Vinnie Vinzetta. Courtesy KMSB

The force behind the Fox 11 Sports Force is leaving.

KMSB sports director Vinnie Vinzetta, who started the local Sunday night sports show from scratch six years ago, is leaving in July for a job in San Antonio.

“I didn’t think I would be this emotionally attached,” Vinzetta said.

“I put my life into this the past six years. This is just something I should not say no to. But it’s going to be tough to leave here. I really have an emotional connection to a lot of people who have helped me out. When we started, we were the new guys on the street.”

Vinzetta, 38, will be the new No. 2 sports reporter on San Antonio’s KENS, a CBS affiliate that is owned, as is KMSB, by Belo Corp.

No doubt, Vinzetta has been one of the good guys on Tucson TV — personable, friendly, someone who took the work, but not himself, too seriously. (I’ll miss, yelling “VINNIE!” whenever I see him at a news conference or a game.)

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Arizona's Juron Criner makes a catch against UCLA last season. Photo by Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE

It started with a couple of lines in Arizona Daily Star columnist Greg Hansen’s Sunday notebook.

Talking about the supposed academic qualification of Arizona Wildcats incoming freshman running back Ka’Deem Carey, Hansen wrote of star senior receiver Juron Criner:

“Carey’s availability somewhat offsets concerns that All-Pac-10 receiver Juron Criner might not be available for training camp in August. Criner’s status for the 2011 season remains uncertain because of undisclosed medical reasons.”

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Jim Click

Interesting story today in the Daily Oklahoman on Tucson auto dealer and noted Arizona Wildcats booster Jim Click.

Click is a former Oklahoma State football player, and he was a key figure several years ago when Arizona hired then-Oklahoma assistant Mike Stoops as its head coach.

The story, written by columnist Berry Tramel, goes on to explain Click’s still-deep Oklahoma roots and how he is largely responsible for the Arizona-Oklahoma State home-and-home series that begins this season.

OSU athletic director Mike Holder told Tramel: “Would not have happened without him. We couldn’t get anyone at Arizona interested in playing us. I called Jim, he called the athletic director and voila, we have a home-and-home with Arizona.”

The Wildcats will play in Stillwater on Thursday Sept. 8. The Cowboys will play in Tucson in the 2012 season.

The teams also played in last season’s Alamo Bowl, with OSU winning 36-10.

Read the full story at newsok.com

Brigetta Barrett takes a victory lap after winning the women's high jump at the USA Championships. Photo by Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats sophomore Brigetta Barrett has gone from NCAA champion to a true national champion.

Barrett won the high jump competition Friday at the USA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore, turning in a career-best leap of 6 feet, 4 3/4 inches.

Two weeks earlier, Barrett won the NCAA title by clearing 6 feet, 1 1/4 inches. She also won the NCAA indoor title earlier this year.

“This is my time, I have worked so hard for this goal and it is nice to accomplish it,” Barrett said in a release from USA Track and Field. “This year has been good for me. I have broken a lot of old, bad habits and started focusing on perfecting my technique.”

Barrett can compete at the IAAF World Championships, which begin Aug. 27 in Daegu, South Korea.

Former Arizona athlete Elizabeth Patterson — a two-time NCAA champion — finished second in the high jump at 6-2 1/4.

Also Friday, Tucsonan Bernard Lagat — who trains under UA assistant James Li won the 5,000-meter race. He will be going for another title Saturday in the 1,500-meter run.

“I have nothing to lose now,” said Lagat, 36 years old and a three-time Olympian. “I made the team and that is the most important thing.”

Bernard Lagat crosses the finish line to win the 5,000-meters run. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Photo from MinnesotaTimberwolves.com

Former Arizona Wildcat forward Derrick Williams is no longer No. 23.

The second pick in the NBA Draft was introduced today at a news conference in Minneapolis, where he was handed a jersey with the number 7.

“I wanted to keep a single digit number. I didn’t want to get number 23 anymore,” he said in a one-on-one interview with a member of the team’s official web site.

“I felt like that’s Jordan’s number. I just wanted to something different. I’m in a different league now and I just wanted to start fresh and start all over.”

In addition to a video (and transcript) of the one-on-one interview, this link to the official site also has video of part of Williams’ larger session with the media.

And here’s one more thing: NBA video has an all-access look at Williams on draft day.

Teresa Wilson

The offseason of change continues for the Arizona softball team, as pitching coach Teresa Wilson has resigned to pursue a head-coaching position, the school announced Friday.

(On Thursday, head coach Mike Candrea talked to TucsonCitizen.com about his new slugging transfer from Tennessee, the departure of a backup infielder and his intention to have a smaller roster in 2012.)

Wilson was at Arizona for three years, helping the team navigate to the championship round of the Women’s College World Series behind freshman pitcher Kenzie Fowler in 2010.

But offseason changes to Fowler’s pitching motion — designed in part to eliminate the illegal pitch calls that dogged her at the World Series — didn’t stick. Fowler reverted to her previous motion and was pitching well before suffering a late-season concussion that cost her playing time and conditioning at the critical part of the year.

