Coach wild card for Wildcats
Rodriguez’s innovative ways keep Arizona in mix in tough division.
— Great expectations define our football landscape. The Arizona Cardinals believe they are playing for a ring. The Arizona State Sun Devils are talking national championship. When training camp arrives, football fever will reach unprecedented levels.
But aren’t we forgetting something?
“Our guys are pretty excited, too,” Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. “We have a lot of confifidence. And even though last season didn’t end the way we wanted, our guys got a taste of it. There’s no reason why we can’t win another (Pac-12) South title.”
Rodriguez is the wild card in what might be the toughest division in college football. He has one of the most innovative minds in the game. His career comeback is one of the better stories in the nation. For the fifirst time in four years at Arizo-
na, he will have a returning quarterback (Anu Solomon) to work with.
The latter makes things very interesting.
“We’re going to do what we do anyway, but now we can do a little more,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve found that doing more isn’t always the best thing in football, but I think we can do things a little faster with the experience that Anu has and the experience the group has.”
After bottoming out at Michigan, Rodriguez is reaffirming his status as an impact coach. He has won 26 games in his first three seasons at Arizona, the best three-year run the school has seen in four decades. His most recent team finished 10-4, staggering home with disappointing losses in the Pac12 championship game and Fiesta Bowl.
Rodriguez was angry in the postgame news conference after the bowl loss to Boise State, and some thought it was a show of poor sportsmanship. Others saw a guy burning to reach the top once again, only to lose his footing near the apex, and privately vowing he’d never let that happen again.
“I don’t think we played nearly as well as we could have in the championship game and the bowl game,” he said. “That falls on me.”
But that was yesterday, and tomorrow is full of promise. Just like Arizona State coach Todd Graham, Rodriguez is charming, funny and highly entertaining. Their unspoken rivalry is among the best in the sport.
Graham seems to be a better overall recruiter and a better motivator. The discipline he cultivates is on par with the service academies, a stunning accomplishment given the natural distractions at Arizona State.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez is more accomplished, more revolutionary and more likely to develop lesser talent. A recent report said Rodriguez is actually beating Graham in the battle for in-state recruits, although neither man is getting his hands on the truly elite homegrown talent.
“We’re both trying hard,” Rodriguez said. “We always try in-state first and make them tell us no. And that’s what they’re telling us. They’re telling us no. But it’s frustrat- ing when they tell us no without visiting. Just come down to Tucson and give us a chance. Give us a shot.
“I could see why before (Rodriguez arrived in Tucson), because the facilities were awful and you couldn’t see a true commitment to football. But now there’s a brand new facility, a great atmosphere and great buy-in from everybody. The plan is taking place right now. But it’s always going to be a challenge. It’s never going to be an easy job. And that’s OK. It just means you have to work smarter, more efficiently.”
Rodriguez’s current mission is to get tougher and deeper. He’s built a pipeline for Louisiana talent, recruiting the surplus of kids who don’t make the cut at LSU. He says his team is embracing the 3:30 p.m. practices that begin in mid-August, believing it makes them uniquely prepared for the rigors of a regular season.
Rodriguez is also challenging himself. He is one of the forefathers of the spread offense and one of the best at self-scouting his operation, using his intellect to detect his weaknesses. He feels compelled to spawn something new and visionary, to push the envelope even further.
“It’s such a competitive profession,” Rodriguez said. “More and more people are doing the same things we’re doing. We’re not as different as we were 10 years ago. So how do we separate ourselves? (What) can give us an edge? I spend a lot of time thinking about that. And I tend to think outside the box more than most coaches.”
No one knows what ideas might be forthcoming, but there will be new wrinkles. Better yet for Wildcats fans, Rodriguez probably has at least another two years in Tucson, where his son, Rhett, will be a junior quarterback in high school.
Rodriguez is deeply vested in his son’s future, and the two are about to hit the quarterback camp circuit, including a stop at the famous Manning Passing Academy.
“He’s got a chance,” Rodriguez said. “He’s more mature than I am, and he’s smarter than I am.”
Smarter? Highly doubtful. And that’s why the Arizona head coach is the X factor in the Pac-12 South, especially with the luxury of a returning quarterback.