Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Lute most influential person to Terry

Terry: Lute 'the most influential person in my life'; no snub intended 

After the halftime video tribute to Jason Terry during Thursday’s USC-Arizona basketball game, he was told he had roughly three minutes to give a speech that would’ve required 10 minutes to say all he wanted to say.

So in a rush, he didn’t say a word about Lute Olson, who was standing a few feet to his side.

By Friday afternoon, it had become Topic A in Tucson: Did Terry diss Olson? And why?

The easiest guess was that Terry has always been close to former UA assistant coach Jim Rosborough, who was shockingly fired in what proved to be a career-ending goof up by Olson in 2007. Terry insisted that Rosborough be on the court during Thursday’s ceremony; Rosborough and Olson remain estranged. They stood far apart near center court.

After Terry flew to Houston on Friday, preparing for that night’s Houston Rockets-Dallas Mavericks game, he became aware of the growing controversy.

Here’s what he told me: He couldn’t beat the clock. Time ran out before he could properly thank everyone.

“Coach Olson has been the most influential person in my life, on and off the court,” he said. “From the first day I set foot on the UA campus, Coach O has been more than just a coach to me. He’s been a father figure, mentor and my guiding light.”

In his long NBA career, Terry has been coached by Hall of Famers Lenny Wilkens, Don Nelson and now Kevin McHale.

So what he says about Olson carries significant weight.

“Lute instilled the core values of sacrifice, discipline and patience in me, and those very values are why I am the husband, father, and role model I am today,” Terry told me.

“Since I’ve left the UA, Lute has never stopped supporting me. Whether it’s been late-night phone conversations about the previous game, court-side appearances at my NBA games, or just a friendly email to say ‘Hi,’ he’s always been there for me.

“I am very blessed and honored to say I’ve played for the greatest coach to ever coach the game.”

Before Thursday’s game, Terry spoke to a group of donors in the Jim Click Hall of Champions, and spoke of his respect for Olson at length.

That should put a nice bow on Terry’s jersey-retirement night and keep his relationship with Olson in perspective.

The one loose end from Olson’s remarkable career that hasn’t been secured is for him to take the steps necessary to let Rosborough know what a mistake it was to let him go.

Locals Cervi, de la Cruz help Tucson rodeo turn 90 

The 90th Tucson Rodeo — La Fiesta de los Vaqueros — began Saturday, and its field of 623 contestants is similar to a PGA Tour “major.” It’s the Who’s Who of rodeo.

It was good timing last week in that Marana’s Sherry Cervi, a four-time world champion barrel racer, made what was essentially her 2015 debut at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo in Texas. Predictably, she won the barrel racing title, earning $6,272.

Cervi is one of 14 Southern Arizona pros in the week-long rodeo. She will be joined by her husband, Cory Petska, one of the world’s premier team ropers and No. 14 on the money list. Petska and Cervi were married in September.

Two-time world champion team roper Matt Sherwood, who lives on a ranch near Willcox, is also entered. He is ranked No. 5 in the world. Desert View High School grad Cesar de la Cruz, a four-time National Finals Rodeo contender, not only will be home for the week, but will wear bib No. 1. How fitting.

Cienega hired a good one in Ruiz 

After Paul Reed coached the Cienega High School girls basketball team to a 26-2 record and the state finals last year, he accepted an assistant coaching job at Long Beach State.

It was a good move. The 49ers women’s team is 20-6 and contending for the Big West championship. But it also left a big hole, and Cienega principal Nemer Hassey filled it with 23-year-old Matt Ruiz, which initially raised a few eyebrows.

Ruiz is a former student manager at Cienega, who later became Matt Johnson’s assistant on Cienega’s state title-hopeful boys team. After suitable on-the-job training, Ruiz has been more than capable. The Bobcats (30-0) will enter the state quarterfinals this week, bidding to become just the third girls basketball team in Tucson history — joining 28-0 Santa Rita of 1984 and 28-0 CDO of 1987 — as undefeated state champions.

Ruiz showed strong instincts when he hired as his assistant coach Karl Pieroway, a former head coach at Pima College and Ironwood Ridge, who coached the 2007 Nighthawks to the boys state championship game.

Terry still going strong in NBA 

To put Jason Terry’s NBA career in context, 16 years and counting (and the 37-year-old says he hopes to play until he’s 40), three Wildcats who came later to UA have retired this season. Loren Woods, an All-Pac-10 center on the 2001 Final Four team, who played in the NBA, and in Lithuania, Turkey, Spain, Iran and Lebanon, was released by Al Riyadi of Beiruit in December and has retired. Hassan Adams, who left the UA in 2005, was released by the Singapore Slingers pro team and has been out of basketball all season. He played in the NBA, in Venezuela, Serbia and the Philippines. And Michael Wright, a two-time All-Pac-10 power forward from the 2001 Final Four team, is also out of basketball for the first time. Wright, who gained Turkish citizenship and played under the name Ali Karadeniz, played his last game for the France Cholet Euroleague team two weeks ago. 

Terry's former coach Eto joins Raiders 

More Terry: his strength and conditioning coach at Arizona, Darryl Eto, who worked for the Wildcats from 1991-97, on Friday became the Oakland Raiders’ assistant strength and conditioning coach. Eto had worked with Terry and Nick Johnson as the Houston Rockets’ director of strength and conditioning from 2008-14. 

Ex-Cat Dunagan leaves position at OB Sports 

After a year with the OB Sports management team, running the operation at the Randolph Golf Complex, former UA golfer Wade Dunagan has left his position. That’s a gaping hole in Southern Arizona’s most visible golf property. How OB Sports acts to replace Dunagan, the former head pro at TPC Sawgrass and director of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships, will be followed with interest. 

