Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Champion coaches took different paths

Disparate paths led five coaches to state titles

Five Tucson teams won state championships in spring sports, which isn’t unusual. The appeal is how vastly different the coaches of those five state champions are.

Get this:

• Cienega’s softball team, 26-8, is coached by 45-year-old Eric Tatham, an old second baseman who played for the 1987 Tucson High state championship baseball team. Tatham then went to Yavapai College to play baseball, and switched career fields, working 10 years as a manager at Wal-Mart. He ultimately graduated from Heritage College near Yakima, Washington.

Tatham returned to Tucson, became an English teacher at then-new Cienega High School, and worked as a PA announcer at the school’s softball games. To get his daughter, Stephanie, into softball, Tatham kick-started his own summer travel league club, Team Velocity, 13 years ago. By 2008, he was Cienega’s head coach; they won the 2010 state championship and Stephanie got a scholarship to Denver’s Division II Colorado Christian College, where she hit .331 this season.

• CDO’s baseball team (32-2) is coached by 65-year-old Keith Francis, who graduated from Missouri and became a policeman in Kansas City, Missouri, for 27 years.

He moved to Tucson in 1998, established a real estate business with his wife, and became an assistant coach on CDO’s 2000 state championship team. By 2002, he was CDO’s head coach, winning another state title. He then served as an assistant at Pima College and at Arizona, and this year returned to CDO for another state title.

• Catalina Foothills’ boys tennis team, which won the state title, is coached by 74-year-old Bill Wright, who graduated from University of Denver’s Law School in 1963, became a district attorney in Anaheim, California, and 10 years later became the head tennis coach at Cal. He was the 1978 NCAA Coach of the Year.

Arizona hired Wright in 1987, and he was the Wildcats’ head coach for 19 years, leaving in 2005. He operates a thriving summer tennis camp in Vail, Colorado. Wright became Foothills’ boys head coach this year.

• Empire softball coach Shannon Woolridge, 44, who coached the Ravens to a 30-5 state-title season, played for Rincon in the 1987 state championship baseball game (it lost to Gilbert 6-5) and then completed his education at Arizona.

He has been assistant principal of Desert Sky Middle School and 13 years ago became the first JV softball coach at Cienega. He went from there into administration, and joined Cienega’s Tatham as a Team Velocity coach, later moving to the powerful Desert Thunder summer travel program under Lance and Kelly Fowler. He became head softball coach (and athletic director) at Empire and is 89-16 in three years. His daughter, Brittany, was 21-1 as a pitcher this season and has accepted a scholarship to Texas A&M-Commerce.

• Desert Christian baseball coach Grant Hopkins coached the Eagles to a 31-1 season, his third state championship in succession. He was a pitcher on the first-ever Desert Christian baseball team in 1989, but was injured in an automobile accident, ending his playing career.

After graduating from NAU, Hopkins returned to Tucson and works as a stockbroker. Somehow, he has found time to coach the Eagles to a cumulative 86-7 record the last three seasons.

Five coaches. Five state champs. Five different career paths: a stockbroker, an English teacher, a retired attorney, a former assistant principal, a retired cop.

That’s what makes high school sports so fascinating. They are rarely predictable and open to all walks of life.

By any measurement, Rondae belongs in NBA

ESPN for the first time has hired an analytics numbers-cruncher and examines this year’s NBA draft the way baseball sabermetricians have done it for a decade. It’s confusing, to say the least. It examines 14 statistical categories and applies a database that includes strength of schedule and tempo. Short story: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson drops to No. 33 overall using this measurement. Why? Because he doesn’t shoot well. But NBA general managers will use the eye-test more than anything else. Hollis-Jefferson is a guy you want on your team. His character, athleticism and willingness to play defense are worth more than a new “WAR” — wins above replacement — ranking system. Brandon Ashley drops to No. 101 overall using WAR analytics. 

UA's Miller after Marquette's Phelps 

Had to laugh last week when Marquette basketball coach Steve Wojciechowski raided fellow former Duke guard Bobby Hurley’s ASU coaching staff to hire Stan Johnson. Why was the Duke vs. Duke raid necessary? Because Arizona’s Sean Miller seems sure to steal Marquette assistant coach Mark Phelps to replace Damon Stoudamire. 

ASU's home schedule presents little challenge 

As bland as Arizona’s 2015-16 home basketball schedule is — and it is historically weak — Hurley’s first ASU home schedule is even worse. The Sun Devils are to play just five home nonconference games: Sacramento State, Houston Baptist, UC-Santa Barbara, Texas A&M and Cal State-Bakersfield. Plenty of tickets available. 

PCC's Peabody building a threat 

Pima College basketball coach Brian Peabody continues to build what looks to be an ACCAC title threat: Last week Peabody signed 7-foot-2-inch Ryan Festa of Surprise Willow Canyon High School. Festa has played basketball for only three seasons, but his upside is intriguing. 

Tucsonan Mirich second NAU player with retired jersey 

Tucsonan Rex Mirich, who was inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame three years ago, will have his old NAU football jersey retired in Flagstaff on Oct. 3, at the NAU-Montana State game. Mirich, a defensive lineman from San Manuel who played seven seasons in the NFL, will be just the second NAU football player to have his jersey retired. Well deserved.

