Terry Francona, the college Player of the Year in 1980, can now be seen on ESPN. Photo by Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona All-American outfielder Terry Francona, fired as the Boston Red Sox manager, will be joining ESPN for next season, joining an impressive cast of ex-Cats in the media world.

Francona’s multiple duties will include joining the crew of Baseball Tonight and working as an analyst for Sunday Night Baseball, essentially switching jobs with Bobby Valentine, who replaced Francona as the Red Sox manager.

Francona, with his mix of humor, storytelling ability and honesty, should be brilliant in his new role.

He joins a few other ex-Cats at ESPN — NFL analysts Tedy Bruschi and Antonio Pierce, and college basketball analyst Miles Simon.

The most visible Wildcat on TV could be Steve Kerr, who made a big name as a five-time NBA champion and the general manager of the Phoenix Suns. He returned last season to the lead NBA analyst role for TNT.

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Tedy Bruschi retired from the Patriots before the 2009 season. Photo by Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

NOTE: This is a story I wrote for the print edition of the Tucson Citizen in February 2008, before the New England Patriots played the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.

GLENDALE – Hey, New England, you’re welcome. And I don’t just mean the Patriots, who go for their fourth Super Bowl victory in seven years on Sunday. I mean all of New England. Maine. Vermont. New Hampshire. The works.

You’re welcome.

From our Southwestern outpost at the University of Arizona, about 3,000 miles away, we’ve given you Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi and Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

Can you put a price on all the goodness they have brought?

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Tedy Bruschi with a sack dance in 1994. Photo by Stephen Dunn, Getty Images Sport

Former, current and future Arizona Wildcats are always making news. Here is some of the latest:

Tedy Bruschi

The former All-American defensive end didn’t get into the College Football Hall of Fame last week — his ex-teammate Rob Waldrop did — but how cool is Bruschi’s latest adventure?

Bruschi recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with former Titans coach Jeff Fisher, former Eagles tight end Chad Lewis and four injured military service members to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.

He reached the summit and called it a “truly memorable experience.”

Bruschi writes about it for ESPNBoston.com.

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Rob Waldrop had 18 sacks in his final two seasons at Arizona. Tucson Citizen file photo

Former Arizona All-American defensive tackle Rob Waldrop, one of the cornerstones of the Wildcats’ Desert Swarm defenses, was selected Tuesday morning to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Waldrop was a bull in the middle of Arizona’s defensive line in the early 1990s, earning consensus All-American honors in 1992 and unanimous All-American honors in 1993, when he won the Football Writers Association of America’s inaugural Defensive Player of the Year award.

Waldrop, who had 45 career tackles for loss including 22.5 sacks, was appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.

He was one of 14 players and two coaches selected in this year’s induction class. There were 79 players on the ballot, including his former Arizona teammate, defensive end Tedy Bruschi, who was up for induction for the second year.

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Rob Waldrop had 18 sacks in his final two seasons at Arizona.
Tucson Citizen file photo

Two former Arizona Wildcat teammates from the Desert Swarm era — defensive end Tedy Bruschi and defensive tackle Rob Waldrop — are on this year’s ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame.

The National Football Foundation released the list Monday of 79 players and nine coaches to be considered for induction. The announcement of the 2011 class will be made in May.

Waldrop is appearing on the ballot for the first time.

Individually, but especially as a combination, Waldrop and Bruschi were nearly unstoppable in the early 1990s.

Bruschi’s relentlessness off the edge forced quarterbacks to step up in the pocket — right into Waldrop’s arms from up the middle. Or perhaps it was Waldrop’s push from the interior that chased quarterbacks into Bruschi’s path.

Whatever. It worked beautifully.

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The New England Patriots honored former Arizona Wildcats All-American Tedy Bruschi at halftime of Monday night’s game against the New York Jets.

On such a special night for Bruschi, is it any wonder that the Patriots had their most inspired effort of the season — especially on defense — in routing the New York Jets, 45-3?

In New England, he’ll always be the hustling No. 54 at linebacker. In Tucson, he’s still No. 68, coming up with 52 sacks as a defensive end, tying an NCAA record.

Team owner Robert Kraft had this to say as he introduced Bruschi at the ceremony (you see the entire video at Patriots.com):

“We knew when we drafted him that a player named Bruschi would be a fan favorite, but we didn’t know that for 13 years no one would play with more heart and more love for the game than Tedy. In pursuit of enemy ball carriers he was full tilt, full time. An undersized linebacker who fought to become a star on three Super Bowl-winning teams, he later captured our collective imaginations by returning to the field just eight months after a stroke. For more than a decade he was the heart and soul of the Patriots’ defense. Tonight, we say thank you.”

Bruschi, who was an honorary captain for the pregame coin flip, addressed the crowd without the help of any notes and finished with this: “I wasn’t raised here but after playing here for 13 years, I call myself a New Englander.”

