Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Rodriguez puts together a familiar, veteran staff

On the day the UA demolished the north end zone seating area and scoreboard, and effectively broke ground on a $72 million building project, Rich Rodriguez completed his staff.

The symbolism was fitting. "The time is right to come to the UA," Rodriguez said Friday. "We've got a brand new project that can take us to another level."

With the exception of strength coach Mike Barwis, Rodriguez got everybody he wanted on his immediate staff of 11. And when he didn't get Barwis, he got the man who assisted Barwis for seven seasons, Chris Allen.

Rodriguez has surrounded himself with loyal soldiers, which doesn't often happen at a football school of Arizona's rank. Consider this: Defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel took less money and sacrificed a multiyear contract at West Virginia to be reunited with Rodriguez 2,000 miles from what he calls home.

Not only that, Casteel's wife, Rosemary Casteel, will quit her job as senior information systems auditor at WVU to resettle in Tucson.

All of the coaches on Rodriguez's staff are BCS coaching veterans. Seven of the nine have worked for Rodriguez.

Talk about hitting it out of the park.

Here's what that type of continuity and savvy mean: When John Mackovic became Arizona's coach in 2001, he hired three coaches who had been out of college football for more than a year, Rick Dykes, Steve Bernstein and Scott Pelluer.

He ultimately kept five assistants from the Dick Tomey era, and all of them soon left the dysfunctional staff.

With the exception of his brother, Mark Stoops, and former Oklahoma GA Steve Spurrier Jr., Mike Stoops assembled a staff of strangers; he hired offensive coordinator Mike Canales without ever meeting him face-to-face. It became a volatile and unhappy mix that soon splintered.

Unlike Stoops' staff, which operated in an arm's-length relationship with the media and public, Rodriguez said, "I want the community to get to know all of our staff. I think they'll like what they see."

Francona returns

Former Boston manager recalls he was 'hungry to learn' at UA

In the summer of 1977, Terry Francona was a second-round draft choice of the Chicago Cubs. He had already signed with Arizona (over North Carolina) but wanted to be a big-leaguer and waited for the Cubs' "big" offer.

"It was $18,000," Francona said Saturday at McKale Center, where he was honored for his 2011 induction into the College Baseball Hall of Fame. "If they had offered $40,000, I'd have taken it, but their final offer was $19,000. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me." Francona led Arizona to the 1980 national championship and was the NCAA Player of the Year.

"In retrospect, I wasn't prepared to be in the pros at that time," he said. "In the '70s, they threw you on a bus and good luck. That might've swallowed me up.

"Plus, my dad (ex-major-leaguer Tito Francona) had played with Jerry Kindall and he knew Jerry would take care of me, prepare me properly and make sure I went to school. It was almost blind luck for me to come to Arizona. I was hungry to learn, and under Jerry Stitt, Jim Wing and Jerry Kindall, I learned from the best."

After eight years as the Boston Red Sox manager, Francona is now an analyst for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.

"Eight years in Boston beat me up," he said. "They were like dog years. I'm so fortunate to be with ESPN, but I'm a rookie. The game goes 1,000 mph in the TV booth. I'll have to start from scratch and see how it goes."

Short stuff

Assistant's time at WVU a mind-blowing number

Among those on the new UA football staff is defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich. He spent 33 seasons at West Virginia. Here's some perspective: The longest-tenured UA assistant coaches are swimming's Rick DeMont, 24 years, and softball coach Larry Ray, 21 years. In the modern era, pitching coach Jim Wing was on the baseball staff for 21 years; Jim Rosborough was a basketball assistant for 18 years; and baseball coach Jerry Stitt was a 17-year assistant. In football, defensive coordinators Sharkey Price, 13 years, and Duane Akina, 14 years, have the longest stints. … It's almost sad to see Mike Stoops return to his brother's staff at Oklahoma. Isn't that the football equivalent of moving back in with your parents? Stoops had a chance to be the defensive coordinator at Nebraska, South Carolina and Ohio State but was not offered those jobs. Why? He's not a strong recruiter, he doesn't mix well within a staff and his defensive schemes seemed to be out of date in a new age of offensive X's and O's. … Of all people you didn't expect to see at Kino Sports Complex last week, there was 49-year-old Roger Clemens, playing catch with his son, Kody, who is part of a Houston traveling team taking part in the ongoing youth baseball event at Kino. During Clemens' 25-year career, minors, majors and spring training, he never played a game in Tucson against the Toros or in spring training.

