[tps_title]Rich Rod tries to even series with Todd Graham[/tps_title]
Oh, how Rich Rodriguez would love to even the series with his former assistant Todd Graham, who holds a 2-1 edge.
Rodriguez does not want to trail 1-3 in the series without a win in Tempe in his first two tries.
If that happens, at least Rodriguez will know that Jim Young, thought of dearly by some of Arizona’s oldest fans, went 1-3 in his four years against Frank Kush and the Sun Devils from 1973 to 1976.
Tony Mason went 1-2 against ASU in his only three years with Arizona from 1977 to 1979. Larry Smith went 0-2 against the Sun Devils before winning five straight leading up to his departure to USC in 1986.
Dick Tomey enjoyed the best initial success in the first four years with a record of 3-0-1 riding the coattails of Smith’s start of “The Streak”.
John Mackovic was 1-1 before he was fired abruptly and Mike Stoops was 1-3 in his first four years.
That means in the first four-year span against ASU, Arizona’s last seven permanent head coaches were a combined 10-13-1. In the years after that, they were a combined 10-6 (factoring Smith, Tomey and Stoops, all of whom lasted more than four seasons).
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.[/tps_footer]
