Hansen's Sunday Notebook: UA's Newman looks to snap jinx

First-round selection could come with excess baggage

Junior shortstop Kevin Newman is likely to become the 10th University of Arizona player selected in the first round of the modern baseball regular draft Monday; Baseball America’s final mock draft on Friday ranked him No. 23 overall.

Newman doesn’t know this, and probably wouldn’t care, but if there is such a thing as a jinx in UA sports, it is being selected in the first round of the baseball draft.

None of Arizona’s nine first-round picks enjoyed a long and productive playing career. Here’s the sad roll call:

• Terry Francona, No. 22 overall, 1980. The NCAA Player of the Year averaged just 47 hits per season in a big-league career betrayed by two major knee injuries. He played as a part-time outfielder until 31, but was initially released by Montreal when he was just 27.

• Joe Magrane, No. 18 overall, 1985. The St. Louis lefty won 18 games when he was just 24, but arm injuries thereafter made him a fringe player; he was initially released at 28, and won just 57 MLB games.

• Alan Zinter, No. 24 overall, 1989. It took the lefty-hitting catcher 13 years to reach the big leagues. He had just 13 hits in the majors.

• Lance Dickson, No. 23 overall, 1990. The lefty with a big breaking ball reached the Cubs’ 1990 starting rotation at 20, blew out his arm, and played just three MLB games.

• Ben Diggins, No. 17 overall, 2000. In his second season as a pro, the tall right-hander was in the majors at Milwaukee. He pitched five games, injured his arm, and never returned to the big leagues.

• Brian Anderson, No. 15 overall, 2003. It didn’t take the former UA and CDO center fielder long to reach the White Sox lineup — two years — but he had just 181 hits in five seasons and played his last MLB game at 27.

• Trevor Crowe, No. 14 overall, 2005. The UA outfielder enjoyed one season as an MLB starter, 2009 at Cleveland, and thereafter was done in by multiple injuries. He had 196 hits in four seasons.

• Ryan Perry, No. 21 overall, 2008. In parts of four MLB seasons, the former UA and Marana High right-hander won six games and saved two. He, too, was scuttled by a series of injuries.

• Daniel Schlereth, No. 26 overall, 2008. The UA’s lefty closer was in the big leagues at 23 and out at 26. Career totals: five wins, one save.         

All nine Wildcats picked in the first round had their pro careers abbreviated by injuries.

Francona has become one of the game’s top managers; Magrane is an established studio analyst for the MLB Network; Zinter has enjoyed a career as a MLB coach; Diggins is a scout for the Dodgers; Dickson runs a thriving mortgage business in Tucson; Perry and Schlereth are in the minor leagues, hoping for one more shot.

Is it a baseball jinx, or just a series of unfortunate circumstances? Newman, who could realize a signing bonus of about $2 million, has a chance to change history.

RichRod packs 'em in at Hard Edge tournament 

About 750 high school football players and their coaching staffs were on the UA campus Friday for the Rich Rodriguez Hard Edge tournament, a 7-on-7 passing competition that included 14 Tucson high schools and 58 total.

RichRod and his staff followed that by staging an elite Prospect Camp on Saturday and a Junior Wildcat Camp Sunday. In total, about 1,000 high school football players were on campus. Given the relatively mild June weather, it was a recruiting coup for the UA.

Phoenix-area powerhouses Chandler Hamilton and Scottsdale Chaparral reached the finals of the 7-on-7 tournament Friday night at Arizona Stadium. Perhaps the state’s two leading recruits, Scottsdale Saguaro cornerback Byron Murphy and Chandler receiver N’Keal Harry participated. Hamilton won the title; it also won ASU’s 7-on-7 championship two days earlier at Sun Devil Stadium.

Tucson’s top finisher was Catalina Foothills, which reached Friday’s semifinals. Jeff Scurran’s team was quarterbacked by Rhett Rodriguez, RichRod’s son, who is entering his junior season as a Falcon.

