– When Chip Hale's Arizona baseball team blew an 8-4 ninth inning lead at Grand Canyon last week, losing 9-8, it dropped the UA record to 16-27. Few saw this coming after Hale coached the Wildcats to the Big 12 championship a year ago. This doesn't mean Hale has lost it. The two worst teams in UA baseball history were coached by the immortal Jerry Kindall, a three-time NCAA champion. Kindall's teams of 1994-96 finished, in order, 7-23, 6-24 and 7-23 in the Pac-10. Two years after Andy Lopez won the 2012 NCAA championship at Arizona, the Wildcats went 9-21 in the Pac-12. Stuff happens to the best of coaches.
Arizona coach Chip Hale surveys the field during the final day of the College Baseball Series at Surprise Stadium in Surprise on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026.
– On the final day of last week's NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills signed Salpointe Catholic/Duke grad Bruno Fina to a free agent contract. Fina started all 14 games for Duke at left tackle last season. His father, Salpointe and UA grad John Fina, started 131 games for the Bills, including two Super Bowls, in the 1990s. If Bruno makes the Bills roster and plays in an NFL game, he will become the first son of a former Arizona Wildcat football player to compete in the NFL. Arizona's 1998 All-American cornerback Chris McAlister, who played 12 NFL seasons, is the son of James McAlister of UCLA, who played in the NFL from 1976-78.
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– Arizona basketball legend Sean Elliott was a guest on the Jim Rome Show last week and Elliott wasn't shy when Rome asked him about Lute Olson's impact on his life. The 1989 NCAA Player of the year said "Lute was a basketball genius. He could watch a practice for 10 minutes and tell you what everyone did right or wrong. He had a presence like nobody else. When he walked onto the court at the beginning of practice, it was like 'OK, God has arrived.'" Elliott also pushed for the Golden State Warriors not to fire his 1988 Final Four teammate Steve Kerr. "Guys like Steve Kerr just don't come around the corner," said Elliott. "He should be the Warriors head coach as long as he wants."
– I had to laugh last week when I read that Ohio State's athletic department, which has an annual budget of close to $300 million, double that of Arizona, went into business with an Ohio business that now includes the following on all of its sales transactions: "Do you want to round up to support Ohio State athletics?" If the Buckeyes are doing that, digging for nickels and dimes, what other school can possibly keep up financially?
Tucson ballfield gets new name, honoring winning coach's memory | Greg Hansen