Cienega grad Regalado sets UNLV record in debut 

Nikki Regalado was an All-American distance runner at Pima College, following a terrific high school career at Cienega. In her college debut, for UNLV at the Husky Classic last week in Seattle, Regalado set the Rebels’ school record for 5,000 meters, running the distance in 17 minutes and 74/100ths of a second. Her best at Pima was 17:30. That’s an almost unheard of improvement in a year’s time in distance running. 

Not much playing time for ex-Cat Jerrett 

Since leaving the Arizona basketball team after one season, 2012-13, power forward Grant Jerrett has played in five NBA games for the Oklahoma City Thunder in just 24 total minutes. He spent most of his time injured or in the D League. The Thunder quietly traded Jerrett to the Utah Jazz on Friday. He is being paid $947,000 this season and will become a free agent at year’s end. He is only 21. 

Olympic gold medalist Thoman watches Cats roll USC 

I was looking through the crowd at McKale Center on Thursday and spotted Olympic gold medal swimmer Nick Thoman, who was on Team USA at the London 2012 Olympics. Thoman began his career as one of Frank Busch’s top Arizona recruits, a Cincinnati schoolboy who spent his first two college seasons on national powerhouses at Arizona. He left abruptly before his junior season and moved to North Carolina, where his training led to the 2012 Olympics. Thoman now is working with Ford Aquatics, where his daily workout partner will be Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers. They are probably Nos. 1-2 in American backstroke rankings. 

Salpointe's Juan goes out on top 

Salpointe Catholic senior Jaylyn Juan, one of Tucson’s top two-sport athletes, completed his Lancers basketball career last week with a dunk and a three-pointer on Senior Night. Juan was part of 85 basketball victories and a 22-3 varsity football record at Salpointe, where he made 91 tackles. “He is a very special person and became a heck of a leader,” said Salpointe basketball coach Brian Holstrom. “He was always fun to watch and special to coach because he did all the dirty work to win while other guys scoring points got most of the attention.” 

Ex-Cat Camp back in college football 

Former Arizona linebacker Charlie Camp, a key part of the Desert Swarm years, is back in college coaching. He will be the co-defensive coordinator at FCS Houston Baptist. Camp spent the past two seasons in high school coaching near Houston, and previously was a defensive coach at Oregon State, San Diego State, Akron and San Jose State. 

Mickelson's endorsement worth a laugh 

Had to laugh last week when I saw a PGA Tour-produced video of Phil Mickelson endorsing the upcoming Match Play championships at San Francisco’s Harding Park. Mickelson ducked three of the final four Match Play events at Dove Mountain.

Rincon honors '65 champs 

Rincon High School’s 1965 state championship basketball team will be honored, its 50th anniversary, at the March 2 Division II state championship game in Glendale. The Rangers’ grand old coach, Dick King, 89, plans to attend, as do former Rincon standouts Dave Dosh, Steve Landis, Doug Schenk, Chuck Holman, Lance McClure and Jim Johnson. It’s impressive what the former Rangers accomplished after their high school days. Dosh became a Tucson dentist and a leading wood-crafter; Johnson became a pro baseball coach and scout for the Astros, Rockies, Diamondbacks and Royals, and was manager of the Tucson Toros; Holman was a longtime assistant principal at Sahuaro High School; McClure was an administrator in the Mesa School District. Sadly, the team’s top scorer, Jim Cook, died 15 years ago after a lung transplant. 

Sahuaro grad McCoy signs with O's 

Sahuaro grad Pat McCoy, a left-hander who reached the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers last season, has signed with the Baltimore Orioles and is expected to start the season with the Triple-A Norfolk Tides. 

Foothills grad Gonzalez already contributing 

Luis Gonzalez has made an impact in his college baseball debut at New Mexico. The Catalina Foothills grad got the pitching victory over Pac-12 power Oregon State last week, pitching 4ª shutout innings against the Beavers. A day later, starting in the outfield for the Lobos, he hit two doubles against OSU. 

'GameDay' lacks excitement at McKale 

Has there been a sports event that didn’t match the hype more than Saturday’s ESPN “College GameDay” program at McKale Center? There were no UA players or coaches on the live set. It was like a “Seinfeld” episode: a show about nothing. The only thing that worked was the Zona Zoo energy. ESPN’s basketball team doesn’t have a Lee Corso-type character to make the show work.

My two cents: Pressure building for Memphis, ex-Cat Pastner to deliver 

In his sixth season at Memphis, Josh Pastner is 146-56. Sean Miller is 152-51 in his sixth season at Arizona.

Both coaches routinely sell out their home games at 14,500 or thereabouts. Both have been to four NCAA tournaments.

But Pastner is under considerable fire at Memphis, because the Tigers, at 16-10, are tied for fourth place in the lowbrow American Athletic Conference, and have lost at home to Stephen F. Austin, among others.

The only way Memphis is going to get to the NCAA tournament is to win the AAC tournament, which isn’t likely. Whatever equity Pastner built by being part of John Calipari’s Memphis staff is fading.

The former Arizona assistant coach is only 37, and should be entering the prime of his career. If Memphis is unhappy, there are plenty of basketball-needy Pac-12 schools that could use Pastner’s recruiting ability and communication skills.

When the hiring/firing season begins next month, a sharp athletics director somewhere in Seattle or Tempe might be able to get Pastner before the Memphis ship runs aground.

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