This is a Q: by a reader and an A: by someone who has covered the team, knows the coaches as a member of the media, and knows the players. I, personally, find this accurate.
Q: "What is the realistic timeline for Arizona to compete for the Pac-12 South? Has the new coaching staff improved the recruiting enough to be competitive?"
A: Right now, I think there is a culture issue at Arizona and Samajie Grant said it best last season.
There are a lot of guys on this roster who do not love football, are not truly inspired to grind, and just want to live the student-athlete life.
With that being said, as well as the steep drop off over the last two years, I do think this is Rich Rodriguez’s last season in Tucson. It will be interesting to see who Dave Heeke can attract to come take over this rebuild phase. But in order to compete in the Pac-12 South, the culture needs to change. And whoever comes in next needs at least two years to get things under control and manage winning records.
Over the last few years, Arizona’s recruiting has gotten better when it comes to the caliber of programs they reach. A lot of these guys are coming from winning high school programs with great coaching staffs.
But there have been a ton of recruiting errors when it comes to character and we’ve slowly seen this roster decompose. There has also been a severe lack of player development over the last few years, too. Add that on top of all the injuries that are keeping some of Arizona’s best players away from the field, and the program isn’t in a good place.
These last two recruiting classes, 2016 and 2017, have a lot of good talent. During their recruiting pitch these recruits were told that they were going to be the ones to bring Arizona back to the Fiesta Bowl, and they’re inspired to do so.
Having Donté Williams certainly helped even if it was just one year. Vince Amey has stepped up in the Phoenix area and Jahmile Addae has been dominating Florida and Nevada. But the efforts in Texas and the Polynesian community come way too late to save this group.
It all starts with the tone at the top and there needs to be radical change under Heeke to get Arizona out of this hole. It just needs to be the right coaching staff that can motivate and develop this group, weed out the weak links and get guys to compete.
Q: "What is the realistic timeline for Arizona to compete for the Pac-12 South? Has the new coaching staff improved the recruiting enough to be competitive?"
A: Right now, I think there is a culture issue at Arizona and Samajie Grant said it best last season.
There are a lot of guys on this roster who do not love football, are not truly inspired to grind, and just want to live the student-athlete life.
With that being said, as well as the steep drop off over the last two years, I do think this is Rich Rodriguez’s last season in Tucson. It will be interesting to see who Dave Heeke can attract to come take over this rebuild phase. But in order to compete in the Pac-12 South, the culture needs to change. And whoever comes in next needs at least two years to get things under control and manage winning records.
Over the last few years, Arizona’s recruiting has gotten better when it comes to the caliber of programs they reach. A lot of these guys are coming from winning high school programs with great coaching staffs.
But there have been a ton of recruiting errors when it comes to character and we’ve slowly seen this roster decompose. There has also been a severe lack of player development over the last few years, too. Add that on top of all the injuries that are keeping some of Arizona’s best players away from the field, and the program isn’t in a good place.
These last two recruiting classes, 2016 and 2017, have a lot of good talent. During their recruiting pitch these recruits were told that they were going to be the ones to bring Arizona back to the Fiesta Bowl, and they’re inspired to do so.
Having Donté Williams certainly helped even if it was just one year. Vince Amey has stepped up in the Phoenix area and Jahmile Addae has been dominating Florida and Nevada. But the efforts in Texas and the Polynesian community come way too late to save this group.
It all starts with the tone at the top and there needs to be radical change under Heeke to get Arizona out of this hole. It just needs to be the right coaching staff that can motivate and develop this group, weed out the weak links and get guys to compete.