Wilson has been a head coach for 21 years — at Oregon, Minnesota, Washington and Texas Tech.

“I’m more than pleased to have been part of Arizona softball for three seasons, but I’d like to return to having my own program,” Wilson said in a news release.

Said Candrea: “Teresa has been a great asset to our program. Her passion, knowledge of the game and work ethic have been second to none.”

Candrea said he expects to have a replacement by the end of July.

David Roberts (left) and Juron Criner celebrate after Criner's touchdown catch against Arizona State last season. Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

Here is the fifth part of our Arizona Wildcats football preview in collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic.

We write the words, and they have taken the cool photographs and put it all together in a slick presentation at azcentral.com.

Check back here and at azcentral.com every Friday as we roll out more of our preview every week, all the way into August.

This week: Wide receivers (I talked to receivers coach Dave Nichol this week, so there are some fresh quotes in this preview):

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Jessica Spigner

When the Arizona Wildcats softball team was eliminated from an NCAA Super Regional, coach Mike Candrea promised change.

In less than a month, he has added a power-hitting transfer and lost a backup infielder.

The transfer is Jessica Spigner, a corner infielder from Tennessee who projects into the middle of Arizona’s lineup for the 2012 season. Spigner will have one season of eligibility at UA after hitting 38 home runs with the Vols.

“I know Arizona was a place she was interested in; she had come to some of our camps,” Candrea said Thursday afternoon.

“It just so happened that things did not work out (at Tennessee) and she was looking for a place. She has done a pretty good job of swinging the bat for Tennessee, so she brings great experience at this level.

“We could have a kid who could hit 15, 20 home runs and drive in a lot of runs.”

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The Arizona-Gonzaga basketball game has been on the tentative schedule for months, but this news release Thursday made it official.

Zags to Face Arizona in 2011 State Farm Battle in Seattle

Bulldogs and Wildcats to Square off December 17th in Seattle’s KeyArena

Spokane, Wash. – Idol Sports & Entertainment announced this morning that Gonzaga will take on the University of Arizona on December 17th in the State Farm Battle in Seattle.

The event will take place at KeyArena and will feature two of the most successful programs on the West Coast, both of whom won their conference titles in 2010-11. Arizona is coming off a trip to the Elite 8, nearly reaching the Final Four.

The Seattle event will be the fourth all time meeting between the teams, with Arizona winning all three of the previous contests. The two teams last faced each other Dec 14th 2008 in Phoenix, AZ with the Wildcats defeating the Zags 69-64.

Tickets for the State Farm Battle in Seattle will go on sale Sept. 17th at all Ticketmaster outlets. The Spokane only pre-sale will take place on Sept. 10th through Spokane-area Ticketmaster outlets.

2011 will mark the 9th contest in the history of the event. The State Farm Battle in Seattle games have been the largest college basketball games in the state of Washington since 2003. In 2008, the game set the State’s attendance record for a regular season college basketball game with a sold out crowd of 16,763 when the Bulldogs played against the Connecticut Huskies.
Mark Few and company have a 4-4 record in State Farm Battle in Seattle games. The Bulldogs have scored victories over Missouri (2003), UMass (2004), Oklahoma State (2005), and Davidson (2009).

For more information visit www.battleinseattle.com.

WHAT: Men’s NCAA Division 1 basketball, 2011 State Farm Battle in Seattle

WHO: Gonzaga University Bulldogs vs. University of Arizona Wildcats

WHEN: December 17th, 2011 – Time TBA

WHERE: KeyArena
305 Harrison Street
Seattle, WA 98109

TICKETS: Ticketmaster general on-sale date is scheduled for September 17th. Spokane only pre-sale is scheduled for September 10th.

Josiah Turner

It was a surprising decision when Arizona-bound point guard Josiah Turner decided to pull out of last week’s tryout camp for the USA Basketball U19 World Championship Team, citing scheduling conflicts.

Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller said Wednesday it was a personal decision for Turner, and that he was not disappointed that Turner missed out on the potential experience of playing for Team USA.

Turner, who left his Sacramento (Calif.) High School team and was eventually dismissed in January, finished the school year at Quality Education Academy in Winston-Salem, N.C. Miller said Turner decided to spending time home in California before starting classes at Arizona for the second summer school session on July 11.

“He could have gone to the camp, but he has already been away from home for the past five months,” Miller said.

“He would have basically gone from Winston-Salem to Colorado Springs to Europe and then straight to Arizona. I think he was making a good decision for the right reasons.”

Miller said six of his players are here for the first summer school session, and that everyone will be on campus for the second session. That includes junior center Kyryl Natyazhko, who had been invited to try out for the Ukraine team — coached by Mike Fratello — for this summer’s EuroBasket competition.

Miller said his team’s five seniors — Alex Jacobson, Kyle Fogg, Brendon Lavender, Jesse Perry and Dondre Wise (who will be a walk-on this season) — are in good shape to graduate next spring or summer.