Former Texas coach new hire at Arizona
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TUCSON, Ariz. - After three years as a TV
football analyst, John Mackovic decided he
wasn't through with coaching after all.
When Arizona called about the opening
created by the resignation of his good friend
DickTbmey, Mackovic jumped at it
On Monday, Mackovic appeared at a news
conference to be introduced as the Wildcats’
new coach, the fourth program he has led in
whatwillbehis 14th season as a major college
coach.
“The TV gig was nice, but it’s not coach
ing," he said. “It doesn't have the same feel of
coaching.”
Mackovic, 57, returns to the school where
he was a young offensive coordinator and
quarterbacks coach from 1973-76.
“It’s been a long wait,” he said, “but I feel
like I’m finally home.”
Since then, he’s had a nomadic career that
included coaching Wake Forest from 1978-80,
the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs from 1983-86,
Illinois from 1988-91 and Texas from 1992-97.
He was Coach of the Year in all three colle
giate conferences, but decided to quit the
profession when he was fired by Texas after a
4-7 season. He then worked for ESPN.
“I chose to say I was retired because I was
hurt,” Mackovic said. “I just didn’t know if I
wanted to continue because I felt we had
done the things that were asked of us and we
had put our program at Texas in not only a
competitive but a winning position, but we
had an off year.”
Athletic Director Jim Livengood first con
tacted Mackovic a week ago. They worked out
the details of the five-year contract at meet
ings late last week in Phoenix.
Livengood said no one else was offered
the job.
“I think the biggest thing that probably
convinced me more than anything else is that
he has a passion, a burning desire to get back
into college football and coach young peo
ple,” Livengood said.
Livengood said he wanted an offensive
minded coach, and Mackovic fills that bill. He
said he will call the plays.
“I will be vitally involved with all parts of
the program,” he said, “but I do expect to be
involved on a minute by minute basis with
the offense.”
After 14 years as coach, Tomey resigned
moments after the Wildcats lost to Arizona
State 30-17 in the season finale.
One of his main failures was his inability
to get Arizona to the Rose Bowl. The Wildcats
are the only Pac-10 team never to make it to
the Pasadena classic.
“I want us to be the best. That’s why I do
things,” Mackovic said. “First of all, we have to
get to and win the Rose Bowl. This university
has not been there. That would be my No. 1
obligation to our team, our university, our
fans."
He also talked about bolstering dwindling
fan support.
Mackovic said he wants the home crowd
to become “as ferocious and as fearsome and
as loathed by opponents as we can make it It
can be done. It's been done other places in the
Pac-10 that at one time were not known for
their home field advantage.”
He said he had turned down another offer
recently and had been contacted by a third
school but had already accepted the Arizona
job.
Mackovic’s record in 13 seasons as a col
lege coach is 85-64-3. He was 30-34 with the
Chiefs.
He was offensive coordinator at Purdue in
1977 and was quarterbacks coach for Tom
Landry’s Dallas Cowboys in 1981 and 1982.
Mackovic directed Texas to a 10-2-1
record in 1996 but was fired after the
Longhorns went 4-7 in 1997. His overall
record at Texas was 41-28-2.
Mackovic said he had no problems going
to a school where the basketball program
overshadows football
"It overshadows only in the sense that
they've had such phenomenal success, and
they deserve every bit of the recognition,” he
said. “That Arizona logo with the Saguoro
cactus sticking out of it, that is better blown
today than anybody could have dreamed,
and that helps every team in recruiting.
“Lute (Olson) deserves all that success.
Our job is to earn that same type of reputation
and same kind of admiration.”
Big 12 conferenceputs seven in bowls
BOWLSfrompagelO
took place in 1998,” Snyder said.
“They believe this is a different
team.”
KSU then got its bowl wish by
accepting a Cotton Bowl bid, the
oretically the No. 2 bowl in the
conference, where it will play
Tennessee. The Volunteers have a
freshman-laden team attempting
to bridge a gap from one era of
strong teams, which included die
1998 national champions, to
another. Snyder was asked virtual
ly no questions about UT.
In other games involving Big
12 Conference teams:
Holiday Bowl (Dec. 29): Texas
(9-2) vs. Oregon (9-2)
The Longhorns have been
strong since a pasting by
Oklahoma, with Chris Simms’
growing more into the quarter
back position as Major
Applewhite battles illness and
injury.
