MaoTosiFanClub
The problem
I said firing Tomey was the right move for Arizona (just like firing Snyder was the right move for ASU) except that they made a poor hire after that unlike ASU. Similar scenarios happen all the time. Using a local example, firing Tobin was the right move for the Cardinals yet hiring and retaining McGinnis was obviously a poor choice.AZBALLER said:
As far as my expectations go, I've always said that generally speaking there's nothing wrong with having high expectations. I'd rather have a coach who talks championships and fails than a coach who settles for mediocrity. I really didn't care about the Insight Bowl or the Aloha Bowl or the Freedom Bowl or any of the other wastes of time that Tomey took us to every year especially when those meaningless games and beating ASU seemed to be the only goals. And even now, when Arizona has only won 8 games in the past three seasons, I still wouldn't want Tomey and his mediocre results as head coach because it became obvious we would never win anything important.
And Stoops was/is a better hire than Mackovic even if he goes 0-11 this season and gets canned in November. Mackovic essentially drained what little life Tomey had left out the program. He left Arizona football with no talent, an apathetic student body, a disinterested local community, and most boosters who should be spearheading things like facility upgrades and such had abandoned the program. Hell, it took Arte Moreno and Jim Click bailing out Livengood just to have the money to get Mackovic out of there or he still might be the coach. Stoops hasn't won, but attendance is up, the local support for the football program is back, and there's actually players on the team that look like they could be in the NFL some day. Stoops hasn't proven anything to suggest he's a good hire (except in the eyes of the bean counters in the AD), but he hasn't been the complete disaster from Day 1 that Mackovic was.
Speaking of disasters, you have to be blind to not see Stoops and Canales offense has been pretty pathetic. Some of it can be blamed on talent (Heavner and Kovalchek have never been D-1 QBs), but the playcalling, execution, and player development on the offensive side of the ball have also left a lot to be desired which is probably why Canales is on the hot seat. But at least unlike Tomey, they seem to want it to be good. Tomey punted on third downs and ran FB draws on 3rd and anything more than seven up until he resigned. During the Tomey days, especially the early 90s it was almost like they really only wanted to score 10 points per game. Even worse was that Tomey never made any attempts to change the abhorrent system or bring in players with any offensive skills until the late 90s and by that time the Pac-10 had already figured out his defense.
