Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Rosborough inching closer to another ring
- Updated
Star sports columnist Greg Hansen offers his opinion on recent sports news.
- Updated
Beloved assistant Rosborough inching closer to another championship ring
Now that Jonathan Goldsmith, the “Most Interesting Man In the World,” has retired from his long-running Dos Equis beer commercials, I’ve got a nomination for his replacement.
Jim Rosborough.
I’ve rarely known anyone who enjoys and gets more out of life than the man who helped Lute Olson coach Final Four teams at Iowa and Arizona.
Rosborough was the soul of 19 Arizona basketball teams from 1989-2008. Olson’s program imploded, not coincidentally, when he pushed Rosborough out and replaced him with the corrosive Kevin O’Neill.
But that was nine years ago. Since then, Rosborough has made the best of a bad situation and then some.
He spent a year as a fundraiser in the UA athletic department. He helped coach Pima College’s men’s basketball team to seventh place in the NJCAA championships. He put in three years as a UA women’s assistant tennis coach. He spent a year as a scout for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. And now he is an assistant for PCC’s women’s basketball team, seeded No. 3 in this week’s NJCAA tournament.
When he’s not coaching, he’s playing golf at his summer retreat in Ludington, Michigan, or imbibing in his long passion, tennis. He’s a connoisseur of 1960s and 1970s music, with a personal collection that belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At 71, he does not have a stop button. He could pass for someone 51.
If you meet someone who doesn’t like Jim Rosborough, you’ve got breaking news.
Early Sunday, he will drive with the PCC women’s hoops team to Phoenix and fly to Kansas City, as the Aztecs will attempt to win the national championship in Overland Park, Kansas.
“What do I get out of this?” he asks. “My wife, Kim, says, ‘Honey, you’re a coach.’ I like coaching, plain and simple. As long as I can stand up, I think I’ll stay and help (head coach Todd Holthaus).”
The feeling is mutual.
“There’s no ego with Roz,” says Holthaus. “The girls really enjoy his insight and expertise. He’s 100 percent all in.”
Says PCC’s all-everything point guard Sydni Stallworth: “I love breaking down film with him. He shows us things we didn’t know. He’s a very nice man.”
When Rosborough began his video sessions early this season, only two or three players would attend. Now all 15 girls huddle around the video screen for the 30-minute sessions.
Rosborough doesn’t ask for favors. When the Aztecs take long bus trips to Yuma, Thatcher and Douglas, he is all aboard, returning home as late as 2 a.m. The only way you’d know he was a basketball standout at Iowa — and later, helped Olson coach 1980, 1994, 1997 and 2001 Final Four teams — is that he wears one of his many championship rings.
Holthaus, who grew up watching the Hawkeyes in Iowa, knew of Rosborough 40 years ago. Now they are partners.
“There’s no question I get as much fun out of this as anything I’ve done,” Rosborough says. “As I get older, I feel better about what I’m saying, and the way I coach.
“And maybe I’ll get another ring, too.”
- Updated
Conquistadores Classic a loaded field
The field for the second Tucson Conquistadores Classic won’t include Champions Tour fan favorite Fred Couples this week — he has chosen to rest his aching back for next month’s Masters — but all of the tour’s other headline names are back: Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Rocco Mediate, Tom Lehman, Lee Janzen, Mark O’Meara, you name it.
The Conquistadores gave an exemption to Tucson pro Ronnie Black and put ex-Arizona Wildcats Don Pooley and Dan Pohl on the list of alternates; a withdrawal means Pooley is already in the field. The field also includes 1980s UA standout Mike Springer, 50, who will be making just his third Champions Tour start, and ex-Sabino High state champion Willie Wood.
The pro-am field will feature Mike Stoops and Rich Rodriguez. They’re not freebies, either. It costs $3,500 to play in the pro-am. Stoops is a good golfer; he has played at Augusta National and has a single-digit handicap. RichRod is, shall we say, a full-time football coach.
In some ways, the Champions Tour event at Tucson National has already been a success. Last week, the Conquistadores played host to an outing for Special Olympics golfers at the El Rio Golf Course. It was terrific to see Pooley, the 2001 U.S. Seniors Open champion, among those helping the Special Olympians. Pooley has been a regular as these events since the 1980s. On Monday, he carried his PGA Tour bag and played in the four-hole event.
It’s unfortunate the Tucson Conquistadores Classic sometimes gets lost opposite the opening week of the NCAA Tournament, but it’s a first-class event and Tucson’s last remaining link to big-time pro sports.
