FanPost

More on the Stoops Front

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At the beginning of the season, I had what I thought was a fairly good idea about the "hot-seats" in the Pac-12 this year: Neuheisel is gone unless he can get 6, but in a much better position if he can get 7; Wulff is gone unless the Cougs battle and come really close to getting a bowl bid (getting 5 wins before they get 6 losses will help Wulff out a ton this year); and possibly Dennis Erickson. Stoops was not on my short-list.

However, a good friend and I were speaking last night about the nightmare that is Arizona football, and she said something very interesting to me. "I saw this coming." Apparently, she was having some heated arguments well before last season was over, specifically debating when Stoops was indeed going to get canned.

There were four apparent possibilities that came from these scuffles:

1. Fire Stoops before the 2010 season ends so another coach could get a couple of wins before the season is over, redeeming at least a part of the awesome start.

2. Wait until the seasons ends, after the inevitable bowl loss will happen, and hire a coach in the interim, thereby easing the transition a little bit. (For a lot of Arizona fans, this was the most popular choice.)

3. Fire Stoops in the middle of the 2011 season.

4. Fire Stoops at the end of the 2011 season.

What I found interesting from my conversations was that the fans just didn't like Stoops. He was an angry cuss to everyone, and didn't appreciate the fans in the least.

Finally, the biggest surprise this season, other than AZ's lackluster start, was Mike Stoops himself. Apparently, the guy was a different person this season. Don't get me wrong, he still looked like he was about to murder someone whenever you looked as his face. However, his antics had been tone down to a point. Mike Stoops wasn't acting like the usual Mike Stoops. That, my friends, was the final clue that Stoops was done for.

Hey Arizona fans, at least you beat Northern Arizona this year.