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Statement from former Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops

by on Oct. 10, 2011, under Arizona football

Former Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops released a statement Monday night through his agent Neil M. Cornrich. Stoops was fired Monday afternoon with two seasons left on his contract.

“I am very proud of the Wildcat football program and the many accomplishments we have enjoyed. Topping that list is our qualifying for consecutive bowl games the past three seasons for only the second time in school history.

“I am also proud of the success our players demonstrated off the field. Not only has our team Academic Progress Rate (APR) improved significantly each of the past five years, but also our players have made great strides in conducting themselves in a manner that reflects the ideals of this University.

“When I took this job, I was hoping to be the first coach to lead this program to a Rose Bowl. Although we fell short of that goal, we made significant progress, and our organization continues to strive for excellence.

“I wish the entire Wildcat football program the best of luck going forward, and I thank the University of Arizona for the opportunity to be a part of the successes we have achieved over the past eight seasons.”

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2011 at 7:27 pm and is filed under Arizona football. Tags for this post: . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • http://www.jaime.com jaime

    Thank you.  It was time for both of us to move on.  It just wasn’t going to happen here for Mike.

  • Carlos J. M.

    A good, decent man.  Not a bad recruiter, either.  At one time a heckuva defensive coach. 

    We can’t take his successes away from him.  He had me forgetting Mackovic and the no bowl, lean years.  But the 10 straight losses to major, Div. I comp was too much to overcome.  Something tells me he’ll be fine, now that he can breathe. 

    Is Kish the answer?  He’s master-minded our indefensible defense, after all.  I would’ve loved to see Scalfo get the nod.  Oh well…We shall soon see. 

  • Jesus Martinez

    Mike was such a gentleman, never yelled at his assistant coaches and players.  We will never be a good football program, and we should have just stuck with him,

    • Matt

      I agree. We’re a basketball school. It could be much worse and it might ending up being worse. He cared about winning, we’ll see who they get but with those s hole locker rooms, nobody is making that a top of the line program. You are who you are until you spend money. This is just pandering good luck…..when the red blue game

    • SLS

      You have got to be kidding.  The U of A paid this sorry excuse for a head coach over a million dollars a year.  He is NOT head coach material.  You will see this when he ends up at a  JUCO or as a defensive coach at some dinky school in Oklahoma or Ohio. He will never coach at a Div I school again.  He blew his chance and I for one am glad he is gone.   Why would anyone think we should “just stick with him”?   Over seven years was WAY TOO LONG for this guy.  In the end he couldn’t get an extra point conversion done.

  • AayGee

    Thanks Coach! You brought us out of the cellar and ran a clean program that was competitive. Best of luck to you in the future.

  • Sooner1

    Best of luck to both Coach Stoops and the Arizona football program.  I hope your AD does a better job of replacing Stoops than Oklahoma’s did in replacing Gary Gibbs back in the 90′s.

  • Patricia

    Sad to see Mike Stoops leave Arizona.  Very sad!

  • Jim

    Coach Stoops did a very good job there.  His teams always competed, he made no excuses and though some thought he got carried away on the sidelines a bit – he was always very much himself, passionate and committed to his team and their success.  Good luck to Mike in his next endeavor wherever that may be.

  • Margaret

    Coach Stoops was the only reason I watch Arizona play.  Hope to see him coaching again soon!

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