Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Arizona's NFL numbers shrinking

Arizona's NFL numbers shrinking 

Arizona opens the NFL season with a mere eight ex-Wildcats on NFL rosters; the number might actually be seven if Chicago running back Ka’Deem Carey is not among the Bears active roster for Sunday’s opener.

Did you realize that even a mid-level Mountain West Conference team like Utah State has eight players on NFL opening day rosters?

USC has 33. Cal 26. The leader is LSU with 38.

This can be traced to the hiring of John Mackovic in 2001; even though Mike Stoops produced Rob Gronkowski and Nick Foles, the UA hasn’t been able to re-

establish its ability to recruit potential NFL players of the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1985, Arizona had 18 active NFL players.

In 1995, Arizona had 17 active NFL players.

Now the UA eight are Gronkowski, Foles, Carey, Nick Folk, Robert Golden, Trevin Wade, Earl Mitchell and Brooks Reed.

Makes you wonder how the Wildcats went 26-14 in RichRod’s first three seasons in a league full of NFL prospects.

Reno is aces as a baseball town; meanwhile, Tucson's desolate 

Seven years after some rich guy from Indiana bought the Tucson Sidewinders and moved them to Reno, I understand why.

On Friday, I walked around the Freight House District that surrounds Aces Ballpark in downtown Reno. I counted 12 bars and restaurants within the distance of a long fly ball.

Duffy’s Ale House. Arroyo Mexican Grill. 250 Lounge. Last week, Reno Aces’ owner, Herb Simon, who also owns the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, announced the ballpark will henceforth be home to a United Soccer League expansion team.

Not all has gone well in the Aces’ move from Kino Stadium; Simon and the city of Reno have argued publicly over $2 million in unpaid property taxes. But the move to Reno served its purpose: It revitalized a dreary area of downtown Reno and has made it a place to see and be seen, on game day or any day.

By comparison, Kino Stadium sits mostly vacant, a home to pigeons. There is no “district.” There is, instead, the empty feeling of being dumped.

Arizona baseball coach Jay Johnson, who spent the last two years coaching the Nevada Wolf Pack, said part of the reason he left the successful San Diego Toreros staff to coach in Reno was the city’s baseball vibe.

“It was pitched to me as a baseball town, and it lived up to that, for sure,” he said. “I know they sold out a lot of games. It’s right downtown, behind Harrah’s. It’s known as a place to socialize and to watch baseball.”

In 2008 — the Sidewinders’ last Pacific Coast League season in Tucson — the franchise drew 3,552 per game, which was 16th of 16 PCL teams. In the Aces’ seven years in Reno, its lowest average attendance was 4,921 in 2013. It’s high: 6,481 in its inaugural season, 2009.

I get the feeling it’s not the baseball that really matters in Reno. It’s the community’s sense that building a downtown baseball stadium created a hub that gave it an identity beyond a place tourists gather to gamble.

Meanwhile, Tucson sits dark in the summer sports season because politicians in 1993 chose to build a ballpark in no man’s land and, in effect, sentence Tucson’s spring training and Pacific Coast League ventures to certain doom.

Salpointe's Harris is one to watch 

My Tucson athlete of the week: Salpointe Catholic sophomore golfer Haylin Harris. One of 78 who qualified for the AJGA 2015 national championships, Harris shot a second-round 69 in Greenville, South Carolina, to jump into fourth place against a field of girls mostly two years her senior. Harris finished tied for 17th overall, caught a late flight back to Tucson on Monday night and was on the tee at Randolph North at 4 p.m. Tuesday, where she shot a 1-over 37 against rival Sahuaro. If Harris isn’t careful, she’ll soon expand the Big Four of Tucson girls golf history: Cindy Rarick, Sara Brown, Vicki Suhocki and current UA sophomore Krystal Quihuis. 

Ianello's golf team could be better this year 

Laura Ianello’s No. 6 UA women’s golf program opens the season Sept. 28 at the Annika Intercollegiate in Orlando, Florida. After winning the Pac-12 championship and finishing No. 5 in the polls a year ago, Arizona could be better with the addition of Oregon freshman Gigi Stoll and San Diego freshman Haley Moore. 

Arizona soccer showdown unlike many others 

Today’s 1:30 p.m. Arizona soccer showdown with No. 14 Pepperdine is an opportunity like few in UA soccer history. The 5-0-1 Wildcats are No. 26 in the current poll, and after a tie with No. 18 Texas Tech on Friday are in position to join Stanford, Cal and ASU in the Top 25. It’s unfortunate that the Pac-12 Networks scheduled the game for an early afternoon window on a day it could be close to 100 degrees. 

Flowing Wells grad Erdmann Welling finishes sixth in USA championships 

Former Flowing Wells distance runner Tara Erdmann Welling was sixth in the USA 20K championships on Labor Day in New Haven, Connecticut. That’s the same finish Tucsonan Abdi Abdirahman had in the men’s race.

Friedli's impact still felt decades later 

This is when you know you had an impact as a coach: If you drove down Peoria Avenue near Phoenix on Friday afternoon, past Coop’s Bar & Grill, the marquee out front said HAPPY B-DAY COACH FRIEDLI. The legendary Amphitheater football coach Vern Friedli turned 79 Friday. One of his former linemen, J.R. Cooper, owns the sports bar. Pretty nice to remember your coach 19 years after your last game as a Panther. 