He retired before the 2009 season and quickly slipped into the ESPN studio as an NFL analyst.

Patriots fan know Tedy Bruschi as a linebacker; Arizona fans remember him as a sack-master at defensive end. Photo by Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

If Monday night’s game between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots doesn’t interest you, maybe halftime will.

New England will be honoring former Arizona Wildcats All-American Tedy Bruschi, who retired before last season after 13 years with the team that drafted him in the third round in 1996. With his hustle, his All-Pro-caliber play and his inspiring comeback from a stroke, he was one of the most popular Patriots of his era.

On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Bruschi talked about the origin of the connection with fans.

“I think it was the way my career started — being drafted as a defensive lineman and then playing linebacker and not really knowing what I was doing. But I just worked hard and played hard and I think they appreciated that,” Bruschi was quoted as saying by ESPNBoston.com.

“I realized that off the bat; fans here just want to see effort sometimes. They want to see you play hard. They want to see you give your all, whether it’s a winning or losing result. I always made sure I was that guy.”

His wife, Heidi (a former Arizona volleyball and softball player) will join Tedy on the field at halftime, as will their three sons — Tedy Jr., Rex and Dante — and other family members.

Here’s hoping ESPN shows some of the ceremony at halftime. Considering Bruschi is one of the network’s own, working as an analyst, the odds are high.

The Boston Globe has excerpts from Bruschi’s Q&A on Thursday.

And here is a review of his book “Never Give Up” that I wrote in 2007 for the print edition of the Tucson Citizen: Bruschi book reveals his hero — his wife

Coach Mike Stoops would like to see Nic Grigsby have more room to run, like he had here against Toledo/Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona wants to get pushy this week.

While de-constructing his team’s performance at Toledo, coach Mike Stoops, while otherwise pleased with the effort and most of the results, saw two notable areas in need of an upgrade.

One was the offensive line. The Wildcats failed to get enough push up front in the running attack, especially in the power run game.

That should be easily solved this week against The Citadel. Fullback Taimi Tutogi, who didn’t play much in the opener because of an ankle injury, is slated to return as a lead blocker.

That means A.J. Simmons doesn’t have to be in the backfield and can return to his natural tight end spot on the line, replacing Jack Baucus. The redshirt freshman was a tad “star-struck” in his first game, Stoops said, and Simmons is more comfortable and effective up front.

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Chuck Cecil is mobbed by fans after the 1986 victory over Arizona State/Tucson Citizen photo

The Arizona Wildcats will be retiring the football jerseys of seven former players at the game against USC on Nov. 13.

Those seven are: linebacker Ricky Hunley, safety Chuck Cecil, placekicker Steve McLaughlin, cornerbacks Antoine Cason, Darryll Lewis and Chris McAlister, and defensive tackle Rob Waldrop.

Before you say, “Where’s Tedy Bruschi?” understand the criteria: According to university policy, jersey honors are reserved for athletes who were national players of the year or inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame.

Cason and Lewis won the Thorpe Award for defensive backs. McAlister won the Mosi Tatupu Award for special teams play. McLaughlin earned the Groza Award, given to placekickers. Waldrop won the Outland Trophy for the top interior lineman and the Nagurski Award as the defensive player of the year. Hunley and Cecil have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

(Cecil is part of the class that will be enshrined Saturday. You can watch the event streaming live from 5:15 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tucson time at www.footballfoundation.org, www.xosdigital.com or www.collegefootball.org.)

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Former UA linebacker Antonio Pierce, here celebrating the New York Giants' victory in Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, will have new duties in front of the camera this season.
Photo by John David Mercer, US Presswire

NOTE: This is part of the weekly “Nothing But The Notes” column at WildcatSportsReport.com, one of the partners in the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network. For notes on basketball recruiting, incoming freshman guard Daniel Bejarano, sophomore big man Kyryl Natyazhko and more, check out the link at WildcatSportsReport.com.

Now-retired New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce announced last week he is joining ESPN as an analyst, yet another ex-Wildcat in a prominent TV role.

Tedy Bruschi joined ESPN after retiring last summer, former Suns general manager Steve Kerr will become a lead NBA game analyst for TNT next season, Glenn Parker is a college football analyst for Versus, and Joe Magrane works for the MLB Network.

Moreover, UA grad Dan Hicks is one of NBC’s announcing stars. Sean Elliott was at ESPN for a while; now he works on local San Antonio Spurs telecasts. Tom Tolbert was an NBA analyst with NBC, ABC and ESPN (he was part of the broadcasting team of the 2003 NBA Finals with Brad Nessler and Bill Walton) before becoming solely a radio personality in San Francisco.

Miles Simon, after his contract as an assistant Arizona basketball coach was not renewed in the summer of 2008, worked last season as a college basketball analyst for Fox Sports Net.

All in all, an impressive roster of ex-Cats in the TV biz.

Who’s your TV favorite? Anybody we missed? …

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