- Updated
Knight's presence in Oregon locker room a bad look
Nike czar Phil Knight was in Oregon’s locker room Friday night at the MGM Grand — along with a sizable entourage of rich guys — which never strikes the right chord. Doesn’t the NCAA discourage up-close contact between boosters and college athletes? But the Ducks seem to have a special dispensation to give Knight a run of the place, in football and basketball. As much as I admire what Dana Altman has done to coach Oregon into a championship season, the specter of Knight and Nike gives him an edge other coaches don’t have.
- Updated
Colorado's 2013 loss in McKale still stings
Before Colorado left the MGM Grand Arena on Thursday, Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle and star center Josh Scott both touched a nerve. Both referred to a January 2013 loss at McKale Center in which CU guard Sabatino Chen’s last-second, banked-in three-pointer should’ve counted. Instead, after a video review, referees did not count the shot. Arizona won in overtime. “It was good,” Boyle said. Scott added, “It supposedly did not count.” C’mon, move on. I’ve never heard Sean Miller publicly go back to the 2013 Pac-12 Tournament when referee Michael Irving’s “he touched the ball” technical foul probably cost Arizona a shot at the tournament championship.
- Updated
Pac-12 makes right call with move to T-Mobile Arena
On Friday afternoon, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and two corporate heavyweights announced the move of the Pac-12 tournament to the $375 million T-Mobile Arena. Scott read from a script and tossed in a lot of big words I can’t spell. The heart of the story is that the league can make more money by renting suites and club boxes, which the MGM Grand Garden Arena lacks. But it’s a good move because even if the 18,500-seat arena proves too big, capacity can be “shrunk” to, say, 14,000 by curtains that block out segments of seats. “We spent a lot of time talking about how to engage the collegiate atmosphere,” said Scott. Collegiate atmosphere? I’d say that about 5 percent of those at the Pac-12 tournament are under 25. It’s a high roll, plain and simple.
One footnote: the league better hope that Arizona doesn’t go into a basketball funk anytime soon. The new arena would be a ghost town.
- Updated
Jason Gardner holds onto gig
In his first two seasons as head coach of the IUPUI Jaguars, a Summit League team, Arizona’s three-time All-Pac-10 point guard Jason Gardner has struggled. The Jags were 13-19 this year and 10-21 a year ago, and Gardner will be in a struggle to keep his job next year. He attracted attention for the wrong reasons two weeks ago when, after beating rival IPFW, the Summit League’s No. 1 seed, Gardner jumped onto the scorer’s table and openly celebrated. At Arizona, he was understated, keeping his emotions inside. “There is a way to win and a way to lose,” IPFW coach Jon Coffman said. Gardner apologized a day later.
- Updated
Marana barrel racer hits $3 million
Marana’s Sherry Cervi won $25,000 in the Houston Rodeo’s barrel racing finals last week, becoming the first barrel racer in rodeo history to hit $3 million in career earnings. Cervi first won the Houston Rodeo as a 19-year-old in 1995.
- Updated
What's changed for the Suns?
Tucson native Robert Sarver, owner of the Phoenix Suns, has had six head coaches and three general managers over the past eight seasons. At 54, he has proved, if nothing else, he’s out of his element in pro sports. Since Jerry Colangelo left the scene, the Suns have been bottom-feeders, which is also true with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Colangelo was at the Pac-12 tournament last week, representing the Philadelphia 76ers. Some people have instincts for sport, some don’t. Colangelo does, and then some.
- Updated
Recruit Alkins will find it's not easy to dominate in Pac-12
When super prospect Rawle Alkins made a pledge to play basketball for Arizona next year, making his announcement on ESPNU, he handled himself well in what could be a daunting situation. A day later he told USA Today, “I definitely feel like I’ll do well in the Pac-12 with my physical style. I think I’ll bring a toughness that they don’t see as much.” He also mentioned the word “dominate.” Forget that. If he can just be as productive as, say, Oregon freshman Tyler Dorsey, it’ll be enough. Nobody dominates any more. Look at Cal’s Jaylen Brown, who was last season’s Rawle Alkins. Brown struggled mightily in Cal’s last four games, shooting 9 for 42 afield, or just 21 percent.
- Updated
Camacho finds fitting name for team
I really like what Pueblo High baseball coach Ray Camacho has done. The Warriors’ baseball jerseys say “Guerreros” in script. (That’s Spanish for Warriors.) Not only does it look good, it fits. When Pueblo beat Amphi 3-0 Friday, the starting lineup had the following last names: Robles, Lopez, Coronado, Lucero, Armenta, Faras, Gomez and Molina.
