By
Sean Joyce
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Stitt: 'It was a total and complete shock to me'
When the Arizona baseball team steps onto Frank Sancet Field next season, they will be without their last link to the legendary coach after whom the stadium was named.
On June 29, Jerry Stitt resigned from his position as Arizona's head coach, leaving the program to which he had devoted 27 years of his life. In an exclusive interview with the coach, the Arizona Summer Wildcat was able to discuss the circumstances of his resignation and the prospects of Wildcat baseball without him.
For now, Stitt is a man without a place to call his own. As he spoke yesterday, Stitt prepared to clean out the office he had occupied for more than five years as UA's head baseball coach.
Needless to say, he's not happy.
Mixed signals
Stitt claims that Jim Livengood, UA's Athletic Director, reneged on a verbal commitment to renew Stitt's contract only a few weeks after the season ended - a season in which Stitt matched his high-water mark for wins with 33 in 55 games - the team finished 10 games over .500, yet managed only a .500 record in Pacific 10 Conference play.
"I thought we overachieved the last half of the year and played great," Stitt said. "I thought we'd get a regional bid (to the NCAA Tournament).
"We had an endorsement from everyone in the athletic department, including Mr. Livengood, that we had done a great job," Stitt said. "We were looking forward to next year and the recruits coming in and the guys coming back."
Stitt said he believed his job was safe right up until the day he was summoned into Livengood's office and told he would not be retained for the next season.
"I went into his office on (June) 28th and he told me he wasn't going to renew my contract," Stitt said. "It was a total and complete shock to me. I didn't see it coming or even expect it."
Stitt said he also felt the severance packages offered to he and his assistants by the university were not fair considering the length of tenure.
"(Assistant Coach) Victor Solis, (Associate Head Coach) Bill Kinneberg and I were given three months severance pay," Stitt said. "In most companies, anyone who works there for about a week is given two weeks to three months severance pay."
Striking out with donors
During his time in Tucson, Stitt was effective at getting private donations to the baseball program. The Dugout Club, a private fundraising foundation for the baseball team, has created an outside revenue source for that the team now relies upon. Since Stitt was responsible for much of the growth of this fund, the question remains if donors will drop out now that he is no longer the head coach.
Ann Butler, a member of the Dugout Club, said yesterday that she would no longer be donating to the program. Butler - who made her donation shortly before Stitt was fired - said she was under the impression the coach would be back for another season as UA's manager.
Now that Stitt will not return for the 2002 season, Butler said she wants her money back.
"I sent a letter to (UA President Peter) Likins saying that I would like to have my donation for the current year returned," Butler said. "I would not have made the donation had I known that Jerry was going to be fired."
"I was really mad and I wanted the university to know," she continued. "If Livengood was unhappy with (Stitt's) performance, he should have told him sooner. He should have found a way to use (Stitt's) talents. He has lots of ability and is dedicated to the university. There could have been some thought and consideration put into the decision."
However, Stitt says he would not like to see donations stopped to the program on his behalf and has spent time trying to convince many of the benefactors - including Butler -not to withdraw their support.
"I think a lot of people are going to stop giving to the Dugout Club," Stitt said. "I have talked to them and tried to calm them down and tell them it's not really the university that's taking this opportunity away from us."
The blame game
As for baseball's role in the athletic department, Stitt said he thinks his team didn't get the amount of support it needed to be an elite program.
"I don't think baseball is ever going to be the premier sport it once was until we do some things," Stitt said. "(We need to) improve the stadium, do a better job of promoting baseball here and the parking situation needs to be improved."
Sources within the athletic department don't attribute the team's lack of success to either Stitt's efforts or funding. John Perrin, UA's senior associate athletic director and head of business affairs, said that the baseball program was given the monetary support it needed despite Stitt's complaints.
"There has always been money available to compete at the top level with all the other schools," Perrin said.
Stitt claims the university failed the program by refusing to promote baseball to students as vigorously as UA's so-called "money sports" - football and men's basketball.
"We need to do a much better job promoting baseball here," Stitt said. "There has been no plan over the past five years to get the students back out to Sancet Field like they used to. The heart of the crowd is the students."
Future prospects
Stitt now finds himself in a strange predicament.
He claims the timing of his departure from the program will prevent him from getting another job in baseball, since most college programs have already filled their coaching vacancies and any professional job openings won't come until after the World Series in early November.
"It's not a humane transition for any of us," Stitt said of the situation in which he claims the athletic department has stuck him, Kinneberg and Solis. "We were left out to dry. There are just no jobs."
Stitt's best employment opportunity could still be at Arizona, however. He said yesterday that he still hopes to stay on staff with the athletic department or baseball program in some capacity. Stitt is just two years away from qualifying for a full pension from the school.
However, the coach said he doesn't want any charity, either.
"I want to get my full retirement, but also want to work until I don't want to work anymore," Stitt said. "I think I still have a lot to give to the University of Arizona"
Stitt, who received his bachelor's and masters degrees in education from Arizona, also received a doctoral degree from UA in educational administration in 1993. Therefore, he feels he could benefit the athletic department in an educational field.
"There are a lot of things that need help here at UA, and I think I could help them - especially in the academic area," Stitt said. "I have my doctoral degree and would be able to do some things to help in a lot of areas."
If everything works out as Jerry Stitt hopes, moving to a new office shouldn't be that much of a task.
