Arizona’s dream season continued today, and the Wildcats didn't even play a game.
Rich Rodriguez was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year after leading the UA to a 10-2 season and a Pac-12 South Division championship and berth in Friday's conference championship game.Â
That wasn’t the only honor for the Wildcats.
Sophomore linebacker Scooby Wright was also named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Today marks the third time Rodriguez been named a conference coach of the year. The coach won the Big East Coach of the Year award in 2003 and 2005 while at West Virginia. He’s the first Arizona coach to win the Pac-10/12 award since Dick Tomey in 1992.
Wright is the first Arizona player to win Defensive Player of the Year since Tedy Bruschi won the award in 1995.
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The UA’s sophomore linebacker has 139 tackles, 27 tackles-for-loss, 14 sacks and six forced fumbles on the season. Wright is the first underclassmen to win the award since Washington’s Steve Emtman won it in 1990. Entman is the only underclassmen to have won the award since it began in 1983.
Wright is a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, Bronko Nagurski Award and Rotary Lombardi Award.
His 27 tackles-for-loss and six forced fumbles are tops in the nation. His 139 tackles are the best mark in the Pac-12 and fourth best in the country.
Wright is a former two-star recruit, who didn’t have any other scholarship offers out of high school. He started 12 games last season as a true freshman and had 83 tackles and 9 ½ tackles-for-loss.
The linebacker will have a chance to add to his stats Friday when Arizona plays Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game in Santa Clara, California.
For Rodriguez, he will have a chance to tie his career best mark of 11 wins in a season. The coach went 11-1 in 2005 and 11-2 in 2006 with the Mountaineers.
The coach has already led the UA to its first 10-win regular season since 1998. The Wildcats topped three ranked opponents this season under Rodriguez, including back-to-back victories to close out the season over No. 20 Utah and No. 13 Arizona State.
The full all-conference teams will be released tonight at 9 p.m.
