By
Ryan Finley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Louisville head coach has not been contacted by UA
When UA athletic director Jim Livengood begins interviewing replacements for the now-vacant head football coaching job, he won't have to look far to find Ricky Hunley.
Hunley - a two-time Arizona All-American linebacker who is currently the associate head coach at Missouri - said yesterday that replacing Dick Tomey would be a career opportunity he couldn't pass up.
"It would be a dream come true," Hunley said. "I don't see it as a stepping-stone job as other people see it."
Hunley's mentor and boss - former UA head coach Larry Smith - was fired last week, leaving his MU assistants in a state of limbo.
Missouri athletic director Mike Alden, who dismissed Smith Nov. 19, will require that the Tigers' new head coach interview each MU assistant before deciding on their fate.
However, Hunley made it known that he would prefer becoming the head coach at Arizona, where he shone as a linebacker from 1980-1983.
In his tenure as a Wildcat, Hunley recorded 566 tackles and led UA in unassisted tackles for three seasons.
Hunley became the first Wildcat elected to the College Football Hall of Fame when he was inducted in 1998.
While he served as a linebackers coach at Missouri, Hunley said he would become involved offensively as well.
"I have always been an aggressive type of person, both offensively and defensively," Hunley said.
If hired, Hunley said he would implement a "Clemson-style" offense, which consists of shotgun-oriented passing and running sets. Clemson defeated Missouri, 62-9, earlier this season.
"It's something fun," he said. "It's something the kids would buy into, fast."
It wouldn't be the first time Hunley has been a part of converting an offense. Following a 1999 season in which the Tigers went 4-7 overall, Smith and Hunley scrapped MU's run-oriented offense in favor of a pass-happy spread formation in hopes that it would be more appealing to recruits.
While Hunley has no head coaching experience, his resume will not be overlooked by Livengood.
After leaving Arizona as a player, Hunley spent seven seasons as a linebacker with the Denver Broncos - where he competed in two Super Bowls - and the Phoenix Cardinals and Los Angeles Raiders.
Hunley received his bachelor's degree from Arizona in business administration in 1987, while he was in the NFL.
After retiring from professional football in 1990, Hunley followed Smith to Southern California, where he served as a graduate assistant at USC before being hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers as a part of the NFL's Minority Coaching Fellowship Program.
Another widely-rumored candidate, Louisville head coach John L. Smith, said yesterday that he does not consider himself a candidate for the job and has not been contacted by any UA officials.
"I haven't heard anything," he said. "It's one of those situations - whoever they want, they're going to go get."
