Stoops: Coaching at Arizona was like 'fighting with a toothpick'

[Ptah]

Mike Stoops felt like he "might have got it as good as it can get" during his seven-plus
seasons as the Arizona Wildcats' head coach, he told CBSSports.com's Bryan Fischer this week.

The reasons: Poor facilities and what he viewed was a university-wide apathy toward football.

"You have to be realistic with what your expectations are and you should have high expectations,
I certainly did. But what you're capable of and what the circumstances that are dealt to you,
it's hard to achieve those big goals of winning a championship there," Stoops, now the defensive
coordinator at Oklahoma, told Fischer. (Click here for the full story).

But wait, there's more.

"There's a reason they haven't won a championship at Arizona and it's not bad coaching or bad players,"
Stoops continued. "You can blame it on anything you want, football and championships are about
commitments made university wide. It's a commitment made to winning, not at all costs but there is a cost.

http://azstarnet.com/sports/blogs/finley/stoops-coaching-at-arizona-was-like-fighting-with-a-toothpick/article_71b514d0-74ba-11e1-9c62-001871e3ce6c.html

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Stoops had more fans in the seats.
Stoops spent his energy haranguing those around him.
Stoops needed a nepotism waiver to get a job.

[JonLP24]

1. How many teams haven't won championships?

In the Pac-12 there is Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah(though they finished first in 4 of the ranking systems the BCS uses in 2008), Arizona State, and Arizona. Stanford hasn't claimed a NT since 1926, Cal since 1937, and UCLA since 1954.

I don't know want it takes to build a school to make it desirable for championship contending athletes want to attend but it seems it is very difficult to win one and say there is a reason why they haven't. A few of the schools I listed above came mighty close.

[Ptah]

2. I know it was years ago, but Dick Tomey had the Wildcats within a field goal

And Dick Tomey's Wildcats STOMPED in those other guys.

In 1993, the team had its first 10-win season and beat the Miami Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl by a score of 29–0.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Wildcats_football#Desert_Swarm_and_Dick_Tomey_era

[JonLP24]

3. Next few years should be interesting

(the part about Rodriguez inspired this post)

There will be run-orientated spread offense coaches for both Arizona & Arizona State for the near future. I'm not a fan of the spread but if it has to be the spread, I strongly prefer run-orientated. I'm more of a pro-style guy.

ASU's QB competition is wide open. Osweiler's backup, Mike Bercovici, who from reports throws the ball very well is in competition with speedier guys that are more of a fit for Graham's spread option attack. With a freshman and two sophmores battling it out will likely be the team's QB the next 3 or 4 years.

[thelordofhell]

4. Sorry Stoopy......U of A is a Basketball school

You didn't have a chance, you whiny idiot. Now everybody knows what a backstabber you are.

[hughee99]

5. I can't believe he didn't know when started that he was moving to a

second tier athletic conference (at least as far as football and basketball go) when he went there.

It was his responsibility to turn this into a "football school", and he failed at that.