Three coaches could join Rodriguez at Arizona
Three University of Pittsburgh assistant coaches are leaving the school to join Rich Rodriguez’s staff at Arizona, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Sunday.
Tight ends coach Tony Dews, 38, secondary coach Tony Gibson, 39, and co-offensive coordinator Calvin Magee, 48, are expected to be named to Arizona’s staff in the next week. Both Dews and Magee coached under Rodriguez at Michigan and West Virginia. Magee is also a candidate for the head coaching job at UMass, according to the Post-Gazette.
Gibson played defensive back for Rodriguez at his first head coaching stop at Glenville State.
A news release from Pitt said the coaches were leaving for “other coaching opportunities effective immediately,” and will not coach in Pitt’s bowl game. The UA has $2 million budgeted to hire Rodriguez’s assistants.
— Alex Williams
RichRod part of the zoo
On Saturday, Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne introduced Rich Rodriguez, Arizona’s 30th head football coach, to nearly 14,000 fans in McKale Center.
He was added to the “This is Arizona” portion of the Wildcats’ pre-game video introduction.
After the game, head coach Sean Miller said he was excited for Rodriguez.
“Pac-12 football is exciting when you see some of the new coaches coming into the conference, namely ours,” Miller said. “I’m excited to watch him. It’s a great time to be an Arizona fan and hopefully we’ll add to that.”
Rodriguez said his family is “excited” to be come of the Wildcats’ family.
The 48-year-old emphasized the importance of Arizona’s in-state rivalry game, calling ASU “that school up north.”
In terms of national contention, Rodriguez reiterated Arizona’s ability to be on the forefront of college football saying, “Why not us?”
During his speech, Rodriguez said he has already started to work on hiring a coaching staff and recruiting.
“This will be my last coaching stop, if you’ll have me, for sure,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez sat in the ZonaZoo during the second half of Arizona’s 53-39 win over NAU.
— Nicole Dimtsios
