CORKY: Unnamed sources and Carroll Hardy

So, what have we learned from all the angst and tizzy in the search for a new University of Arizona basketball coach other than the fact Athletic Director Jim Livengood was able to recruit one of the brightest and most respected young mentors in America, Sean Miller, from Xavier University in Cincinnati?

Mainly that phantom sources are essential to sports journalism.

The mainstream media — which prides itself on not printing wild rumors and hearsay — will, under certain circumstances, gladly print or broadcast wild rumors and hearsay.

Not to mention back-fence gossip, barroom erudition and generic tittle-tattle.

Last Thursday, Phoenix radio station KTAR discovered, from multiple and unnamed sources, that the Wildcats “have found their new coach.” It was, the station reported breathlessly, Tim Floyd of Southern California.

The Los Angeles Times attributed its information to “a person familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.” In other words, an unnamed source — and by the way, if he wasn’t authorized to speak on the matter, why did he?

Never mind. Floyd turned the Wildcats down, thanking them for the chance to interview (and presumably for the $500,000 raise in salary the quick trip to Tucson brought him).

Miller, 40, who has coached brilliantly at Xavier for the past five seasons, will replace Hall of Famer Lute Olson at Arizona. It won’t be easy.

Lute coached the Wildcats to the 1997 NCAA championship, 11 Pacific-10 Conference titles, four Final Fours and a 43-7 domination of instate rival Arizona State. However, ASU has now won five in a row while Lute was absent.

The Cats have made it to 25 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, the last two under interim coaches Kevin O’Neill and Russ Pennell. Because of a year’s leave of absence and his subsequent retirement due to health reasons, it took Lute two years to call it a career.

Miller has taken over a program whose cupboard is relatively bare, and whose recruiting class for this year was wiped out as kids changed their minds upon learning of Olson’s retirement.

In addition, the return of Jordan Hill and Nic Wise for their senior seasons is up in the air. Chase Budinger has already declared for the NBA draft.

So the new coach will have to hit the ground with his sneakers smokin’ in order to bring in players, if the Cats are to be competitive next season. A couple of struggling years is a virtual certainty.

And yet, the Arizona job remains one of the best in the country because of tremendous fan support — the Cats lead the Pac-10 in attendance year after year — and because it’s a great school to attend.

But back to gossip and innuendo ...

The craziest reports, ironically, were from the greatest source available to the mainstream media. The dot.com guys.

“Flash! Billie Gillispie is on a plane headed to Tucson right now,” wrote one blogger, as if the recently fired Kentucky coach was about to sign a contract with Arizona.

Another came up with the scoop that the wife of Rick Pitino, the coach at Louisville, was in Tucson looking for a house to buy.

Cox media sized up the situation better than any other outlet. “A rumor mill is in overdrive,” Cox said in a story.

And yet, it was the guys at FoxSports.com and Yahoo! Sports who finally got it right. The mainstream folks gave Fox and Yahoo credit, too, as they should have.

There was much gnashing of editorial teeth, of course, during the process of finding and hiring the right man. One report talked about a “doomsday scenario” if Miller turned down the job — which, in fact, he did Sunday night. But Monday, he changed his mind.

The Arizona Daily Star foresaw a “biblical-type basketball pestilence” descending on Arizona basketball, and in fact upon the entire athletic department.

Whew.

In the end, it was an “unnamed source” that told Yahoo the new coach would be Sean Miller, after all. This was after yet another unnamed source told FoxSports.com that Miller had turned it down.

Well, two things are evident. The hunt for a new coach is more entertainment than news, and if Southern Cal’s Tim Floyd, Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon, Villanova’s Jay Wright and Gonzaga’s Mark Few really did say thanks but no thanks, it’s understandable.

The Arizona position is unique. Because of what Lute Olson accomplished, it’s like taking over a business from the guy who founded it.

Or replacing John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn.

Or the curious case of Carroll Hardy. This young baseball player from Sturgis, S.D., is the only man ever to pinch-hit for Ted Williams. Ted had fouled a pitch off his foot one day and was unable to complete the at-bat.

So Hardy came in and, as Williams limped off the field, lined into a double play. Hardy’s lifetime batting average is .225. Williams, the last man to hit over .400, has a lifetime average of .344 (not to mention 2,654 basehits to Hardy’s 251).

Sean Miller isn’t pinch-hitting, but like Carroll Hardy, he is following a legend.

Good luck to him, and good luck to the Wildcats and their fans.

Former Tucson Citizen columnist Corky Simpson writes a weekly commentary for the Green Valley News.