- Updated
Recent Canyon del Oro grads find success
Keith Francis’ Canyon del Oro baseball team won the state championship with a 33-2 record a year ago. The three Division I prospects on that team are having varying success in college baseball. First baseman Nick Ames is off to a 1-for-20 start at the plate for UNLV. Outfielder Max Smith, also at UNLV, has started just three games, but had a game-winning RBI against UC Riverside last week. Outfielder Erick Migueles is hitting .429 at New Mexico, but has played in just two games. Moving up a level is not easy.
- Updated
Four-year varsity players snag All-Star spots
Good to see Rincon/University center Brendan Rumel and Sunnyside forward Jacob Inclan invited to next Saturday’s ABA Senior All-Star Game at Mesa Community College. Both were four-year varsity players. Inclan was the heartbeat of a Blue Devils basketball revival (86 wins in four years) and he scored 1,758 points. Rumel scored 1,475 points for Rich Utter’s Rangers, including a city-high 683 points this year. We haven’t heard the last of those two prospects.
- Updated
My two cents: Tournament losses can have upside — just ask UA
Arizona’s basketball team flew immediately home from Las Vegas late Friday, arriving in Tucson about 2 a.m.
After two games — 85 minutes — of drawn-out drama in Las Vegas, Sean Miller’s team was able to get an extra day’s rest, which was what Lute Olson often insisted was more important than winning the league tournament. I think everyone — coach, player and fan, would’ve preferred to cut down the nets and forgotten about healing emotionally and physically. But sometimes it works better when you don’t win.
On Saturday, former Arizona athletic director Cedric Dempsey reminded me that a close loss sometimes works out for the best. When he was searching for a coach in March 1983, he went to the Iowa-Villanova Sweet 16 game at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena. He planned to interview the losing and immediately available coach, Olson or Villanova’s Rollie Massimino.
“Missing a shot at the end of the game is not always bad,” Dempsey said Saturday. “That’s how we got Lute. They were down one with his best player at the line. Both foul shots were missed, which opened the door for our conversation after the game. If the player had made both foul shots, Iowa moves on and there may not have been a conversation. The rest is history.”
Villanova won 55-54 that night.
Dempsey hired Olson three days later.
More like this...
Beloved assistant Rosborough inching closer to another championship ring
Now that Jonathan Goldsmith, the “Most Interesting Man In the World,” has retired from his long-running Dos Equis beer commercials, I’ve got a nomination for his replacement.
Jim Rosborough.
I’ve rarely known anyone who enjoys and gets more out of life than the man who helped Lute Olson coach Final Four teams at Iowa and Arizona.
Rosborough was the soul of 19 Arizona basketball teams from 1989-2008. Olson’s program imploded, not coincidentally, when he pushed Rosborough out and replaced him with the corrosive Kevin O’Neill.
But that was nine years ago. Since then, Rosborough has made the best of a bad situation and then some.
He spent a year as a fundraiser in the UA athletic department. He helped coach Pima College’s men’s basketball team to seventh place in the NJCAA championships. He put in three years as a UA women’s assistant tennis coach. He spent a year as a scout for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. And now he is an assistant for PCC’s women’s basketball team, seeded No. 3 in this week’s NJCAA tournament.
When he’s not coaching, he’s playing golf at his summer retreat in Ludington, Michigan, or imbibing in his long passion, tennis. He’s a connoisseur of 1960s and 1970s music, with a personal collection that belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At 71, he does not have a stop button. He could pass for someone 51.
If you meet someone who doesn’t like Jim Rosborough, you’ve got breaking news.
Early Sunday, he will drive with the PCC women’s hoops team to Phoenix and fly to Kansas City, as the Aztecs will attempt to win the national championship in Overland Park, Kansas.
“What do I get out of this?” he asks. “My wife, Kim, says, ‘Honey, you’re a coach.’ I like coaching, plain and simple. As long as I can stand up, I think I’ll stay and help (head coach Todd Holthaus).”
The feeling is mutual.
“There’s no ego with Roz,” says Holthaus. “The girls really enjoy his insight and expertise. He’s 100 percent all in.”
Says PCC’s all-everything point guard Sydni Stallworth: “I love breaking down film with him. He shows us things we didn’t know. He’s a very nice man.”
