Stoops faces make-or-break 2007 season

TUCSON — With 19 returning starters and a new high-powered offense in place, Arizona Wildcats’ football coach Mike Stoops is fully aware of the expecations surrounding his program.

Now in his fourth season in Arizona, Stoops realizes that the preseason optimism surrounding his program is meaningless without tangible on-field results.



“We know the people around here are expecting success, but nobody has higher expectations than me,” Stoops said at Saturday afternoon’s media gathering at McKale Center in Tucson.

The Wildcats finished 2006 strong, compiling a 6-6 record, doubling the win total from each of Stoops’ first two seasons.

However, Arizona struggled mightily to put up points on the board once a series of concussions sidelined starting quarterback Willie Tuitama.

Only Pac-10 cellar-dwellar Stanford scored fewer points than the 16.6 points per game the Wildcats managed to score in 2006.

To solve these offensive woes, Stoops hired Texas Tech offensive guru Sonny Dykes, the architect of the Red Raiders’ potent spread offense.

“What I like to do is spread the field out and get as many receivers involved as possible,” Dykes said. “We try to give defenses a bunch of different looks so they don’t know which way we’re going to attack them.”

Dykes’ offense relies on short timing routes and a high volume of pass attempts—sometimes as many as 50 to 60 passes per game.

Can Tuitama, the oft-injured junior quarterback from Stockton, Calif., adjust to Dykes’ quick-strike system and lead the Wildcats to a bowl game?

“Willie is really taking to Sonny’s system quite nicely,” Stoops said. “We knew there would be some growing pains early on, but he’s looking really good right now.”

Stoops pointed to a lack of consistency as the result of Arizona’s struggles in his first three years in Tucson, but he feels this is the year that his squad puts it all together—regardless of the seventh-place finish in the Pac-10 media poll.

“We could honestly care less about polls like that,” Stoops said. “We know what this squad is capable of, and with all of the senior leadership and continuity on this roster, we feel like this could be a very special year for us.”

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