When putting this list of former Arizona athletes as head coaches together thankfully some readers point out the ones I might miss.
Moises Duran during his Arizona playing career.
This happened this morning after I posted the story about former Arizona pitcher Jason Hisey getting hired by Canyon del Oro to be its head coach.
I was alerted shortly after that story that I omitted Rio Rico head baseball coach Moises Duran, who was hitting home runs for the Wildcats at a high rate from 2001 to 2004. He finished with 32 career home runs at Arizona, including 15 with 63 RBIs in 2003.
Duran, who starred at Sunnyside High School before playing at Arizona, has coached Rio Rico since 2014 and is considered one of the top coaches in Southern Arizona with a 56-33 career record at the school.
The addition of Duran and Hisey makes it six former Arizona baseball players who are coaching or managing a team, including Terry Francona of the AL Central champion Cleveland Indians. Others are Shelley Duncan, who just completed his first season as manager at the Double-A level with Jackson (Miss.), Bill Kinneberg at the University of Utah and Tod Brown at North Dakota State.
Former Arizona standout Moises Duran has been the head coach at Rio Rico since 2014.
The following is a list of the 36 former Arizona athletes who presently are head coaches:
FORMER ARIZONA ATHLETES AS CURRENT HEAD COACHES
High school boys 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 (G-League),2015
Steve Kerr,1983-88,Golden State (NBA),2014
Luke Walton,1999-03,L.A. Lakers (NBA),2016
[/table]
High school baseball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Moises Duran,2001-04,Rio Rico,2014
Jason Hisey,1988-91,CDO,2019
[/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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