UT Coach Mack Brown said
Applewhite should be ready for
the bowl game, as will two or three
other injured Longhorn players..
Oregon, tabbed for the Rose
Bowl until a loss to Oregon State in
the last regular-season game, fea
tures a balanced offense with a
1,000-yard rusher in Maurice
Morris and a 2,000-yard passer in
Joey Harrington.
“They have a lot of speed,"
Brown said. “They’ve played in a
lot of exciting ballgames; I think
they’ve played in more overtime
games than anybody else. It’ll be a
speed game; there’ll be a lot of
balls in the air.”
insight.com Bowl (Dec. 28):
Iowa State (8-3) vs. Pittsburgh (7
4)
It’s the first trip in 22 years for
Iowa State, which was taken above
Texas A&M for the game in
Phoenix, and will likely bring
thousands of fans in tow to Bank
One Ballpark, the home of Major
League Baseball’s Arizona
Diamondbacks.
The ballpark will feature a
unique, converted-field setting
that harkens bade the Bluebonnet
and Freedom Bowls of yesteryear.
Already, ISU has sold 10,000
tickets for tye game and is asking
for more.
The Cyclones will face the
Panthers, whose offense, while
stellar; toiled in obscurity this sea
son and got thumped by Miami
near the end of the season. Still,
Pitt took Virginia Tech down to the
wire, and possesses possibly the
nation’s best receiver in Antonio
Bryant, who had 1,302 receiving
yards for the season.
“There’s only one team in the
history of Iowa State that’s won
nine games,” ISU Coach Dan
McCamey said. “And that was in
1906.”
Independence Bowl (Dec. 31):
Texas A&M (7-4) vs. Mississippi
State (7-4)
Hello, Jackie Sherrill. The for
mer A&M coach, who left the pro
gram in a bit of a controversial
swirl, gets to face his former pro
gram in this matchup of two hard
hitting, throwback programs.
Both teams feature a fair run
ning game with quarterbacks ver
satile enough to throw often. MSU
is fairly inconsistent, beating
Florida 46-34 then getting blasted
by Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl
“Jackie and I aren’t going to
play, I hope,” Aggies' Coach R.C.
Slocum said. “It’s his team and my
team out there. I’ve got a bunch of
respect for Jackie, and he’s a good
football coach.
“There’ll be some additional
interest there that Jackie coached
here, and I worked (for him).
“We’ve been an
underdog before this
season. We were an
underdog against
Texas; we were a nine
point underdog to
Kansas State, and we
went up there and
won by 10 ”
Bob Stoops
OU coach
There was never a time where he
and I had any problems with each
other or arguments or anything
else. He was a good guy to work
for."
galleryfumiture.com Bowl:
Texas Itech (7-5) vs. East Carolina
(7-4)
The Red Raiders didn't beat a
team with a winning record dur
ing the season, so the Pirates rep
resent a obstacle of sorts.
ECU has a mobile quarterback
in David Garrard, who is little
known but comparable to Virginia
Tech's Michael Vick.
Redskins fire Norv Turner after 7-6 start
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASHBURN,Va.- Dan Snyder
didn't have much time nor many
options.
The Washington Redskins
owner knew he wanted coach
Norvliimer out The problem was
replacing him with three games
left in die regular season.
After watching the most
extensive team in NFL history fail
to live up to his Super Bowl expec
tations, Snyder fired Turner on
Monday and promoted Passing
game Coordinator Terry Robiskie
to try to salvage the season.
“It’s all about winning,” Snyder
said. "We assembled the best team
we could put together. At this
point, we just really needed to
make a change, driven with what I
call some serious leadership."
The owner pulled an all
nighter in making his decision
hours after the Redskins lost to the
New York Giants at home on
Sunday and severely hurt their
chances of making the playoffs.
anyaer ana nis Drain trust
examined the available names
from the pro and college ranis. At
about 1230 am, they realized the
obvious: With three games to go in
the season, they would have to
hire in-house.
By 2:30 a.m., Snyder had cho
sen Robiskie. At 11 a.m„ Snyder
firedTUmer, who managed to pro
duce only a 7-6 record this season
with a $100 million roster.
