Coaches Hot Seat Prediction and Analysis of 2012 Season: Arizona Wildcats and Rich Rodriguez
Coaches Hot Seat Prediction and Analysis of 2012 Season: Arizona Wildcats and Rich Rodriguez
Arizona Wildcats
Head Coach: Rich Rodriguez
Years at Arizona: 1
Hot Seat Position: #92
Overall Coaching Record: 120 – 84 – 2 (.583)
Overall Won/Loss Record at Arizona: 0 – 0 (.000)
Overall Conference Record at Arizona: 0 – 0 (.000)
2011 Arizona Record: Overall: 0 – 0 – Pac-12: 0 – 0
2012 Arizona Schedule & Coaches Hot Seat Predictions
Sept 1 – Toledo – W
Sept 8 – Oklahoma State – L
Sept 15 – South Carolina State – W
Sept 22 – at Oregon – L
Sept 29 – Oregon State – W
Oct 6 – at Stanford – L
Oct 20 – Washington – W
Oct 27 – USC – L
Nov 3 – at UCLA – W
Nov 10 – Colorado – W
Nov 17 – at Utah – L
Nov 23 – Arizona State – W
Number of Cupcake Teams Played by Arizona in 2012: 1 (South Carolina State)
Coaches Hot Seat 2012 Arizona Predicted Record: 7 – 5
Coaches Hot Seat Analysis: WHAT IF is the biggest question when we here at Coaches Hot Seat think about Rich Rodriguez because WHAT IF Rodriguez had accepted the offer to take the Alabama job in early December 2006 which would have meant Rodriguez would have headed to Tuscaloosa and thus he would have never made the wrong-headed decision to take the Michigan job AND Nick Saban would more than likely be the head coach at another college besides Alabama right now like….West Virginia!
Would Rich Rodriguez have put up the same kind of numbers at Alabama that Nick Saban has in the last five seasons with the Tide?
Nick Saban at Alabama:
2007 – 7 – 6
2008 – 12 – 2 – SEC Eastern Division Champion
2009 – 14 – 0 – SEC and National Champions
2010 – 10 – 3
2011 – 12 – 1 – National Champions
More than likely NOT but we do believe that Rodriguez would have WON and WON BIG at Alabama with his offensive spread attack which is perfect for the kind of players that can be recruited to Tuscaloosa and that is why we expect Rich Rodriguez to WIN also at Arizona but how BIG the Wildcats will WIN under Rodriguez is still a very open question.
With the additions of several very good head coaches in this past offseason the Pac-12 is now a very underrated conference because the Pac-12 is much deeper top to bottom now with Mike Leach at Washington State and Rich Rodriguez at Arizona and in the coming years the Pac-12 will compete with the SEC and Big 12 for college football dominance especially if USC can return to the level it was at under Pete Carroll.
The goal for Rich Rodriguez in 2012 is to survive and build some momentum for 2013 recruiting which will no doubt see some great recruits headed to Tucson and that means 6 wins is a MUST for Arizona this season and with a pretty manageable schedule we actually see the Wildcats getting to 7 wins.
The MOST important game on Arizona’s schedule in 2012 is more than likely the Week 5 game against Oregon State at home because the Wildcats should be no worse than 2 – 2 heading into that game against the Beavers and a win in that spot will put Arizona on a path to at least 6 wins if they can win the rest of their ’12 home games and thus why a solid home start to the Pac-12 schedule is so vital for the Cats in 2012.
Whatever happens to Arizona under Rich Rodriguez in 2012 it is going to be very Damn entertaining to watch the Wildcats play in the coming years and we here at Coaches Hot Seat look forward to welcoming Arizona and Rodriguez to The Farm to play Stanford on October 6 which should be a Helluva game between two teams with great running games with hopefully a very underrated Stanford defense being the difference that gives the Cardinal the win!
2012 Coaches Hot Seat Team and Coach Predictions, Coaches Hot Seat
Coaches Hot Seat Number of CUPCAKE Opponents Teams Are Facing In 2012, Coaches Hot Seat
