This was going to be the long overdue quiet weekend for Greg Byrne. His parents were flying in from College Station, Texas, and he was going to take the phone off the hook and enjoy Mother's Day weekend.
Early Saturday evening, a friend of mine, a physician, texted that "I can't stand the tension. I'm going to kick my dog or beat somebody up."
Such were the last 24 hours in Tucson. It was a drama beyond a Hollywood thriller. It was the Day Tucson Stood Still.
And now Byrne knows, and many of us remember, what Cedric Dempsey (endured in April of 1985 and 1989) when Lute Olson came oh-so-close to becoming the basketball coach at Kentucky.
Ultimately, Olson did not leave Arizona because, he said, it was better for his family to stay and because he had not completed his mission at the UA. We may not ever know what triggered Miller's flirtation with Maryland.
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But we know that he could not walk away from a program that is on the brink of a Final Four to coach what is, at best, the No. 3 basketball franchise in the ACC.
The high comedy of Internet speculation was wildly wrong. Miller is about as close-fisted with personal information as any sports figure I've known. His inner circle is so tight that there can be no "well-placed source" unless it is his wife, Amy; his father, John; or his brother, Archie. They aren't talking. There will be no leak.
Nobody at a dot-com site knows what Miller is going to do.
What about loyalty? In college sports, that word long ago ceased to exist.
We forget and move on.
It is Mother's Day. All is right with the world again.
ua hosts championships
Cats eye first Pac-10 track titles in 'meet of our lives'
Arizona is playing host to the Pac-10 track and field championships for the fourth time in history. The Wildcats previously did so in 1985, 1995 and 2004, but never have they been positioned to be a contender as they are Friday and Saturday at Drachman Stadium.
Coach Fred Harvey's women's team is ranked No. 7 nationally; the UA men's team is ranked No. 9. The Wildcats don't have the overpowering depth of the Oregon Ducks women's team, but they have star power across the board.
Arizona has never won a Pac-10 title in track and field. The women's team was No. 2 in 1992; the men's team was No. 2 in 1993. That's it.
"I'm very optimistic and very excited," said Harvey. "I believe we will have the meet of our lives."
Harvey is a power-of-positive-thinking type who has surrounded himself with what might be the top coaching staff at McKale Center.
Distance coaches James Li and Erin Dawson are superb; jumps coach Sheldon Blockburger is among the best in college sports at his specialty; throws coach Craig Carter once again has strong NCAA title contenders on both sides.
The most anticipated events at Drachman are likely to be men's distance races. UA standouts Lawi Lalang and Stephen Sambu will be matched against the All-Americans from Stanford and Oregon.
Short Stuff
Foothills boys, girls help keep this tennis title town
Tucson didn't overnight become the Cradle of Tennis Coaches, but there's no doubt it is in the process of a historic run as a high school tennis power. Last week, Catalina Foothills' Kristie Stevens coached the Falcons girls team to the state title for the 11th time. Simultaneously, Robb Salant coached the Foothills boys team to the state title; it was Salant's ninth such crown, including one in 1989 at Rincon. Also, John Condes coached Salpointe's boys team to his seventh overall state title, and Salpointe girls coach Perri Touche coached her sixth state championship team. Those four coaches now have a cumulative 33 state crowns. … Unprecedented in state history, Rita Bermudez won the state singles tennis title for CDO last week, creating the only brother-sister state title grouping in Arizona. Previously, Rita's older brothers, Dominic and Carlos, won state tennis titles at Palo Verde. Dominic, now playing at NAU, won nine singles matches and eight doubles matches for the Lumberjacks in his freshman season. … New Salpointe boys basketball coach Brian Holstrom, a UA grad, comes from an accomplished basketball family. Both of his grandfathers - Norris Holstrom at Kansas State and Don Johnson at Central Michigan - were college ballplayers. Holstrom, a 2006 UA grad, is part of the younger generation of coaches who are becoming more prevalent in Tucson high schools. … Good to see Glenn Posey as Richard Sanchez's replacement as the Sunnyside football coach. Posey knows and respects the Blue Devils' culture and, much like Sanchez, is a tough sonofagun who will find a way to beat teams with superior personnel.
