Interim head football coach Mike Hankwitz yesterday became the last candidate to interview for the permanent head coaching job, which athletics director Jim Livengood said he expects to fill by Monday.

Hankwitz, who met with Livengood, UA President Peter Likins and associate athletics director Kathleen "Rocky" LaRose, said he was glad to have the opportunity to convince the department to remove the interim tag from his title. [Read article]

The 500th win of Lute Olson's UA career was also probably one of the easiest.

The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead against Northern Arizona last night in McKale Center and went on to rout the Lumberjacks 107-73 to kick off Arizona basketball's centennial season.

"It was great to get my 500th win at Arizona," Olson said after his team's romp. "There have been a lot of games and a lot of memories for me and this program." [Read article]

While most UA students will be sitting at home eating Thanksgiving dinner with their families Thursday evening, the UA men's basketball team will be stuck on an airplane, headed for its matchup with Florida on Friday at the MassMutual Classic in Springfield, Mass.

According to head coach Lute Olson, that didn't have to be the case.

Olson said that because of an NCAA rule that forbids teams from leaving for road games earlier than 48 hours prior to tipoff ÷ Arizona squares off with Florida at 9 p.m. Eastern time Friday, meaning the team couldn't leave Tucson before 7 p.m. Wednesday ÷ his team can't get a flight out until around noon Thursday. [Read article]

Northern Arizona has always been a friendly neighbor.

From volunteering to be the victim of men's basketball coach Lute Olson's 500th win at Arizona to helping the women's basketball team get back on track Saturday, the Lumberjacks have always been there for Tucson. The athletic department even put out a release on Saturday saying, "A ceremony honoring Olson's 500th Arizona win will immediately follow the game." [Read article]

The No. 21 Arizona women's basketball team faces one of its biggest games of the season in just its second game when it visits No. 16 UC Santa Barbara tonight at 7.

For UA head coach Joan Bonvicini, Saturday's victory against Northern Arizona was important, but she stressed to her team that the celebration had to be short-lived because of an imposing team in UCSB (2-1, 0-0 Big West Conference). [Read article]