Illustration by Arnulfo Bermudez
|
|
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday September 24, 2003
With its third blowout loss this weekend, the UA football team solidified its season as one of the worst in recent memory. By all accounts, the results of star coach John Mackovic's leadership have been less than stellar. What happened to the man who was so recently hailed as our gridiron messiah? We asked our columnists: "What should come of Johnny-come-lately?"
Time for Mackovic to hit the road
The recent incident when quarterback Nic Costa blasted his coach for not telling him he was demoted tells it all: Coach Mackovic needs to go. The only way to get rid of the stigma surrounding this program is to cut our losses and start over.
Up until this season I was a Mackovic supporter. "Give him a chance," I said, "let him recruit his own players and get his system in place." Maybe it was the foolish optimism of a Boston sports fan seeping out or the distraction of basketball season, but I thought Mackovic would turn it around and bring UA football back into the nation's elite. Well, three years into the Mackovic reign, I'm still waiting.
The only thing Mackovic has done in his three seasons at the helm is show our next head coach what not to do. Poor preparation, poor play calling and irresponsible personal moves have left fans fuming and a team in disarray. In the middle of it all, Mackovic is pleading with people to give him a chance.
Now it's time for Athletics Director Jim Livengood to make the responsible choice and send Mackovic packing in hopes of keeping the small shreds of a football program we have left.
Jason Poreda is a political science and communication senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Let players decide if it will be now or later
It would be great to change the coach and get the UA a viable football team. Unfortunately, it probably won't be that easy. If we change the coach now, there won't be enough time to build a winning team this year. If we change next year, it might not happen right away either, since the players will have to get used to a new coaching style and a new team mentality.
The important underlying fact is that, while the fans might lose school spirit and be frustrated that our team keeps losing, the players will be affected most by this season. Since it is their future careers and reputations that are on the line, we should let the players decide whether or not to fire Coach Mackovic at all. If the answer they give is "yes," they should also decide when it should happen.
It costs the university no less money to wait until the end of the season, so it should be up to the players to decide whether it will help them more to have a new coach now or to finish out the season with the coach they have become used to.
Kendrick Wilson is a political science junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Fire Mackovic, find new funding
Buying out Mackovic's contract now would cost around $1.2 million in addition to paying for a new coach. The UA athletics department currently gets about $1.4 million of its $32 million budget from the state each year.
The state gets its money by taking it from those who earn it. Mackovic exemplifies how taxation and redistribution is both ineffective and wasteful.
It's already bad enough that the state extorts money from the paychecks of productive citizens (especially to pay for a football coach), but does it really need to pour the money down the drain by hiring a new coach and paying the old one, too?
If hiring Mackovic was a mistake, Arizona taxpayers shouldn't suffer for the UA athletics department's poor decision. If the athletics department has enough money to buy out Mackovic's contract, they shouldn't be receiving money from the state.
Go ahead and fire Mackovic, though ÷ it certainly can't make the football team any worse. But pay the new coach with athletics' own money, and don't take any handouts from the state in the future. That will force the athletics department to be responsible for lengthy contracts with unproven coaches. What will result is an athletics department in accordance with America's founding principles of individual rights and responsibility for one's actions ÷ and, for the same reasons, increased productivity and efficiency.
Chad Mills is an electrical engineering and computer science sophomore. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Don't fire him now ÷ wait Ītil November
Mackovic seems to enjoy making it tougher and tougher for anyone to defend him. He never seriously chastises his team in public despite the humiliation that has been the month of September. He's always apologetic when one of his players ÷ most recently, inept sophomore quarterback Nic Costa ÷ lashes out against him.
He's become something of a wuss.
That said, it does the UA no good to let him go right now. There are no viable midseason replacements for Mackovic, and an interim head coach picked from the posse of assistants isn't likely to make any notable difference.
As for next season: Let's wait and see. Odds are that if the team's situation on and off the field hasn't improved by now, it won't by November. But since firing him now would be a pointless move, Jim Livengood might as well sit back and embrace the horror for the next two months. Maybe the ĪCats will win another game or two before the season's end. Maybe one of Arizona's quarterbacks will emerge as a sure starter for next year. Maybe the defense will show some semblance of coming together.
And then, when Mackovic is fired at the end of the season, Arizona's 2004 coach can harness these positives and get a once-respectable football team back where it belongs.
Shane Dale is a political science senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Wilma is the problem, not Mackovic
Yes, our team sucks. But is firing yet another coach the solution? I think that before we take measures that'll cost us $1.6 million, we should look at what else is wrong on the field. The answer's obvious: Wilma Wildcat.
Whoever's gone to the games has undoubtedly admired Wilbur's antics. Even when the score is 0-147, one chuckles at his unflagging energy and charm. Sadly, even his efforts cannot overcome Wilma's obvious lack of school spirit, which hovers over the stadium like a hot dog-scented shadow of doom.
At best, Wilma manages a feeble and repetitive clap; at worst, she circles the field with the most half-assed skip that I hope I ever see. If I didn't know better, I'd think she had better things to do than watch our team lose. Sad.
How can our players pass, catch and run when Wilma clearly has no faith in them? And how can Mackovic be expected to be competent? What do you want from us, Wilma? Hire a new coach for $1 million a year? We'll do it! Whatever it takes, regardless of how stupid! We love our football.
You have to believe to achieve, Wilma. If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem, so pack your bags and go to a stadium with enough pac-10 wins that your negative attitude won't matter.
Sabrina Noble is an English and creative writing senior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Don't publicly hang Mackovic
After a string of losses, our football team is looking more black and blue than red and blue.
So, everyone's pointing their fingers at one guy ÷ John Mackovic, the high-priced celebrity coach that was hired to save the team after Dick Tomey's exodus in 2000.
It's easy to be upset over the team's plummet, and indeed, Mackovic should take the fall, but let's not be too hard on him. He doesn't deserve a public hanging.
The reality is that this isn't a big football state. We're not in Texas. If we don't have a stellar team, it's not the end of the world.
We should cut the guy a little slack. It's not easy to just "rebuild" a team.
He couldn't do it for whatever reason. For Mackovic and UA football, now it's time to move on and try something new.
It could be that, given the dynamics and resources in a post-Tomey era, no one could have made the team a real threat to other schools.
And then there's Mackovic's tearful apology to his players last fall, still fresh in our minds.
The move cost Mackovic a great deal of credibility and upset his chances of cementing himself as a viable coach.
The guy's made a ton of money. He's a millionaire.
John, hit the road, and don't look back.
Daniel Scarpinato is a journalism and political science senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
