The first Mike Stoops run coaches clinic as head coach of the University of Arizona was a huge success. The clinic featured speakers that included Stoops, defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, offensive coordinator Mike Canales on Thursday. The Friday portion of the clinic featured Arizona centers and guards coach John Peterson, linebackers coach Tim Kish as well as the new football only strength and conditioning coaches Corey Edmond and Mark Hill.

The main idea behind the clinic is to associate the Arizona coaches with high school coaches from around the region and for them to pass along any coaching tactics that could be of use. Some prominent high school coaches from both Arizona and the southern California region were invited as speakers as well. Those speakers included, from California, Angelo Gasca from Venice High School in Venice and John Barnes from Los Alamitos High School in Orange County. From Arizona the two coaches that spoke were Dennis Bene from Tucson’s Salpointe Catholic High School and Dan Widmaier from Tolleson High School in the Phoenix metro area.

After being named head coach Mike Stoops said that recruiting the home state of Arizona was very important to the future success of the program. Making a good first impression on the coaches of the state high schools is a must and the new Arizona coaching staff has made a very good impression thanks to the clinic. With the attendance for the three day clinic at around 130 coaches it is hard to say that the clinic has been anything but a success.

One Tucson area coach that was in attendance at the clinic was Canyon del Oro head coach Pat Nugent. GOAZCATS.com got a chance to talk to coach Nugent on Friday afternoon and he said the overall experience was a very good one.

“I think there is a lot of curiosity about the new coaching staff,” said Nugent, who is also a UA graduate. “I was not able to attend every part of the clinic but I really enjoyed it. Just being around the new staff for a couple of days you can really feel the excitement around the football program again.”

Coach Nugent continued, “I think a lot of the coaches that were here were really excited about the new staff.”

During the clinic the visiting coaches got a chance to talk to all of the Arizona coaches and watch them as they ran the team through drills and Nugent said he came away impressed with many of the coaches. “I was really impressed with the position coaches,” he remarked. “I mostly concentrated on watching the defensive coaches during the clinic and I watched Mark Stoops quite a bit and he is really excited to be here. The players on the team are very excited to have him as their new coach also.”

“Overall I really liked the way the new coaches coached their different techniques and the way they try and make things simple and easy to understand for the players,” commented Nugent.

Tucson area offensive lineman Daniel Borg, from Ironwood Ridge High School, was able to attend the practice yesterday and he said a lot of the coaches were really into the clinic and seemed like they were having a good time. “I don’t know what the coaches thought about the clinic but this was my second practice and I really like the new staff’s coaching style,” said Borg. “I was at practice last Saturday and the difference of the linemen from then to yesterday was very evident. They looked a lot better in less than a week.”

Another one of Arizona’s recruiting targets for the 2005 class was also in attendance. Jimmy Barnes, quarterback from Los Alamitos made the trip with his father, John, who served as one of the guest high school speakers. GOAZCATS.com will try and catch up with both coach and son to get their thoughts on the clinic and the new staff.

All in all, the three day event, which wraps up with a scrimmage tomorrow morning, was a big success for the new staff. The success of the event will only serve to help the Arizona program in its future recruiting endeavors.