Could Mike Riley use a safety named Mike Stoops? Photo by Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE
Matt Minkus and Victor Rodriguez, hosts of the 110 Sports Podcast, talked with Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops for this week’s episode and asked him this:
“Which other Pac-12 coach would you want to play for?”
Stoops began his answer with, “There are a lot of good ones …,” which sounded like the beginning of a non-answer answer. But he quickly picked just one.
“Mike Riley is one of my favorites,” Stoops said. “He’s a great person. He just does so many good things, and he’s so genuine.”
No doubt, Riley’s reputation is as one of the nicest guys in coaching, always quotable, continually thoughtful. And, of course, his coaching acumen is such that Oregon State won an average of nine games per season from 2006 to 2009.
We’ve gotten so used to Oregon State being good, even challenging for Rose Bowls, that it’s sometimes easy to forget the magnitude of his accomplishments.
“He can be a silent killer,” Stoops said. “You don’t want to be lulled to sleep. His teams are always very well prepared, and he always comes up with a great game plan.
“He’s a neat guy. He’s always been very supportive of me and what we’ve been doing here at Arizona. He’s one of my favorites.”
Check out the full Stoops interview at 110 Sports Podcast, and you can check out the archives of their big-time interviews at that site or at their TucsonCitizen.com page, where they have been blogging for about two years.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifth installment of our 24 Hours of Arizona Football Blogging — one post at the top of every hour. Keep checking back at TucsonCitizen.com through Friday at 11 a.m. or follow the entire series with the “24 hours of blogging” tag.