The campus is embarrassed. Our football team has become a laughing stock. In the last three games, it's been outscored 166-30 in the process of going 0-3.

There seems to be no hope for this season, so it's time to start looking beyond. How can the football team win back the support of its fans, and how can the Wildcats earn at least a semblance of respectability in the college football ranks?

If Head Coach John Mackovic leaves, as legions of fans want, would be only a first step, though an appropriate one.

Blaming Mackovic for the situation might not be entirely fair, but it's obviously not baseless either. Mackovic's been ineffective at best, divisive at worst.

When the UA brought Mackovic on three years ago, after a pair of mediocre seasons under Dick Tomey, the athletics department made a multi-million dollar gamble that Mackovic could turn the program around. He signed a five-year, $4 million contract and for UA fans, he represented a hope that the team could regain its now-long-forgotten glory.

That hope dimmed quickly.

Last November, toward the end of a 4-8 season, players staged a near-mutiny, accusing Mackovic of insensitivity and eventually prompting Mackovic to call a tearful press conference in which he apologized for his behavior and promised to change his ways.

Since then, little has changed. Nor is it about to. The schedule's not getting any easier, and the team is showing fewer signs of life than the fans.

Mackovic should go. And hopefully, he'll resign so that the UA doesn't have to pay off the $1.6 million that will be left on his contract at the end of this season.

But that he was allowed to stay this long is a disgrace in itself. Athletics director Jim Livengood has publicly done nothing but stand behind a coach who has lost the respect of the players and is quickly losing the trust of the fans.

While Livengood's decision to stand behind Mackovic at the end of last season could be admired as principled, it's apparent now that it was incorrect. This year's team is worse than last year's. Livengood owes it to UA fans to develop a course of action that can turn Arizona football into a winning program again.