Rhett’s trademarks, accuracy and a minimum of mistakes, also helped Foothills to the finals of the Pima College 7-on-7 tournament a week earlier.

Salpointe grad Serrano peaking as an Arkansas senior 

Joe Serrano’s 2011 baseball season at Salpointe Catholic remains one of the most impressive in Arizona history. The shortstop-turned-outfielder hit .541 with 69 RBIs and a state-record 26 doubles. Now in his senior season as Arkansas’ leadoff batter and starting left fielder, Serrano is again doing well. He went 3 for 4 with four RBIs in the Razorbacks’ NCAA Super Regional win Friday, with two doubles and a homer, the top game of his college career. Arkansas fell 3-1 to Missouri State on Saturday, forcing a Game 3 on Sunday. Serrano was batting .294 through Friday and hopes to complete his amateur days in the College World Series. He was the MVP of the Stillwater Regional, going 6 for 12 in three games. 

Incoming UA pitcher McQuillin finishes HS career with record

After 35 straight wins, incoming UA pitcher Taylor McQuillin and the nation’s No. 1 high school softball team, Mission Viejo, lost in the California Southern Section championship game Friday, 1-0. The only run scored on an obstruction call by the home plate umpire. McQuillin completed her prep career with 103 victories, a CIF-Southern Section record. In Tuesday’s semifinals, McQuillin struck out 18, including the final nine hitters. 

UA hosts swimming meet with ex-Cats, Olympians

The UA played host to the annual Southwest Classic swimming meet Friday through Sunday at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, which included about 600 age-group swimmers from Arizona and Olympians Matt Grevers, Darian Townsend and Nick Thoman. UA All-Americans Bonnie Brandon, Marcus Titus and Margo Geer also swam; the final race is Sunday at 7:30 p.m. 

CDO sophomore Walters wins Phoenix tournament 

Golfer to remember: Canyon del Oro sophomore Jonathan Walters won the Antigua Junior Stroke Play last week at Encanto Golf Course in Phoenix. He shot 72-67-69. Walters mostly played No. 2 at CDO behind Stanford-bound Chris Meyers. He is one of six or seven top Tucson prep golfers who, as a group, are as promising as any here over the last few decades.

Ex-Yankee Brosius could fit well as UA coach

Arizona’s search for a baseball coach is likely to end early this week. The most intriguing possibility remains former New York Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius, who resigned (at 48) this year from NCAA Division III Linfield College in Oregon. Brosius guided Linfield to the 2013 title. It’s a long shot that Brosius would leave his home turf (he grew up in Portland), but he told the Portland Tribune “each year, the winters get a little more frustrating. As a baseball coach in Oregon, the grind of it is the weather.” 

Byrne's baseball search closely watched 

University of Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne’s baseball search is watched closely by those who built Jerry Kindall’s Arizona program into three national championships. The us-versus-them culture of ex-UA baseball players exists, and sometimes strongly so, pitting Kindall’s players against those who have played the last 14 years under Andy Lopez. Byrne is an independent thinker, who isn’t likely to consult many ex-Wildcats other than, say, D-backs manager Chip Hale in the process. Here’s an out-of-the-box idea: Why not hire from the impressive list of professional coaches/managers produced under Kindall? Let’s say you could get former White Sox director of player personnel Alan Regier (who also coached 11 years in the Pac-10, and is familiar with compliance and academic issues) with ex-UA home run champ Wes Clements, who managed for the Houston Astros in Double-A recently, and has since worked for ESPN as an NCAA analyst. That tandem would make the other Pac-12 coaches do a double take. Unlike when Arizona State hired Indiana’s Tracy Smith a year ago, hiring pros like Clements and Regier, or anyone from the UA family, would create some dread inside the Pac-12. 

NBA MVP Curry took down ASU during college days

Golden State Warriors super shooter Steph Curry played at Davidson in his college days. That included a 2006 game against ASU in Tempe. Not many will remember. The game drew 4,113 fans, and Davidson beat the Sun Devils 75-70 (Curry scored 10). 

