Arizona has made it a point to try and reconnect to the past over the last several weeks when going through its coaching search. Since taking over the job as head coach Jedd Fisch has worked to make those connections as an outsider coming to Tucson. Now the work will be put into action as the Wildcats are expected to bring back a pair of UA's top former players to join the coaching staff.
According to Yahoo! Sports reporter Pete Thamel, College Football Hall of Fame members Chuck Cecil and Ricky Hunley are set to join the Arizona defensive staff this week with Cecil expected to coach in the secondary while Hunley will work with the front seven in his role.
Both players are among the most accomplished Wildcats in program history and both have ties to the NFL, something that Fisch has mentioned as being important for his coaches.
Hunley is the more experienced college coach of the pair as he spent time as several schools over the course of his coaching career that started at USC in the early 1990s. He also has made stops at Missouri, Florida and Memphis, his last college job in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
He also has made stops in the NFL at Washington, Cincinnati and Oakland. Hunley played linebacker for the Wildcats from 1980-83 and ultimately ended up as a consensus All-American twice in his college career. In 1998 he was picked as the first Arizona player to be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Hunley played in the NFL for several years after being selected No. 7 overall in the 1984 draft.
Cecil has extensive experience as a coach at the NFL level with most of his time spent in Tennessee as a member of the Titans' defensive coaching staff. He held several roles with that franchise including becoming the defensive coordinator for 2009 and 2010. The former UA standout safety eventually joined the staff of the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams from 2012-2016 as a secondary coach before returning to his alma mater where he was able to serve as a senior defensive analyst for the Wildcats starting in 2018 when Kevin Sumlin took over as head coach.
Late in the 2019 season it was Cecil who served as defensive backs coach and interim defensive coordinator for the Wildcats when the program parted ways with previous defensive coordinator Marcel Yates during the season.
Like Hunley, Cecil played in the NFL for several years and made it to the Pro Bowl in 1992 after collecting numerous accolades as a college player with the Wildcats. He was an All-American in 1987 when he also earned the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year award.
Official announcements regarding Arizona's newest coaches are expected to be rolled out starting Thursday. Former Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown has been rumored to be the leader for the same position at UA while UCLA receivers coach Jimmie Dougherty has been rumored to serve in an offensive role for the Wildcats as Fisch continues to piece together his staff with the Wildcats.
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