordinator Ben Griffith got Watters to transfer to Arizona. Watters suffered a broken thumb three games into his first season with the Cats. Arizona gained a medical hardship year for him and he returned the following season. When asked if he missed operating the wishbone and run and shoot, Watters answered: “I can’t say that I miss the wishbone part of the run and shoot.” Although he only played a couple of years, Watters developed a respect and appreciation for Tomey, who retired from coaching this week. “The things about Coach Tomey that come to mind is his attention to detail and how much he cared about his players as individuals,” Watters said. “He tried to teach us life lessons in addition to simply playing football.” …

Friday Night Lights: Straying a bit here from current UA recruits who have committed to the Wildcats, we must address the kind of game CDO’s Ka’Deem Carey had Friday night against Glendale Apollo in the Class 4A playoffs. He rushed for 427 yards and six touchdowns in the Dorados’ 63-35 victory. A note of interest: Former UA greats Ricky Hunley, Julius Holt and Randy Robbins were in attendance. Robbins’ son Josh is one of Carey’s teammates. Carey is being recruited by the Wildcats and Oregon among others. Although the Ducks are in town, none of their coaches were seen in the stands at the game. … Allen (Texas) quarterback Matt Brown will lead his team into a Texas state semifinal game against Southlake Carroll at the Cowboys’ new stadium Saturday night at 7 p.m. Tucson time. In last week’s 35-0 victory over Irving Nimitz, Brown threw four touchdown passes and engineered four consecutive touchdown drives to start the game.

FOLLOW US BY CLICKING ON THE LOGOS:

Please help this site keep going: Please remember to visit the ads on this site. Thanks.

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites

Tags: Amanda Beard, Bobby Watters, Doug Pfaff, Josh Pastner, Lute Olson

WILDABOUTAZCATS.com (RSS) Feeds