Golf announcer Hicks promotes his local faves

Sabino and UA grad Dan Hicks will be the play-by-play man for NBC's coverage of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain next month. In the current issue of Golf World magazine, Hicks writes a two-page travelog on Tucson: best lodging, golfing, dining, sight-seeing. He recommended Lerua's Fine Mexican Food restaurant. Why? In part because owner Mike Hultquist, a former college golfer at Arizona and Oklahoma, sends Hicks a shipment of green corn tamales, on dry ice, every year. Tiger Woods is now safely in the field of 64 for the Match Play event. On the bubble: No. 65 Rory Sabbatini, No. 66 Vijay Singh and No. 68 Ernie Els. … UA volleyball coach Dave Rubio is rebuilding for his 18th shot at the NCAA tournament. He has received commitments from two of the nation's Top 50 players from the Class of 2013, according to prepvolleyball.com. They are 6-foot 8-inch Ashley Harris from Petaluma, Calif., and Phoenix-area talent Penina Snuka. Also listed among the Top 50, and the No. 2 libero in the Class of 2013, is Maddie Kerr, daughter of Steve Kerr. Maddie has already committed to the Cal Bears. … Rubio last week welcomed to campus former Florida Gators SEC All-Freshman standout Chanel Brown, a midseason transfer. … Very good to hear that ex-Wildcat All-Pac-10 safety and assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt has landed on his feet. Hammer will be the special teams coach at Colorado State. … Tim Kish was at the AFCA convention in San Antonio last week, where he was interviewed for multiple defensive coaching vacancies. It wouldn't be a surprise to see Kish take a job at either Wisconsin or Michigan State.

More Short stuff

Spotlight on Amphi-Salpointe

The feature high school basketball game at Monday's MLK quadruple-header at McKale Center is the 8 p.m. Division II match between defending state champ Amphi (18-3) and standout Salpointe (13-4). The Arizona Republic ranks Amphi No. 7 in the state. I thought it must be a misprint. … Catalina Foothills (14-3) also is a Division II power behind Chaz Mack, Michael Vogel and Austin Nehls, a sophomore who has emerged as a major college recruit. He shoots the ball a lot like his dad, ex-UA All-Pac-10 guard Joe Nehls. … Freshman guard Lester Medford has a chance to make the ACCAC all-league team at Arizona Western. The Amphi grad entered the weekend fifth in ACCAC scoring (17.6), second in steals (2.4), seventh in assists (5.1) and ninth in three-point shooting (.442). … Palo Verde grad Bryce Cotton, a sophomore shooting guard with a 43-inch vertical jump, had 27 points in Providence's upset of Louisville last week. He was set to play at Miami-Dade JC after no Pac-12 or WAC or region schools recruited him. Even Houston Baptist withdrew its offer before the Friars made a late offer, two weeks before school started in fall 2010. Big miss, guys.

My two cents

College All-Star Game needs to sell tickets to stick around

The first Casino del Sol College All-Star Game is a big deal financially. It costs about $75,000 for Fox Sports Arizona to complete its production, and it takes a financial commitment of close to $100,000 from Tucson sponsors to get the football game off the ground.

At Kino Sports Complex last week, more than 40 NFL scouts (including four NFL general managers) were in attendance to scout players from every conceivable corner of college football.

For Tucson purposes, the game will live or die for 2013 depending on how many people buy tickets to Monday's game.

"This is a good opportunity for Tucson," said assistant coach Dick Tomey, who was the UA football coach when the Insight.com Bowl died here, followed a few years later by the demise of the LPGA tournament and USA Baseball. "If you keep passing on these events, they stop coming your way."

Don't we know it.