Congratulations Wildcat baseball!

[Renz]

Awesome job by U of A in winning the Notre Dame regional this weekend and advancing to the Super Regional against Long Beach St.!

Almost as good was seeing ASU go down in flames.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Not a good year for Tempe Normal athletics. If I was Gene Smith and Pat Murphy (and Evans and Koetter too) I'd be sure to keep my resume up to date. It can easily be argued that UA has the better coaches in all three major sports.

Better coaching = More wins = More fans = More money = No debt. Send this to Gene Smith if he's still the A.D. next year.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Friday's U of A/Long Beach State game will be on ESPN2 at 7:00 pm MST.

 

[Renz]

What an awesome comeback by U of A! Four runs in the ninth to win.

One more win gets them to Omaha.

 

[Cland]

Impressive run by the Wildcats so far. I almost even found myself cheering for them as they are the last PAC 10 team standing. As for ASU's coaches I don't think we afford to buy any of them out so I think we're stuck with them. And no offense MTFC, but I think it's ridiculous that you think Stoops is better than Koetter already. You guys hired Mike Stoops, not Bob Stoops. I don't think Koetter is a good coach at all but Stoops has 0 experience as a head coach. How you think he's already a better head coach is beyond me. I'm not saying he won't be in a year or two or even a game or two. But right now his NCAA head coaching abilities are completely unknown.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Impressive run by the Wildcats so far. I almost even found myself cheering for them as they are the last PAC 10 team standing. As for ASU's coaches I don't think we afford to buy any of them out so I think we're stuck with them. And no offense MTFC, but I think it's ridiculous that you think Stoops is better than Koetter already. You guys hired Mike Stoops, not Bob Stoops. I don't think Koetter is a good coach at all but Stoops has 0 experience as a head coach. How you think he's already a better head coach is beyond me. I'm not saying he won't be in a year or two or even a game or two. But right now his NCAA head coaching abilities are completely unknown.

I'm going to preface this by saying the Cats will be lucky to win more than 5 games this year and I'd be shocked if ASU didn't finish above them in the Pac10. That being said, Stoops may not be the 'better' head coach right now just because of experience. But I am willing to say I'd rather have Stoops as our Head Coach with no head coaching experience and excellent record as a D-1 coordinator/asst head coach and program builder than Dirk Koetter with his experience and his mediocre D-1 head coaching track record.

In a few months down in Tucson, the awful UA football program has been the subject of an ESPN the Mag article as well as gotten positive (unfortunately some negative too after last week's tragedy) exposure from other natioanl media outlets. ASU hasn't received that kind of exposure since their last trip to the Rose Bowl.

In Stoops' few months the community has embraced and rallied around the team, causing a surge in ticket sales that has nearly covered all the extra money the A.D. is spending. ASU under Koetter's watch has had to resort to giving away free tickets to put butts in the seats.

Stoops has hired a top-notch coaching staff with coordinators and coaches that have been very successful on the collegiate level. ASU has Brent Guy.

Trust me, I'm very happy and confident in the coaching staff at the U and I know who I'd rather have. You and most ASU fan's lack of faith in Koetter tells me all I need to know. Let me ask you this: Would you rather have had Dave McGinnis or Marvin Lewis coaching the Cardinals last year?

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Would you rather have had Dave McGinnis or Marvin Lewis coaching the Cardinals last year?

Hmm.....not sure how this analogy fits. There seems to be a pattern developing here: ASU is mentioned, MaoTosiFanClub goes off about how much they suck. I have said it before, but no U of A fan or ASU fan has any space to talk crap about either program. Both schools have some of the worst athletic programs in the nation, and fan interest is basically nil, with the exception of a few sports. The rants are really getting old.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

The forum says: "Talk about ASU, UofA, and Nau. Let the smalk talk begin!" Get over it, buddy.

First, I really don't consider what I was saying 'talking sh-t' about ASU. I even said that ASU would finish above UA in football next year. Take a poll of ASU fans and they'll tend to agree with me on the sorry state of your athletic program and its coaches in revenue-producing sports. If you're bitter because it's a UofA fan saying it, then you're going to have to deal with it. You should know, which I've pointed out before, that I root for ASU against everybody except UofA. I want ASU-UA to be on the same level as USC-UCLA or Texas-Oklahoma. It's not that cool cheering for the rights to 9th place of the Pac10. Both schools need to figure it out, it's just that it seems like UofA has seemed to try and take those steps while ASU has lagged.

And in case you forgot, I can gloat right now considering UofA is in the CWS. God knows we'd have to hear about it if ASU was there. So get back to me in the fall when you have some ammunition.

I don't see how you don't see the similarity in my analogy. McGinnis might be a little too harsh for Koetter though, DK's not that bad. Gregg Williams would probably be a better analogy.

Williams & Koetter - experienced HCs with a mediocre track records as HCs.
Lewis & Stoops - inexperienced HCs with excellent track records as coordinators and asst. head coaches

 

[ASUCHRIS]

The forum says: "Talk about ASU, UofA, and Nau. Let the smalk talk begin!" Get over it, buddy.

First, I really don't consider what I was saying 'talking sh-t' about ASU. I even said that ASU would finish above UA in football next year. Take a poll of ASU fans and they'll tend to agree with me on the sorry state of your athletic program and its coaches in revenue-producing sports. If you're bitter because it's a UofA fan saying it, then you're going to have to deal with it. You should know, which I've pointed out before, that I root for ASU against everybody except UofA. I want ASU-UA to be on the same level as USC-UCLA or Texas-Oklahoma. It's not that cool cheering for the rights to 9th place of the Pac10. Both schools need to figure it out, it's just that it seems like UofA has seemed to try and take those steps while ASU has lagged.

And in case you forgot, I can gloat right now considering UofA is in the CWS. God knows we'd have to hear about it if ASU was there. So get back to me in the fall when you have some ammunition.

I don't see how you don't see the similarity in my analogy. McGinnis might be a little too harsh for Koetter though, DK's not that bad. Gregg Williams would probably be a better analogy.

Williams & Koetter - experienced HCs with a mediocre track records as HCs.
Lewis & Stoops - inexperienced HCs with excellent track records as coordinators and asst. head coaches

Just an observation.....take it for what it's worth. I generally agree with most things you have to say. I am just saying that the negativity about ASU gets a bit tiresome, and most posts that you make about U of A invariably turn into ripping into ASU for whatever reason. Also, Stoops hasn't proven crap....he could be the next McGinnis for all we know. (Good DC, terrible head coach) We can get into the semantics about the talent Stoops had, but I think this topic is exhausted.

 

[NJYAJ09]

Great season wildcats!

 

[chickenhead]

Unfortunately most of U of A's national football coverage has historically been coverage on expectations that never end up panning out - like their preseason #1 ranking a few years ago - so I'm not sure that the focus means anything in itself. Must be nice reading for Cats fans, though. I'd be happier this offseason than last, too.