When Rosborough began his video sessions early this season, only two or three players would attend. Now all 15 girls huddle around the video screen for the 30-minute sessions.
Rosborough doesn’t ask for favors. When the Aztecs take long bus trips to Yuma, Thatcher and Douglas, he is all aboard, returning home as late as 2 a.m. The only way you’d know he was a basketball standout at Iowa — and later, helped Olson coach 1980, 1994, 1997 and 2001 Final Four teams — is that he wears one of his many championship rings.
Holthaus, who grew up watching the Hawkeyes in Iowa, knew of Rosborough 40 years ago. Now they are partners.
“There’s no question I get as much fun out of this as anything I’ve done,” Rosborough says. “As I get older, I feel better about what I’m saying, and the way I coach.
“And maybe I’ll get another ring, too.”
Conquistadores Classic a loaded field
The field for the second Tucson Conquistadores Classic won’t include Champions Tour fan favorite Fred Couples this week — he has chosen to rest his aching back for next month’s Masters — but all of the tour’s other headline names are back: Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Rocco Mediate, Tom Lehman, Lee Janzen, Mark O’Meara, you name it.
The Conquistadores gave an exemption to Tucson pro Ronnie Black and put ex-Arizona Wildcats Don Pooley and Dan Pohl on the list of alternates; a withdrawal means Pooley is already in the field. The field also includes 1980s UA standout Mike Springer, 50, who will be making just his third Champions Tour start, and ex-Sabino High state champion Willie Wood.
The pro-am field will feature Mike Stoops and Rich Rodriguez. They’re not freebies, either. It costs $3,500 to play in the pro-am. Stoops is a good golfer; he has played at Augusta National and has a single-digit handicap. RichRod is, shall we say, a full-time football coach.
In some ways, the Champions Tour event at Tucson National has already been a success. Last week, the Conquistadores played host to an outing for Special Olympics golfers at the El Rio Golf Course. It was terrific to see Pooley, the 2001 U.S. Seniors Open champion, among those helping the Special Olympians. Pooley has been a regular as these events since the 1980s. On Monday, he carried his PGA Tour bag and played in the four-hole event.
It’s unfortunate the Tucson Conquistadores Classic sometimes gets lost opposite the opening week of the NCAA Tournament, but it’s a first-class event and Tucson’s last remaining link to big-time pro sports.
Knight's presence in Oregon locker room a bad look
Nike czar Phil Knight was in Oregon’s locker room Friday night at the MGM Grand — along with a sizable entourage of rich guys — which never strikes the right chord. Doesn’t the NCAA discourage up-close contact between boosters and college athletes? But the Ducks seem to have a special dispensation to give Knight a run of the place, in football and basketball. As much as I admire what Dana Altman has done to coach Oregon into a championship season, the specter of Knight and Nike gives him an edge other coaches don’t have.
Colorado's 2013 loss in McKale still stings
Before Colorado left the MGM Grand Arena on Thursday, Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle and star center Josh Scott both touched a nerve. Both referred to a January 2013 loss at McKale Center in which CU guard Sabatino Chen’s last-second, banked-in three-pointer should’ve counted. Instead, after a video review, referees did not count the shot. Arizona won in overtime. “It was good,” Boyle said. Scott added, “It supposedly did not count.” C’mon, move on. I’ve never heard Sean Miller publicly go back to the 2013 Pac-12 Tournament when referee Michael Irving’s “he touched the ball” technical foul probably cost Arizona a shot at the tournament championship.
Pac-12 makes right call with move to T-Mobile Arena
On Friday afternoon, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and two corporate heavyweights announced the move of the Pac-12 tournament to the $375 million T-Mobile Arena. Scott read from a script and tossed in a lot of big words I can’t spell. The heart of the story is that the league can make more money by renting suites and club boxes, which the MGM Grand Garden Arena lacks. But it’s a good move because even if the 18,500-seat arena proves too big, capacity can be “shrunk” to, say, 14,000 by curtains that block out segments of seats. “We spent a lot of time talking about how to engage the collegiate atmosphere,” said Scott. Collegiate atmosphere? I’d say that about 5 percent of those at the Pac-12 tournament are under 25. It’s a high roll, plain and simple.
One footnote: the league better hope that Arizona doesn’t go into a basketball funk anytime soon. The new arena would be a ghost town.