Ex-UA coach Tuiasosopo released from UCLA 

Sad to learn that UCLA football coach Jim Mora quietly released linebackers coach Mike Tuiasosopo recently. Tuiasosopo coached defensive linemen at Arizona from 2004 to 2010.

UA’s Quihuis joins exclusive golf club with Pac-12 honor 

Salpointe Catholic grad Krystal Quihuis was selected Pac-12 Freshman Golfer of the Year last week, which is a significant honor, especially for someone who grew up mostly playing the municipal courses in Southern Arizona. Since Arizona freshman Erica Blasberg was chosen Pac-12 Freshman Golfer of the Year in 2003, every golfer so honored has reached the LPGA Tour after college. In order: Hannah Jun; Louise Stahle; Tiffany Joh; Anna Nordqvist; Lizette Salas; Jennifer Song; Jennifer Johnson and Sophia Popov made it to the LPGA. Impressive company. 

Arizona relay team breaks 34-year-old NCAA record 

Arizona’s 4x400 relay team broke a school record that had stood for 34 years last week at the NCAA regionals in Texas. But college track and field is so good that the UA’s 4x400 team is not among the 10 favorites at this week’s NCAA finals in Eugene, Oregon. The ’81 Arizona team, sixth in the NCAA finals, included Rod Barksdale, who became a receiver for the Raiders and Cowboys; Nigerian Olympians Hope Ezeigbo and Felix Imadiyi; and Randy Redditt, who was a prep sprint champ from Eugene. Times change. No way UA would be able to get a sprinter of Redditt’s ability out of track-nuts Eugene today. 

Ex-Cat Iguodala thriving in NBA 

Golden State Warriors sixth man Andre Iguodala is having a better NBA career than he did at Arizona. In his final UA season, 2003-04, Iguodala took fewer shots than teammates Hassan Adams, Salim Stoudamire and Channing Frye. Iguodala only averaged 12.7 points that year on a UA team that demonstrated little chemistry and lost Pac-12 games at USC, Washington, Cal, Stanford and Oregon State and bowed out in the NCAA tournament’s first round against an ordinary Seton Hall club that went 21-10. 

Sabino, UA grad Reed gets married 

UA’s 2010 All-Pac-10 defensive end Brooks Reed of the Atlanta Falcons and Sabino High was married last week in Houston, his former NFL city. Of the 235 guests, six were Sabino teammates and three (Ricky Elmore, Colin Baxter and Tyler Lyon) were UA teammates. When Bob Reed, Brooks’ father, left Houston, he bumped into his son’s ex-UA coaches, Mike Stoops and Tim Kish at the airport. Small world.

My two cents: Arizona football needs fewer seats, earlier starts

The Pac-12 Networks last week announced Arizona’s Sept. 19 home game against NAU will kick off at 8 p.m. (or about 8:15, in actual time).

That’s a dreadful thing to do to Arizona fans, and it’s one of the reasons 6,000 seats are so hard to fill in the upper east grandstands.

Someday, if the UA can raise another $75 to $100 million for facilities improvements, it would behoove the school to chop down the upper deck — about 16,000 seats — and replace it with a more fan-friendly (and less steep) 10,000-seat upper deck.

Then tickets would become more in demand, and Arizona Stadium would take on a new personality.

ASU is in the process of a $256 million Sun Devil Stadium renovation that includes reducing capacity by about 10,000.

I don’t know how ASU can possibly pay $256 million without 50 years of debt service, and I can’t fathom Byrne raising another $75 million after last year’s makeovers to McKale Center and the 2013 construction of the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility. But Arizona Stadium, much like the Diamondbacks’ Chase Field, is just too big in an era when games begin too late.

Click the photo below to check out Greg Hansen's 2014-15 Southern Arizona Sports Awards.

Click the photo below to check out Greg Hansen's Top 100 Southern Arizona sports figures of 2014.

Click the photo below to check out the Greg Hansen archive.