Weekly Six Pac- Coaching Changes, Recruiting, and Hoops

Jan 24, 2023 - 7:34 PM

1. The most impactful news of the week is the termination of two senior executives from the Pac-12 Networks. For an administrative group that has made one mistake after another, it hardly qualifies as a bombshell. The bottom line is that the leaders did not report overpayments from broadcast partners, which artificially inflated the Conference’s revenue.

Photo by Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

2. Keith Bhonapha is a name that will be familiar to Husky fans. The former UW running back coach went to Boise State when the new coaching staff came in and was hired back into the Pac-12 this week. He replaces AJ Steward, who left for Baylor after his group’s outstanding performance the last two years.

3. While I’m not going to say it compares to our own film study posts, Addicted to Quack has an interesting and thorough breakdown of new OC Will Stein’s tenure at UTSA. The hallmark of those roadrunner teams was a creative and relentlessly efficient passing attack, though the explosiveness rate was not one of the best in the country.

4. Arizona men’s basketball has had some disappointing losses in the last few weeks, but they made up some ground with a sweep of the LA schools in Tucson over the weekend. The big result was a defensive-minded 58-52 win over #5 UCLA, which was the first conference loss for the Bruins. The Wildcats held Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell, UCLA’s two star offensive players, to 10/35 shooting.

Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

5. We knew that Coach Prime would bring recruiting panache to Boulder. Even I am surprised at how quickly he is paying dividends. The Buffs flipped DB Cormani McClain from Miami this week. McClain is a five-star corner, rated as highly as #2 overall in the country and the very best defender.

6. Write for Cal reviewed all of their incoming players from the 2022 class, both recruits and transfers in. It was a bit of deja vu to read the summary of Jackson Sirmon’s season. Despite making first-team all-conference, the Cal insiders were frustrated that he was a bit too reactive in the run game and ultimately piled up tackles after giving up 5-6 yard gains on the ground. Who ever would have seen that coming?