More Short Stuff
Augie Busch could easily land a head coaching job
New UA swimming coach Eric Hansen had an extremely difficult opening few weeks at McKale. He chose not to retain assistant coach Augie Busch, Frank Busch's son. Augie had recruited a big share of Arizona's elite-level talent the last five years. It wouldn't be a shock to see Augie land a head coaching job soon, perhaps at the vacant Colorado State position. … Did you realize that Luke Walton has not played a minute in any of the Los Angeles Lakers playoff games? His $30 million contract, however, is guaranteed. … Mountain View High School grad Kenny Held, who began his college baseball career at New Mexico, is finishing it at Cameron University in Lawton, Okla. Held has hit 20 home runs and is batting .461 for Cameron as it enters the Lone Star Conference playoffs with a 30-14 record. Two Cameron teammates from Tucson, Nate Valdez and P. J. Ortega , are hitting .338 and .309, respectively. … At 80, Tucsonan Penny Taylor, a swimmer on Team USA at the 1948 London Olympics, is still making an impact in her sport. She won three firsts and had three seconds last week in the USA Masters Nationals in Phoenix. In addition, Taylor is the Chef de Mission for USA Swimming for this summer's World Championships in Shanghai. She will be in China in advance of the USA swimming team this month and again in July to make sure preparations are in order. … Two of coach Rob Harrison's key players on Cienega High School's 63-19 girls basketball teams of the last three years earned college scholarships. Alyssa Deal will play at Eastern Wyoming College and Alyssa Roche will play for Todd Holthaus' national power at Pima College.
Pac-12 media deal may cut UA's take from IMG
Before leaving Arizona, Jim Livengood signed a massive 15-year, $124 million deal with IMG College, a media marketing/production firm that is now prominent throughout college sports. But the Pac-12's new media rights deal diminishes some of what IMG can do for the Wildcats. Thus, the Wildcats are likely to have to chop about $1 million per year off of their IMG deal. … Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott referred to the league's 12 teams last week as "stakeholder groups." At least there is no longer any mystery about college sports being an endeavor for amateur sports. … Sahuarita High School senior pitcher Yvette Alvarez is in the process of producing what might be the top individual softball season in Southern Arizona history. The Class 4A-II state title favorites are 29-4 through Friday's playoff victory over defending state champ Chandler Seton Catholic. Alvarez is 27-4 with a 0.49 ERA. She has struck out 283 batters in 170 innings - yet her hitting totals are equally impressive. The Pima College-bound Alvarez is hitting .505 with 19 homers and 81 RBIs, almost 2 1/2 per game. … The Southern Arizona Player of the Year battle is fierce. CDO senior Mattie Fowler was batting .569 - and also had 81 RBIs, matching Alvarez - entering the state playoffs Friday. The Nebraska-bound Fowler was Friday's winning pitcher, making her 11-0 for the year.
My Two Cents
Age before Internet, cell phones preferable in some ways
Loyalty has never been much of a part of college athletics. Get this: In late 1974, after Jim Young coached Arizona to successive football seasons of 8-3 and 9-2, Washington athletic director Joe Kearney wanted to interview Young for the vacant UW job.
But Arizona AD Dave Strack said he wasn't going to bother Young with the information until after the UA-ASU game.
"I called Washington but it was too late," Young wrote in his memoirs. "They hired Don James. I don't know if I would have gotten that job, but I sure would have liked to at least try. … They did not understand why I did not get back in touch with them."
Two years later, before the ASU-UA game, Young asked Strack if any schools had called to inquire about his availability. Strack nodded. Purdue and Illinois both had called, asking to interview Arizona's football coach.
Young, who was then 41 and the hottest coaching property in college football, became the Purdue coach a week later.
The pre-cell phone age was almost preferable in some ways.
5 takeaways from Arizona’s win over Purdue to send Wildcats to the Final Four | Michael Lev