Salpointe grad Mahoney heads Phoenix Thunderbirds 

The PGA Tour’s $6.3 million Waste Management Phoenix Open is operated by the Phoenix Thunderbirds, which is similar to the Tucson Conquistadores, the group that has operated a PGA Tour event in Tucson for 52 years. This year’s chairman of the Thunderbirds is former Salpointe Catholic basketball player Dan Mahoney, a graduate of the UA law school. Mahoney is now an attorney for Snell and Wilmer in Phoenix. 

Sporting News got UA's Top 10 right 

Ordinarily, you wouldn’t put much stock in a career top 10 list of UA basketball players chosen by Sporting News. But the one-time bible of baseball, which now covers all sports, did well when it ranked the UA’s 10 leading players last week. It included 1970s forward Al Fleming. Former UA assistant coach Jerry Holmes was moved by Fleming’s inclusion. “He was the glue to those teams,” said Holmes. “He is too often overlooked.” The one flaw in the UA’s Ring of Honor at McKale Center is that its requirements omit a four-year starter like Fleming and includes a one-year player like Stanley Johnson. Who meant more to UA basketball? Fleming by a few miles. 

ASU swim coach Bowman to lead Olympic squad 

New ASU swimming coach Bob Bowman, who is Michael Phelps’ personal coach, was last week named head coach of the U.S. team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. It is not really a coaching position, as with UA softball coach Mike Candrea at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. Bowman will be more of a caretaker and organizer for all but Phelps. It will also take him away from day-to-day duties as ASU’s coach for a bit. According to my research, and records are not consistently available, Arizona last lost a dual swimming meet to the Sun Devils in 1991.

UA grad Houk among five honored by UTSA 

Meghan Houk, who operates about 70 tennis tournaments a year at Reffkin Tennis Center, was honored by the U.S. Tennis Association last week and was their guest at the U.S. Open in New York. Houk, a UA grad, was one of five USTA operatives nationally to be flown to New York for the week. It’s a well-deserved honor for Houk, whose personality makes the Reffkin Tennis Center roll. 

Tucson's sports event of the week 

The sporting event of the week in Tucson will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Kino North Stadium when Pima College’s men’s soccer team, ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA, plays No. 6 Yavapai College, which, for 20 years, has been the top men’s soccer program in the NJCAA. Dave Cosgrove’s team is no stranger to big games, nor is PCC women’s coach Kendra Veliz, whose No. 6-ranked team awaits a Sept. 29 showdown at Kino North against No. 14 Phoenix College. That’ll be a soccer night like few others in Tucson. The Phoenix men’s team is ranked No. 5 nationally and will play the Aztec men’s team after the 4:30 p.m., women’s opener. 

Tucsonans Longville, Furrier to meet again 

Gordy Longville, a key part of Ironwood Ridge’s 2012 state football championship, is now the starting tight end at Western New Mexico. Longville will be matched against an old rival, ex-Salpointe linebacker Dylan Furrier, when WNMU plays against Chadron State later this season. Furrier led Chadron State with nine tackles in its season-opening victory against Missouri S&T last week. 

Posey, Sunnyside heading in right direction 

Since Richard Sanchez retired five years ago, Sunnyside’s football program hasn’t been bad, going 26-20. But Sanchez set such high standards that Glenn Posey’s first five seasons have not received a lot of attention. That may be changing now. After beating top-ranked Division II Mountain View on Friday, 46-20, the Blue Devils (2-1) look to be back to the long-ago status as a team to beat. Road games at Salpointe Catholic, Cienega and Sahuaro await, but with senior quarterback Nick O’Hagin already throwing for 815 yards and rushing for 233 more, this could be one of the year’s top stories in high school football. 

Pac-12 treats Miller well in scheduling 

The Pac-12 treated Sean Miller unfavorably when the 2015-16 basketball schedule was made final last week. The 9 p.m. home start on Thursday, Jan. 28 against Oregon is only the second McKale Center league game to start at 9 as far as I can research it. It’s a dreadful start time for any school, its players, fans and those who work at the arena. Start times for the two most-anticipated road games, at Cal and Utah, to be televised by ESPN, won’t be decided until about 10 days before tipoff.

My two cents: Pac-12 Networks, DirecTV mess could be Scott's undoing 

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott’s contract runs for three more school years, through June 2018, with a total compensation estimated at $3.5 million per year.

If that’s not security, what is?

But his failure to reach a deal with DirecTV last week is a blow of such significance that you wonder if the league’s chancellors and athletic directors might begin to wonder if he’s the person to take them forward. The potential profitability and distribution growth of the Pac-12 Networks is stalled.

Almost every athletic director expected more than a $21 million per-year return from Scott’s media rights deal, and more than last year’s $1 million-per-school take from the Pac-12 Networks.

Most of Scott’s accomplishments were put on a tee for him (or anyone) replacing the old administration.

The $3.1 billion media rights package was, it looks now, average. The addition of Utah and Colorado didn’t turn heads (except in Denver and Salt Lake City). Moving the men’s basketball tournament to Las Vegas was a no-brainer.

Scott has taken significant heat for late start times in football and basketball. The Pac-12 Networks is bland and often unwatchable, populated with a flank of not-ready-for-prime-time analysts and on-air personalities. Its standard fare in live broadcasts is a Washington State-Arizona State basketball game and an Oregon State-Colorado football game.

The inability to become part of the DirecTV lineup stalls the league with an unimpressive 4 million subscribers within the Pac-12 footprint. And in a league with unprecedented spending at each school, nobody’s going to get rich off that.

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