Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star 2008

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Other articles by Greg Hansen:

Greg Hansen : Tubac's 'Triangle' a 'Wreck' for golfers Greg Hansen : First stop Indianapolis Greg Hansen : Historically, 44th draft picks have brief or no NBA history Greg Hansen Sunday Notebook : USC, O'Neill a good fit Greg Hansen : For Miller, hard work is a legacy from father Greg Hansen: El Rio's No. 8 tee shot is intimidating Greg Hansen : ASU's Tucson pipeline pumps as rich as ever Greg Hansen : Tucson's Tyler appears calm before the storm at Bethpage Greg Hansen : Friends for life reunite Logra sonorense un gran salto

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At 8 Saturday morning, Jeff Scurran's voice had a sleep-deprived tone, deep and gravelly. "I went to bed about 1 this morning," he said. "But sleep wasn't really an option. I was lying there grinning, replaying the game. The element of luck is sometimes so high in a football game, and it seems like the longer I coach, the luckier I get."

At 61, Scurran isn't lucky at all. He coached Sabino High School and Pima College to unprecedented heights. Now, 22-3 in two seasons at Santa Rita, he has done the same for the Eagles.

Scurran's Eagles trailed Todd Mayfield's formidable Palo Verde Titans 21-14 with 2:41 remaining Friday night in the 4A-II quarterfinals. They were 85 yards away from the end zone. It was almost the way the Eagles rehearsed it in Thursday's final practice.

"At that point, it was going to come down to clock management and an onside kick,'' Scurran said Saturday morning. Remarkably, nursing the clock judiciously, his team went 85 yards in 12 plays, scoring with 47 seconds remaining. It then successfully executed an onside kick and got a field goal to win 23-21 in one of the classic playoff football finishes ever played in Tucson.

"At our final practice Thursday, we spent 30 minutes on the onside kick,'' Scurran revealed. "We had gone over our two-minute drill the same way. There's no price tag you can put on preparation or the way the kids carried out the instructions.''

Santa Rita was 0-10 two years ago. Now it is back at the state semifinals for the second time in Scurran's brief tenure. His team starts 14 juniors and two sophomores. This could be the start of something really big.

Sahuaro High School grad Rich Barcelo, twice a PGA Tour regular, took a step toward the 2009 Tour on Saturday. He shot a sizzling 67 in the final round of Qualifying School (second stage) in Beaumont, Calif., to finish 12th. The top 19 advanced to next month's final stage of Q-School. Former Wildcat All-American Ted Purdy also advanced in Beaumont, tying for sixth overall. ... In his debut as Pima College's men's basketball coach last week, Karl Pieroway exhibited how much preparation he put into the job. The Aztecs challenged perennial national power Cochise College before losing 104-98. A year ago, Cochise beat PCC in Tucson 107-87. Two years ago Jerry Carrillo's team swept Pima by a combined 37 points. … Almost hard to believe that the greater Phoenix area – Glendale's University of Phoenix Stadium — was not awarded a Final Four host's role when the NCAA assigned Final Four sites from 2012 to 2016 last week. The NFL facilities in Dallas, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Houston and Atlanta were chosen. The West has not played host to a Final Four since Seattle in 1996. Come on, guys. It's overdue.

UA athletic director Jim Livengood did the best thing by deciding to be a one-man search committee in an attempt to replace Lute Olson. Those faux "committees'' made up of campus leaders fool no one. When the UA interviewed Johnnie Lynn, Norm Chow and Ricky Hunley in 2003, it was waste of time; Livengood had long ago decided to hire Mike Stoops. … Junior center Jordan Hill has bricked five of his 12 free throws (.417) in two games, which is worse than his freshman free-throw percentage of .447. If he continues at that rate, the hack-a-Hill routine is apt to cost Arizona enough games that it won't have a winning season and will cost him a significant place in NBA draft projections. … Before the NBA Development League's Iowa Energy played a preseason game, it released ex-Wildcat guard Chris Rodgers last week. The Austin Toros also dumped ex-UA center Isaiah Fox. However, Kirk Walters, playing center for the Anaheim Arsenal, was his team's sixth man in its exhibition opener. He played six minutes. … Gotta think that UA volleyball coach Dave Rubio, who was coaching to save his job this year, probably did so when his team whipped No. 8 Oregon on Friday night. His is a risky business, especially in a conference with six teams ranked in the current top 10.

