Reports are Stoops will be fired.

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Arizona AD Byrne to hold press conf. at 6 pm - Tucson Citizen speculating Stoops to be fired


azcsportsazcentral - sports
Arizona calls 6 p.m. news conference. Mike Stoops will reportedly be let go. http://bit.ly/o00tNA
 

Renz

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Tim Kish will be interim coach for the rest of the season. Good move by Byrne. Ends speculation and allows the search to begin early.
 

Gaddabout

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Apparent early targets: Petersen (No way), Bellotti (Doubtful) and Larry Fedora (*shrug*)
 

ajcardfan

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Just read a story on this that he went 1-10 after last year's 7-1 start. The only win being over NAU. Talk about doing a 180.
 

PAQ77

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I like the move... I would think let him finish out the year but I guess it's good to get it over with and get a headstart on the search. Peterson would be awesome but I doubt it. Leach would be nice... Not sure who else is out there after that though...
 

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I will say however, I do thank Stoops for getting us back up to respectibility after the Mackovic debacle. He inherited an absolute mess and was stuck picking up the pieces. He just couldn't get us over the hump unfortunately and it was time to move on. I hope he lands somewhere as a D.C. and does well.
 

27Veer

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He was going nowhere fast. He refused to sit both FG kickers down and either have the position coach get them up to speed.
Failure to recruit depth 2-3 years ago so we wouldn't lose an entire offensive line at the same time.
His ridiculous antics on the sideline.
 

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Wow, this board is pretty dead for the firing of the head coach. I haven't been on this site for a while so maybe it's all like this.
 

Gaddabout

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Wow, this board is pretty dead for the firing of the head coach. I haven't been on this site for a while so maybe it's all like this.

There are dozens of active message boards for both the big state schools. I'm guessing that's where most people bear their souls.
 

General Chaos

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I appreciate what Mike Stoops did for the program but agree it was time to make a change. Stoops could no longer sell the "we are an up and coming program" pitch. I highly doubt Petersen will happen, but obviously would be ecstatic. Belotti would be perfect. However, if UCLA makes a change they would be tough to beat out for him. Waiting two months for a new HC is going to be tough but I fully trust Greg Byrne to make a solid hire.
 

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Apparent early targets: Petersen (No way), Bellotti (Doubtful) and Larry Fedora (*shrug*)

I can tell you that Byrne thinks he can get one of Bellotti or Petersen. I personally don't see it but that is what the AD thinks and he knows both those guys pretty well on a personal level, about a million times better than either of us.

That being said it is highly possible those names were put out there to be a smokescreen. This isn't Jim Livengood here who got all his plans foiled by some message board people on flightaware.com, Byrne knows the process and will keep this thing very close to the vest.
 

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I heard that Koetter has openly said if he could do it over again he wouldn't have left Boise State for Arizona State (FWIW--I didn't read it). And Hawkins has paled in comparison to Petersen at Colorado. Petersen has gotten everything he wants from BSU to the limits of their capabilities. If he leaves, it should be for what he thinks could be his last job.

Back to Arizona, though, this should be interesting. Are their any assistants in the Pac 12 ready to make the leap?
 

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Another name floating around is Mark Hudspeth at ULL. Byrne knows him from his days at Mississippi State and he had HC experience. Issue here is that all of his ties are to SEC country so we will see how much that factors in. Hudspeth will also bring his team to Tucson the last week of November for Senior Day so that could be an interesting twist.
 

Dback Jon

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Another name floating around is Mark Hudspeth at ULL. Byrne knows him from his days at Mississippi State and he had HC experience. Issue here is that all of his ties are to SEC country so we will see how much that factors in. Hudspeth will also bring his team to Tucson the last week of November for Senior Day so that could be an interesting twist.


ULL has never been to a bowl game - pretty bad program. They are currently 5-1 (albeit in the Sunbelt) so have turned things around.
 

crisper57

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What a different a year makes. Since going 7-1 out of the gate last year, the have only gotten one more win.

Wow.
 

HooverDam

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Another name floating around is Mark Hudspeth at ULL. Byrne knows him from his days at Mississippi State and he had HC experience. Issue here is that all of his ties are to SEC country so we will see how much that factors in. Hudspeth will also bring his team to Tucson the last week of November for Senior Day so that could be an interesting twist.

That doesn't sound like a bad choice, except for as you mentioned no West Coast ties/experience. As long as you're looking in Louisiana, what about Sonny Dykes? He hasn't done anything really yet at LaTech, but thats a pretty lousy program and he just got there. Would UA take a chance on him already?
 

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That was a thought of mine as well, but he may feel that SMU has more football upside. This is not a dig at U of A: it just depends on how he feels about his recruits, and conference realignment could also play a role, as there have been rumors about SMU joining a reconstituted Big 12.

--But he'd be a good candidate if interested.
 

Wildcat05

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June Jones would be on my list... And I could see the whole issue of conference realignment coming into play.
 

boisesuns

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I heard that Koetter has openly said if he could do it over again he wouldn't have left Boise State for Arizona State (FWIW--I didn't read it). And Hawkins has paled in comparison to Petersen at Colorado. Petersen has gotten everything he wants from BSU to the limits of their capabilities. If he leaves, it should be for what he thinks could be his last job.

Back to Arizona, though, this should be interesting. Are their any assistants in the Pac 12 ready to make the leap?

You're right about Petersen. He said no to stanford and other schools, so even with the connection in AZ, not sure he would go. Most think Oregon (Where he was an assistant before Boise) would be about the only school, but he's really happy at Boise.

His big thing is commitment to growing the program (Stadium expansion, paying staff) and recruiting quality guys. As far as money, Boise has a long ways to go to compete with AZ, but deadlines are being met (New Press Box, Indoor practice Facility, and soon to come new locker room and stadium expansion. He's said as long as Boise does those things, he's on board.

He really does seem committed to Boise and growing the program. Going 61-5 with consistent 10 win seasons and 2 BCS bowls.

And probably the biggest thing for him is family. His son has had some brain problems and is ok now, but it was pretty scary for a while there. Access to good medical treatment is high on his list.
 

MaoTosiFanClub

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That doesn't sound like a bad choice, except for as you mentioned no West Coast ties/experience. As long as you're looking in Louisiana, what about Sonny Dykes? He hasn't done anything really yet at LaTech, but thats a pretty lousy program and he just got there. Would UA take a chance on him already?

It wasn't exactly a great departure when Sonny left UA. He definitely kinda screwed us on Holiday Bowl gameplanning and on some recruits but at the same time the bridge has more like 1st degree burns than it being nuked. I really don't think he has the resume though and he'd bounce for Lubbock ASAFP were he to have success.
 

MaoTosiFanClub

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June Jones ain't happening. I really doubt Byrne targets any retread unless he knows he can work well with him a la Bellotti. These old school football coaches can be stubborn old mules, Byrne might not want to deal with such as a relatively green AD.

Hudspeth I imagine would only get looked at if he can demonstrate the ability to put together a staff with WC connections. If he could do that then he becomes very appealing.
 
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