“I’ve obviously been put in a
good position to haye an opportu
nity to win,” said Huner, at times
fighting back tears. “This team has
a chance to be 10-6. That’s a disap
pointment to me. There's part of
me that would like to be a part of it
There's part of me that under
stands why it’s necessary to make
a change right now.”
TUrner, in his seventh season
with the team, left with a 49-59-1
record and one trip to the playoffs.
Robiskie, 46, is a former offen
sive coordinator with the Oakland
Raiders and was one of Timer’s
first hires in Washington He is
known for a tough-love coaching
style from his dealings with tem
peramental Redskins receivers
Michael Westbrook and Albert
ConnelL
In his first meeting with the
team, Robiskie made an impas
sioned speech and received a
standing ovation.
“Terry is blunt and to the
point," defensive end Kenard
Lang said.
“He’s like a stick of dynamite.
He’s going to make something
happen.”
It was stark contrast to Rimer,
anXs and Os strategist who never
came across as an effective com
municator or motivator.
“Norv did not threaten play
ers,” guard Keith Sims said. “Some
guys took advantage of him. Terry
- you’re not going to take advan
tage of him.”
Snyder said Defensive
Coordinator Ray Rhodes, the for
mer head coach at Philadelphia
and Green Bay, was not interested
in the job.
7 believe to get anyone to believe in you, trust
you, you’ve got to motivate, and that’s my
coaching style.”
Terry Robislue
new Redskins coach
lo make the playons, the
Redskins probably need to win
their last three games in Dallas
and Pittsburgh, and home for
Arizona.
“I believe to get anyone to
believe in you, trust you, you've
got to motivate, and that's mv
coaching style, Kobiskie said.
Robiskie’s first move was to fire
Special Teams Coach LeCharls
McDaniel, whose coverage and
kicking units struggled much of
the season. Tight Ends Coach Pat
Flaherty will coach special teams
as well as tight ends.
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1
Bobby's career
leaves questions
BOBBY from page 10
something. Newcombe did, for
that short moment against
Louisiana Tech that fall, throw
one beautiful ball after another.
He had one hell of a half.
And then the knee injury. It
was unlucky and lucky at the
same time - unlucky because
Newcombe could’ve put his
name beside the greats, as
Crouch probably will in his
stead, and lucky because
maybe, as he was an unexcep
tional wingback, he would have
been an equally unexceptional
quarterback.
It is here where the opti
mists and cynics divide and
head to their respective comers,
hashing out closing arguments
as bowl season passes into
spring and the search for that
iconic NU I-back finally recap
tures center stage from the dra
matic quarterback affairs of
recent years.
And it is here where the jury
is hung, irrevocably so because
Bobby Newcombe has never
been the world’s easiest mark,
not to mention interviewee. I
suppose the phrase may be
walking contradiction. He was
smart enough to recognize The
Truth rather early in the game,
and yet it seemed those brains
forced him to over-think on the
field at times.
And here I am, the pot call
ing the kettle black, by not
allowing the Newcombe phe
nomenon to die by simply leav
ing it alone. It should say some
thing that No. 12 chose not to
field questions after the CU
game, likely to avoid what
Receivers Coach Ron Brown
termed "the past being brought
up.”
Yes, it would have been.
Unrequited talent has its fasci
nations, especially to those who
have often been labeled “those
who cannot do” so they turn to
sportswriting. Fans, too, could
be accused of the same, replac
ing journalism with the glory of
a Monday morning chat-room
debate.
Newcombe fits the bill as
unfulfilled potential with an
asterisk that asks: Just what was
his potential? Can we really
know for sure? Might an NFL
career answer the question? Or
will Newcombe once again be
the square peg trying to fit into
the round hole?
If his Husker career were to
serve as any sort of foreshadow
ing, No. 12 will draw the answer
out, taking the curious along
with him, dividing his support
ers and detractors into equal
numbers while they await a
final verdict.
Just what will it be? That's
one question enigmas can
never directly address and keep
their uncertain status. Which is
why, quite simply, it is impossi
ble for the guessers, the well
wishers, the critics and the
faithful to leave Bobby
Newcombe alone.
That is until thunder
Collins runs 91 yards of his own.
The torch passed, the next
whispers of His coming spreads
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