As head coach at Pima College, Pat Nugent often says the best he can do for his players when they leave his office or football field is pat them on the butt and hope they get Top Ramen for dinner.
Ramen is notoriously cheap — as in, $1.50 for pack o f six — and the perfect meal for a college student.
Nugent’s adage, though, has become a running joke for Pima football.
Recently, Nugent walked up to a defensive lineman and told him, “Those are getting small,” pointing at his arms.
“He said, ‘These are Top Ramen arms,” Nugent said, laughing.
Then, for Halloween, Nugent had a “bunch” of Top Ramen and peanut butter.
“We just rolled it out, and I said, ‘Trick or treat, guys,’ ” he added.
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Why does this matter?
Because Pima football is smiling, laughing and having fun again.
Saturday, the Aztecs closed out their season with a 38-22 win against Arizona Western. With it, Pima improved to 5-5.
“For Pima, this is (the biggest season) since ... when’s the last time Pima’s gone .500?,” asked quarterback Tyler D’Amore.
Well, it was their best mark since 9-3 in 2004, the best season under Nugent and only the fourth season of .500 or better in the program’s 13-year history.
In short, it’s a big deal.
But, Nugent still isn’t completely satisfied.
After a 3-3 start, Pima entered its bye week on Sept. 29 with a chance at the playoffs.
Then they lost two straight, were eliminated, and lost another game in the playoff consolation bracket.
“We haven’t played well the last few weeks,” Nugent said. “The bye week came back to haunt us a little bit.
“When you have that disappointment, you don’t play up to the level you want and end up in the loser’s bracket. Overall, obviously, you hope for those wins. We’re not satisfied with where we’re at.”
The Star sat down with Nugent and talked about his thoughts on the Aztecs’ 5-5 campaign.
Before the season, you had said how the defense was more of a concern than the offense coming in. But, it seems like the defense wound up being more consistent than the offense, right?
A: “Yeah, we’ve struggled offensively big-time. I don’t know what that is, if the players haven’t played up to expectations. Schemes haven’t worked out the way we wanted. No question we struggled offensively. Now, the defense, on the other hand, is really banged up and we limped down the finish line with a lot of hurt bodies, so that’s tough.”
The defense had that one game (against Glendale CC) where they had nine interceptions, and as a team you’ve forced a lot of turnovers. How great was that for you?
A: “That was a big focal point in the offseason, that we had to create turnovers. In each of the first 10 days of camp, we focused a 10-minute period on turnovers. It was our motto this year on defense. Obviously, offensively we’ve done a good job, thrown some interceptions, but we haven’t fumbled the ball very much and our ratio is on the plus side this year compared to last year, when we turned the ball over 37 times and only had 17 takeaways. So we’re really excited about that.”
What about Tyler D’Amore and Jack Nykaza (at quarterback), are you happy with their performance this season?
A: “They’re a two-headed monster, we like to call them. If we could combine the two of them, we’d be in really good shape. Tyler’s a tremendous leader and creates things on his legs and does a lot of nice things, where Jack doesn’t have the numbers passing-wise but has tremendous arm strength and is able to throw the ball downfield. Both have struggled at times, but there have been bright moments. Any time you play two quarterbacks, there’s a reason that one’s not where the other guy needs to be and that’s why there wasn’t a clear-cut favorite. They both had pluses and minuses in their games. Both great kids, both great leaders, both very competitive.”
Other sports
— The volleyball season ended when the Aztecs fell to Scottsdale CC 3-0 on Friday in an elimination game. Pima finished the year 14-16.
— The women’s basketball team went 1-1 last week, beating Utah State University-Eastern 105-82 Friday before falling to the College of Southern Idaho on Saturday. Melody McLaughlin (Mountain View) was a standout, getting 22 points and 18 rebounds on Friday, and 12 points with four rebounds Saturday.
— In men’s basketball, Pima dropped to 0-3 with two losses last week: 92-72 to New Mexico Military Institute and 108-78 against Odessa (Texas) College. Murphy Gershman (Tucson High) had 24 points and 12 boards against NMMI.
— Nikki Regalado (Cienega) finished 22nd out of 277 runners in the NJCAA Cross Country National Championships in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Saturday. She had a time of 19 minutes 13.8 seconds in the 5-kilometer race. Sarrah Boughan (Canyon del Oro) finished 31st with a time of 19:26.8, while the team finished in eighth place. The men’s team finished 20th.
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