Thompson falls to No. 301 in world golf rankings

After four outstanding years on the PGA Tour, Rincon/University High grad Michael Thompson is struggling. He has dropped to No. 301 in the world rankings and No. 157 on the money list ($271,977). He recently parted ways with his instructor of 15 years, Tucsonan Susie Meyers. Thompson retains full playing privileges for the rest of the 2015 season, and is in the field for this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson. 

UA's Ianello has team on right track 

Coach Laura Ianello’s UA women’s golf team, which is playing for the NCAA championship this week in Florida, should be similarly strong next year. Her top recruit, Gigi Stoll, won the Oregon state high school championship last week by shooting 66-67, which broke the state scoring record by six strokes. 

UA golfer Weaver could be All-American 

At Arizona, Stoll will join UA junior Lindsey Weaver, who has a chance to be a first-team All-American this year. Weaver shot 68-71 last week to win the U.S. Women’s Open local qualifying round at Superstition Mountain near Phoenix. 

Ex-Cat Mitchell thanks UA for support 

Former UA standout Earl Mitchell, now a starting defensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins, was back in Tucson last week to receive his degree. He told the school how much he appreciated the academic support system for athletes. “The very first time I came back (on campus), that’s when I realized how tough it is,” he said. “You don’t have the academic tutors like you used to. You don’t have the services you had as a student-athlete, and you have to push yourself to do well in your courses.” The tutoring system is rarely mentioned in the value of an athletic scholarship. 

Scooby's athleticism doesn't get enough credit 

Prior to UA All-American linebacker Scooby Wright beginning two months of summer workouts, he went home to Windsor, California, for a break. He went to his old high school, Cardinal Newman, to play some basketball. Someone shot a video of Scooby dunking; he did so with almost no effort. So much for the idea that Scooby is a plugger who relies on toughness and instincts to play football. His athleticism is underrated.

Wave of new talent should make Ducks Pac-12 team to beat

Since the Pac-12 basketball tournament, most of the chatter has been about Cal’s transformation into a title contender. But Oregon has quietly put together possibly the most-feared Pac-12 team for 2015-16. The Ducks last week added the NJCAA Player of the Year, 6-foot-10-inch Chris Boucher, to an already talented club that will add ex-UA commit Tyler Dorsey and Villanova transfer Dylan Ennis. Here’s my re-adjusted Pac-12 outlook 4½ months before practice begins: 1. Oregon, 2. Arizona, 3. Cal, 4. Utah, 5. UCLA. The Pac-12 should be much better than it was the last two seasons. 

Santa Rita grad Stoglin could get real shot at NBA 

Santa Rita High School grad Terrell Stoglin, who is back from his third year playing overseas, is involved in the high-profile skills camp and NBA evaluation session in Santa Barbara, California, this weekend. Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky and the UA’s Stanley Johnson are also in the hand-picked group that is being watched by scouts from every NBA team. It’s an indication that Stoglin might get his first real crack at the NBA in 2015-16. 

Kingery's slump might affect POY status 

UA junior second baseman Scott Kingery went into an extended slump the last 10 games (through Friday), hitting .220 (9 for 41) and probably costing him a chance to be the Pac-12 Player of the Year. Kingery’s average has finally dropped under .400, to .393. He only scored three runs in that stretch as the UA matched his drop-off. 

Tucsonan or ex-Cat could take race of year 

The race of the year in American distance running will take place Friday night at Oregon’s Hayward Field. Tucsonan Bernard Lagat, who owns the U.S. 5,000-meter record, will race against No. 1-ranked Galen Rupp, on Rupp’s home turf at the Prefontaine Classic. Don’t be surprised if UA grad Lawi Lalang beats both of them.

Mountain View grad Naemark is an All-American

Mountain View High School grad Steve Naemark twice helped pitch Cochise College to the NJCAA World Series, in 2013 and 2014. He has one-upped that this season at NCAA Division II Angelo State in Texas.

Naemark, a lefty, has gone 10-1 with a 1.46 ERA, winning the regional championship game against St. Mary’s last week 5-2. Naemark has been the Lone Star Conference Player of the Week three times for the 41-16 Rams.

His top honor came last week when he was named to the Daktronics Division II All-America first team. The Rams began the D-II World Series Saturday in Cary, N.C.

New NCAA format for women’s golf is drawn-out mess

The NCAA women’s golf championships used to be a simple thing. Play four rounds. The lowest total team score wins. That’s how the Wildcats won the national title under Rick LaRose in 1996 and Todd McCorkle in 2000.

But now the NCAA has packaged its championships with Golf Channel and it has become a potentially exhausting, eight-day, medal-and-match play marathon.

If the Wildcats finish among the top 15 teams at the conclusion of Sunday’s medal play — and they should — they will play Monday in an attempt to get into the top group of eight. Those eight teams will then engage in 36 holes of team match play Tuesday. The made-for-TV finals, also match play, will pair two survivors Wednesday. Maybe the tournament should be called “Dual Survival” (but that’s already taken).

If Arizona makes it to the finish, it means it will have spent eight days (practicing and playing) in Bradenton, Florida, where temperatures are in the 90s and humidity is off the charts.

There’s got to be a better way.

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