Mike Stoops

Mike Stoops has been named the 28th Arizona head football coach, UA athletic director Jim Livengood and president Peter Likins announced Saturday.

"We will expect to win, we will win, and we will do it in a very quick way," Stoops promised at a Saturday afternoon press conference in Arizona Stadium.

Stoops replaces fired head coach John Mackovic and interim head coach Mike Hankwitz at the helm of the Wildcats. Mackovic was let go five games into his third season in Tucson after posting a 10-18 overall record with Arizona, while Hankwitz led the Wildcats to a 1-6 record after taking over on Oct. 28.

"The type of football team that I envision here at Arizona is one that has a winning attitude. To me, that is everything," said the 41-year-old Stoops, who enters the first head-coaching stint of his career.

"You have to want to win, you have to know how to win, and you have to expect to win," he said.

Stoops served as associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma for the past five seasons under his brother, Sooners' head coach Bob Stoops. During the Stoops' tenure in Norman, Okla., the Sooners have posted a 55-9 record, appeared in four bowl games and won the 2000 national title. Top-ranked Oklahoma faces Kansas State Saturday in the Big 12 Conference Championship and will likely compete in the Nokia Sugar Bowl for the 2004 National Championship.

The terms of Stoops' contract were undisclosed on Saturday, but Livengood said he expected terms to be announced by today.

Stoops will reportedly coach the Sooners through the Big 12 title game, while OU co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables will take over play-calling duties during the Sooners' bowl game.

Though Stoops will not officially begin his head- coaching duties until Dec. 8, he was quick to define specific goals for next season.

"The defense that we will put on the field is a defense that will attack offenses' weaknesses and swarm to the football," said Stoops, who spent seven years as an assistant at Kansas State. "We've always coached attacking-style defenses, and that's what we'll have at Arizona. It will resemble a lot of what we did at Oklahoma and the style of defenses we played when I was at Kansas State as well."

Stoops was equally candid in speaking about Arizona's offensive scope in 2004.

"On offense, we will be a spread formation style of offense, very similar to what Arizona does right now," he said.

"We will implement an offense that will spread out the field and make people defend the entire football field."

Stoops said he would demand nothing but toughness and the best possible work effort from the Wildcats.

"There's a lot of great players out there, and if they're willing to put in the hard work over the next 9 or 10 months, then we'll have a team that will compete on a national level next year," he said. "I believe all kids enjoy discipline, and we will work constantly on having a very disciplined football team."

While he admitted the Wildcats would be behind in the recruiting process, Stoops expressed confidence that Arizona would be able to obtain the best players available. Arizona, California and Texas will be the UA's primary recruiting areas, said Stoops.

"Some of the specific coaches I'm looking at have strong ties to those geographic areas as well, so hopefully we can make up some ground there," he said.

Stoops guaranteed he would bring an impressive core of coaches to Tucson.

"I can promise you we are going to bring in the very best possible staff of coaches that we can assemble," he said.

Livengood said all five interviewees for the head-coaching position, which included New York Giants defensive coordinator Johnnie Lynn and UA interim head coach Mike Hankwitz, were fantastic prospects. But he said that Stoops' winning attitude and motivation put him over the top.

"He came in very well-prepared. He wanted this job," Livengood said. "He's been part of that leadership process (at Oklahoma) and he's been very successful at it."

"I wanted a coach who really cares about these kids (and) builds a right kind of relationship with the staff and the public," said Likins about the UA's decision to choose Stoops.

"All of the candidates met that test, but the guy who was most assured of success was Mike Stoops."

Likins said he had reservations about hiring Cincinnati Bengals linebackers coach Ricky Hunley and Southern California offensive coordinator Norm Chow.

While he described Chow as a "very aggressive man," Likins said, "he didn't demonstrate that he really wanted to do this job."

"I think he can be a head coach when he wants to be, but I'm not sure that he wants it ÷ not now, at any rate," he added.

Regarding Hunley, Likins said, "Ricky's a very impressive man," but was concerned about his lack of prominent coaching experience.

"Ricky's never been a coordinator ÷ an offensive or defensive coordinator ÷ and that's a real liability," Likins said. "He'll get there someday, and so will Johnnie Lynn. And if Norm Chow wants to be a head coach, he'll be a head coach too."

Stoops said he might be criticized for passing up offers to coach at other schools, but added that the UA was ultimately where he belonged.

"I'm excited about having the ability to go after some of the best coaches in the country, and I think they're looking forward to the opportunity as well to come here to Arizona and do something very, very special," he said.

÷Brett Fera contributed to this report.