A Wildcat Strike May Take Flight

Last week, Michigan State fired Coach Bobby Williams in large part because he answered “I don’t know” to the question of whether he had lost control of his team.

This week, 55 Arizona players marched into the school president’s office to complain about John Mackovic’s coaching style.

Fifty-five.

Mackovic has not only lost his players, he might not be able to find them with sonar.

So, Williams loses his job, yet Mackovic keeps his?

Reading between the (offensive and defensive) lines, it sounds as though Mackovic’s public apology for his brusque treatment of players only postponed the inevitable.

“I think he’s gone,” senior linebacker Lance Briggs told the Arizona Republic.

Junior cornerback Michael Jolivette called Mackovic’s apology “a joke.”

So, everybody ready for Saturday’s big game at California?

Uh, maybe not.

There are rumors some players might not board the team’s flight today to the Bay Area, which would turn this saga into “Mutiny on the Bounty.”

Mackovic was a strange choice from the get-go. In December 2000, Arizona replaced an aging but successful coach, Dick Tomey, with another aging but successful coach -- a “retread” hire, as it’s known in the business.

Mackovic had been out of coaching since Texas fired him after going 4-7 in 1997, after which he deftly transitioned into an articulate ESPN analyst before Arizona so rudely interrupted.

At least when Arizona State ousted veteran Bruce Snyder after the 2000 season, it took a fresh-look approach in hiring Dirk Koetter, one of the game’s bright young offensive minds, from Boise State.

Arizona went “old school” with the now 59-year-old Mackovic, and apparently has ended up with an “old act.”

Arizona is 2-12 in Pac-10 play since Mackovic arrived, 0-6 this year. His tough-coach tactics are better suited for the Frank Kush era.

Mackovic apologized for remarks made to players, most notably for telling one he was “a disgrace to his family.”

Too late, some say.

Mackovic stories have been making the rounds all season. After a tough loss at Washington, Mackovic reportedly verbally ripped into one of his players in the hallway.

“Say what you want about [Washington Coach] Rick Neuheisel,” one observer to the incident said, “but Rick would never do something like that.”

Interestingly, Mackovic last year granted ESPN, his former employer, unlimited access to his program for a supposedly no-holds-barred series called “The Season.”

Boy, did ESPN pick the wrong season to go undercover.

So why didn’t Mackovic get sacked?

The real-world timing couldn’t be worse, as the school is still reeling from a recent on-campus tragedy in which a student killed three nursing professors.

Still, change could come should Arizona lose its final two games, against Cal and Arizona State, to finish 0-8 in conference for the first time.

For now, Mackovic’s toughest job appears to be getting his team on board ... the team plane.

Duck and Cover

Rivalry week gets a head start Saturday when Washington (5-5, 1-4) plays at Oregon (7-3, 3-2). While the schools missed each other last year and do not qualify for annual schedule protection like UCLA-USC, Washington-Washington State, Cal-Stanford, Oregon-Oregon State and Arizona-Arizona State, Washington-Oregon might rank as the conference’s most bitter feud.

For years, it was a status thing, Washington basically looking down on Oregon, even on the map. Washington had the program, the facilities, the view and the Pac-10 pedigree, while Oregon served as backdrop for the movie “Animal House.”

Since 1995, though, Oregon has become the conference’s dominant program thanks to state-of-the-art facilities partially funded by Nike boss Phil Knight.

Incredibly, this week, it was Washington Coach Neuheisel who sounded a bit envious, calling Oregon football a “propaganda machine.”

“They’ve got billboards in New York City, they’ve got billboards in Los Angeles,” Neuheisel said. “They seemingly have an endless budget to do so and more power to them. Until the rules change, who is going to keep them from doing it?”

It’s no secret Neuheisel and Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti are not friends, yet Bellotti says the rivalry is not really about players and coaches.

In fact, most of the players from both schools are from California.

“The depth of emotion is felt more by the fans and the boosters and those people who want to compare notes on the Internet,” Bellotti said

Pac Bits

With two games left, UCLA’s bowl options could not be more diverse. There is a scenario in which the Bruins could go to the Rose Bowl and one in which they could fall to the Silicon Valley Bowl, if that Dec. 31 even gets played. As of this week, the San Jose-area bowl was looking for a cable agreement after Fox pulled out.

Several Pac-10 bowl scenarios are on hold as the conference watches the season play out for Washington State, which could be headed for the Fiesta Bowl if it finishes No. 1 or 2 in the bowl championships series standings. California (6-4) is serving a one-year bowl ban as part of NCAA sanctions. School officials made their ban-reversal plea before the NCAA Appeals committee last week in Chicago and expect a ruling before next week’s showdown against Stanford.

Cal officials had no idea this appeal would be so important with the school coming off a 1-10 season. However, if the Bears beat Arizona and Stanford to finish 8-4 it would mark the fifth-best record improvement in NCAA history.

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PACIFIC 10

*--* Conference Overall TEAM W L W L PF PA WASHINGTON STATE 6 0 9 1 343 206 USC 5 1 7 2 297 176 UCLA 4 2 7 3 312 213 ARIZONA STATE 4 2 7 4 378 319 OREGON 3 3 7 3 362 237 CALIFORNIA 3 3 6 4 356 259 OREGON STATE 2 4 6 4 325 184 WASHINGTON 2 4 5 5 303 268 STANFORD 1 5 2 7 197 316 ARIZONA 0 6 3 7 155 235

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Saturday’s Games

Arizona State at USC...4 p.m.

Washington at Oregon...12:30 p.m.

Arizona at California...12:30 p.m.

Oregon State at Stanford...2 p.m.