Jason Gardner holds onto gig
In his first two seasons as head coach of the IUPUI Jaguars, a Summit League team, Arizona’s three-time All-Pac-10 point guard Jason Gardner has struggled. The Jags were 13-19 this year and 10-21 a year ago, and Gardner will be in a struggle to keep his job next year. He attracted attention for the wrong reasons two weeks ago when, after beating rival IPFW, the Summit League’s No. 1 seed, Gardner jumped onto the scorer’s table and openly celebrated. At Arizona, he was understated, keeping his emotions inside. “There is a way to win and a way to lose,” IPFW coach Jon Coffman said. Gardner apologized a day later.
Marana barrel racer hits $3 million
Marana’s Sherry Cervi won $25,000 in the Houston Rodeo’s barrel racing finals last week, becoming the first barrel racer in rodeo history to hit $3 million in career earnings. Cervi first won the Houston Rodeo as a 19-year-old in 1995.
What's changed for the Suns?
Tucson native Robert Sarver, owner of the Phoenix Suns, has had six head coaches and three general managers over the past eight seasons. At 54, he has proved, if nothing else, he’s out of his element in pro sports. Since Jerry Colangelo left the scene, the Suns have been bottom-feeders, which is also true with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Colangelo was at the Pac-12 tournament last week, representing the Philadelphia 76ers. Some people have instincts for sport, some don’t. Colangelo does, and then some.
Recruit Alkins will find it's not easy to dominate in Pac-12
When super prospect Rawle Alkins made a pledge to play basketball for Arizona next year, making his announcement on ESPNU, he handled himself well in what could be a daunting situation. A day later he told USA Today, “I definitely feel like I’ll do well in the Pac-12 with my physical style. I think I’ll bring a toughness that they don’t see as much.” He also mentioned the word “dominate.” Forget that. If he can just be as productive as, say, Oregon freshman Tyler Dorsey, it’ll be enough. Nobody dominates any more. Look at Cal’s Jaylen Brown, who was last season’s Rawle Alkins. Brown struggled mightily in Cal’s last four games, shooting 9 for 42 afield, or just 21 percent.
Camacho finds fitting name for team
I really like what Pueblo High baseball coach Ray Camacho has done. The Warriors’ baseball jerseys say “Guerreros” in script. (That’s Spanish for Warriors.) Not only does it look good, it fits. When Pueblo beat Amphi 3-0 Friday, the starting lineup had the following last names: Robles, Lopez, Coronado, Lucero, Armenta, Faras, Gomez and Molina.
Recent Canyon del Oro grads find success
Keith Francis’ Canyon del Oro baseball team won the state championship with a 33-2 record a year ago. The three Division I prospects on that team are having varying success in college baseball. First baseman Nick Ames is off to a 1-for-20 start at the plate for UNLV. Outfielder Max Smith, also at UNLV, has started just three games, but had a game-winning RBI against UC Riverside last week. Outfielder Erick Migueles is hitting .429 at New Mexico, but has played in just two games. Moving up a level is not easy.
Four-year varsity players snag All-Star spots
Good to see Rincon/University center Brendan Rumel and Sunnyside forward Jacob Inclan invited to next Saturday’s ABA Senior All-Star Game at Mesa Community College. Both were four-year varsity players. Inclan was the heartbeat of a Blue Devils basketball revival (86 wins in four years) and he scored 1,758 points. Rumel scored 1,475 points for Rich Utter’s Rangers, including a city-high 683 points this year. We haven’t heard the last of those two prospects.
My two cents: Tournament losses can have upside — just ask UA
Arizona’s basketball team flew immediately home from Las Vegas late Friday, arriving in Tucson about 2 a.m.
After two games — 85 minutes — of drawn-out drama in Las Vegas, Sean Miller’s team was able to get an extra day’s rest, which was what Lute Olson often insisted was more important than winning the league tournament. I think everyone — coach, player and fan, would’ve preferred to cut down the nets and forgotten about healing emotionally and physically. But sometimes it works better when you don’t win.
On Saturday, former Arizona athletic director Cedric Dempsey reminded me that a close loss sometimes works out for the best. When he was searching for a coach in March 1983, he went to the Iowa-Villanova Sweet 16 game at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena. He planned to interview the losing and immediately available coach, Olson or Villanova’s Rollie Massimino.
“Missing a shot at the end of the game is not always bad,” Dempsey said Saturday. “That’s how we got Lute. They were down one with his best player at the line. Both foul shots were missed, which opened the door for our conversation after the game. If the player had made both foul shots, Iowa moves on and there may not have been a conversation. The rest is history.”
Villanova won 55-54 that night.
Dempsey hired Olson three days later.
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