Players, staff excited to hit field this spring

The Mike Stoops era began yesterday with the first day of spring football, and coaches and players are talking like Arizona football is ready to end its five-year cold streak.

Stoops said he was excited about his first practice as a head coach and his first with the Arizona team.

"It felt great. I was excited today and it was fun to get the first practice out of the way. I couldn't be more pleased with our team's attitude and effort right now," Stoops said. [Read article]

After a tumultuous two years, many Arizona football players are starting with a clean slate, perhaps none more so than Brad Brittain.

The lineman, a projected starter in August, was suddenly dismissed from the team right before the 2003 season started. He started at Mesa Community College for a season before coming here this semester.

"I came into conflict with some of ... there were some team policies that I violated, and I was suspended from the team. It was either stay in school or pursue my career as a college football player, and I wasn't about to sit around," Brittain said. [Read article]

UA men's basketball assistant coach Josh Pastner will not be leaving his post with the Wildcats this offseason, following last night's announcement that Houston has gone elsewhere to fill its head coaching vacancy.

The Houston, Texas, native said he was intrigued by the opening at the former college basketball powerhouse in his hometown, but that he's not at all disappointed with being passed up for former Texas coach Tom Penders. [Read article]

In the 2002-2003 season, the Arizona women's basketball team was secure and productive at the power forward position.

In her senior season, Krista Warren was second on the team in rebounding (7.2 per game) and third in scoring (11.9). She complemented then-freshman phenom and leading scorer Shawntinice Polk as a solid No. 2 option in the paint.

Warren's absence in the Wildcats' now-defunct 2003-2004 campaign was one of the reasons they weren't able to advance past Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. [Read article]

The Arizona women's golf team left Austin, Texas, yesterday with a thought head coach Greg Allen continually drills into their heads:

"When the door of the van closes, the tournament is over," he said.

The Wildcats finished the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in a disappointing ninth place after moving from 12th to sixth between the first and second rounds.

The team struggled all week with the course conditions and the windy south Texas weather, posting its two worst rounds of the spring in the first and third round. [Read article]

The UA men's volleyball team aims to make 2003-04 another banner season as it heads to the Mountain West Regional Tournament in Las Vegas this weekend.

The Mountain West Tournament is UA's last hurdle before national championships April 8-11 in Charlotte, N.C., where Arizona will look to claim its fifth national title in six seasons.

Arizona has climbed to No. 3 in the rankings while putting together an impressive 17-2 record. [Read article]