After publishing the update Sunday of Rebekah Quiroz becoming the eighth former Arizona softball player to become an active head coach with her hire at Pima Community College, I received a message on Twitter from the president of Arizona’s Southern California Alumni Group I missed another coach from another sport.
Melissa Korc alerted me of a former Arizona football player who is a head coach — Michael Klyce at Locke High School in Los Angeles.
Klyce, a safety with the Wildcats who played from 2005 to 2007 under Mike Stoops, was hired by his alma mater at Locke to lead the struggling program before last season.
Locke’s future with a football program was in doubt before the school was given an approval from the Los Angeles Board of Managers in January 2017 to remain in operation. Locke had its program suspended after failing to finish its season in 2015 and 2016. The school addressed issues involving player ineligibility and hired Klyce to rectify the program.
Locke only fielded a varsity team last season.
The team, playing in one of California’s lower classifications, had less than 30 players. Like a script out of nearby Hollywood, Klyce coached the Saints to a 10-4 record, including 4-0 in the Metro city section, last season. Klyce had previous coaching experience as an assistant at Tucson High School.
Michael Klyce coached Locke to 10-4 in his first season as head coach at Los Angeles Locke High School last year.
The following is a list of the 34 former Arizona athletes who presently are head coaches:
FORMER ARIZONA ATHLETES AS CURRENT HEAD COACHES
High school boy’s basketball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Mike Bibby,1996-98,Phoenix Shadow Mountain,2014
Jason Stewart,1997-99,Encinitas (CA) San Dieguito,2014
[/table]
Men’s college basketball (4)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Jason Gardner,1999-03,IUPUI,2014
Craig McMillan,1984-88,Santa Rosa (CA) JC,2000
Josh Pastner,1996-00,Georgia Tech,2016
Damon Stoudamire,1992-95,Pacific,2016
[/table]
Men’s professional basketball (3)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Matt Brase,2003-05,Rio Grande (D-League),2015
Steve Kerr,1983-88,Golden State (NBA),2014
Luke Walton,1999-03,L.A. Lakers (NBA),2016
[/table]
College baseball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Tod Brown,1990-94,North Dakota State,2007
Bill Kinneberg,1979-80,Utah,2005
[/table]
Professional baseball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Shelley Duncan,1999-01,Class AA Jackson (MS),2018
Terry Francona,1977-80,Cleveland (MLB),2013
[/table]
Women’s college basketball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Brenda Frese,1989-93,Maryland,2002
Adia Barnes,1995-99,Arizona,2016
[/table]
High school football (8)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Marcus Bell,1996-99,Eager Round Valley,2011
Robert Bonillas,1995-98,Desert View,2012
John Brandom,1986-89,Riverside (CA) Hillcrest,2015
Mark Keel,1979-82,Silverdale (WA) Central Kitsap,2000
Michael Klyce,2004-08,Los Angeles Locke,2017
Scott McKee,1999-02,Sahuaro,2009
Clarence McRae,2003-04,Mountain View,2012
Brandon Sanders,1995-98,Pueblo,2014
[/table]
College football (1)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Edwin Mulitalo,1995-98,Southern Virginia,2018
[/table]
College softball (4)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Debby Day,1989-91,Cal-Lutheran,2002
Kristie Fox,2004-07,UNLV,2017
Jennifer Martinez,2008-09,Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College,2017
Rebekah Quiroz,2002,Pima Community College,2019
[/table]
High school softball (4)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Amy Baray-Rocha,1999,Salpointe,2015
Jackie Coburn,2002-05,Scottsdale Horizon,2013
Krista Humphreys,1993-96,Corona (Calif.) Centennial,2015
Jody Pruitt,1990-93,Peoria Sunrise Mountain,2011
[/table]
High school soccer (1)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Alex Davis,2003-07,Flowing Wells,2011
[/table]
College women’s tennis (1)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Danielle Steinberg,2005-09,Kansas State,2014
[/table]
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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