Bordow: Arizona wise to give Stoops more time

Every day, another college football coach finds himself unemployed.

Houston Nutt led Arkansas to two SEC title games and an 8-4 record this season?

Not good enough.

Chan Gailey never lost more than five games in a season at Georgia Tech?

See ya.

Michigan’s Lloyd Carr?

Was smart enough to resign before he got fired.

Arizona coach Mike Stoops, meanwhile, has the blessings of athletic director Jim Livengood and university president Dr. Robert Shelton despite his 17-28 record and the same number of bowl games as you or I.

Clearly, they don’t understand big-time football down in Tucson.

Or do they?

There’s no question that Stoops’ three-plus seasons at Arizona have been a major disappointment. He was supposed to be long past the point where the Wildcats lose to New Mexico at home and need a victory over Arizona State on Saturday to qualify for a bowl game.

That kind of resume usually gets a coach fired. Shelton, however, recently said Stoops will return next season.

It wasn’t the most popular decision in the Old Pueblo.

But it was the right decision.

Too many university presidents and athletic directors think football programs can be resuscitated with the snap of a finger. Hire the right guy, give him a year or two and welcome the bowl representatives to your campus.

But it doesn’t always work out that way — although in ASU’s case, it did.

Look at the two coaches in last Friday’s Kansas-Missouri clash.

Kansas’ Mark Mangino was 20-25 his first four years with the Jayhawks. Missouri’s Gary Pinkel was 29-30 his first five seasons as the Tigers’ coach.

At both schools, impatient fans and boosters demanded change. But university officials stood through their coaches through the hard times and were rewarded with a nationally televised game that had national championship implications.

“Everybody is interested in a quick fix,” Livengood said. “It’s part of our day and age. But I’ve been doing this for a long time. Sometimes you just have to have belief in the person you hired.”

Livengood is speaking from experience. He was Washington State’s athletic director in 1990 when basketball coach Kelvin Sampson lost 17 straight Pac-10 games in his third season as coach. Livengood stuck with him and Sampson led the Cougars to four straight winning seasons and, in 1994, their first NCAA Tournament berth in 11 years.

“Everybody was on their horse to fire him, telling me I didn’t care about basketball,” Livengood said. “But my sense was that great things could happen.”

There’s no way to tell whether Stoops will engineer a similar turnaround in his fifth season as Arizona’s coach. The skeptics will say he’s had enough time to prove himself.

But is firing Stoops — and hiring a third coach in five years — a better alternative for a program that’s been crying out for stability since Dick Tomey was fired?

“It’s not about if we’re going to have a real good football program,” Livengood said. “I think it’s a matter of when, and when is very close. I think we’ve turned the corner.”

There is reason to be optimistic, if cautiously so.

The Wildcats have won three straight games, although two of the victories came against teams (UCLA, Oregon) missing their starting quarterback. More importantly, an offense that was dormant in Stoops’ first three seasons has awakened under the tutelage of first-year offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes, who brought with him from Texas Tech the spread offense that’s the rage of college football.

Last year, Arizona averaged 16.6 points and 252.8 yards per game. This year, the Wildcats (5-6) are averaging 29.9 points and 391.8 yards per contest.

“That’s probably the biggest difference,” Stoops said. “We have an offensive system in place that’s going to continue to improve and make us better. I knew we were getting better the last three years but I didn’t think the system was right for what we needed to do to continue the success in a big way.

“I’ve seen this offense go. It kind of strikes fear into you.”

It’s not just the offense that has evolved. Stoops has as well.

He’s still a maniac on the sidelines, but he’s not letting that intensity rule him the rest of the week.

“When we started to relax as a staff, they started to relax and play better,” Stoops said.

Arizona’s 2008 schedule is set up for a dramatic turnaround. The Wildcats will play seven games at home, including Pac-10 contests against USC, California and ASU. It’s not a stretch to imagine Arizona going 8-4 — or better.

“I think we have a great chance to be an outstanding football team,” Livengood said.

If the Wildcats fall short of those expectations, Stoops will deserve to be fired. For now, though, it makes more sense to keep him.

Maybe he doesn’t follow the example set by Mangino and Pinkel.

But what if he would have, and Arizona never gave him the chance?