In an ESPN-generated conference call with the national media last week, Dick Vitale suggested that Arizona blew it by not hiring Bob Knight as the UA's interim head basketball coach. Are you nuts, Dick? The Wildcats just replaced a man, Lute Olson, who had seized its basketball program for personal gain. The very last thing they're going to do is give it to another coach who doesn't compromise and steps on those who aren't compliant. Kevin O'Neill was a behind-the-scenes tyrant; Knight, who no longer has contemporary ideas, would be worse. … Richard Jefferson will be in Tucson on Dec. 8 to help dedicate the Richard Jefferson Gymnasium that is now a practice facility for UA men's and women's hoops and volleyball. The Milwaukee Bucks star will squeeze in an appearance between a Dec. 7 game against the Lakers and a Dec. 9 game at Phoenix. He is paying $3.5 million over 10 years for naming rights, and is the first former UA basketball player to give back to his school in significant dollars. The UA is looking to sell naming rights to the classy Arizona Promenade, which has been constructed between McKale Center and the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. For about $1.5 million, someone like Jason Terry, Trevor Hoffman or maybe Annika Sorenstam could have their name put on the promenade's archway for posterity. … Ironically, on the day he started as a fullback, linebacker and special-teamer, former UA linebacker Spencer Larsen of the Denver Broncos was fined $5,000 for unintentionally "leg-whipping'' an Atlanta Falcons ball-carrier. Consider it money well spent.

My initial sense of Brandon Jennings' pro basketball debut in Italy: He is an 18-year-old knucklehead with no sense of reality. He is not a pioneer; unfortunately, his influence remains great. In an ESPN magazine article, Jennings is portrayed as a free-spending, fun-loving rock star. He buys a $1,400 jacket and $500 shoes. He lives rent free and has a $1.2 million contract. Jennings is from the me-first generation that embodies much of what has gone wrong with the concept of college and pro basketball. … Gotta love Chip Hale's reaction when he learned he was not chosen as the Seattle Mariners' manager. "I learned a long time ago to be disappointed, not discouraged," the Tucson resident and former UA All-America infielder told Seattle reporters. "There's a big difference between the two words." That type of perspective is derived from Jerry Kindall 101, Hale's college mentor, and is part of the reason that Hale has zoomed through the minor leagues and into prominence as a big-league coach. When one door shuts for people like Hale, another opens. … Frank Busch's recruiting efforts immediately following his twin NCAA swimming championships have been, unfortunately, less than expected. The UA coach came in second on a handful of the nation's top swimming prospects, but typical of his foresight and building plan, Busch used some of his limited scholarship money on Texas diving stud Sam Decker, a junior national champion. Diving points count as much as swimming points in the NCAA finals and the UA has been shut out in diving in recent years. Decker grew up in Tucson and competed at Palo Verde High School before moving to San Antonio.

In the last four football seasons, Pima College has gone 0-10, 1-10, 0-10 and 0-9. That's 1-39 if you're keeping score. The Aztecs were outscored 509-37 this year and, frankly, were embarrassed every weekend.

PCC carelessly de-emphasize football when it forced Jeff Scurran from office after his bowl-championship, 8-3 season of 2004. It paid part-time money ($20,000 annually) to a head coach in a league, the Western States Football League, that is deadly serious about winning football.

Thus burned, the Aztecs now will double their football coach's salary to $40,000 and try to correct the mistakes they've made in the post-Scurran years.

It should hire locally but, alas, the men who seem best suited to build a winner — Cienega High's Nemer Hassey, Salpointe's Dennis Bene, Sunnyside's Richard Sanchez and CDO's Pat Nugent — are all strongly engaged in higher-paying jobs that involve more than coaching.

If one of those four men seeks the PCC job, it would be a community triumph.

Pima College might be wise to contact UA football recruiting/operations stud Bill Baker, who has coached college and high school ball, and spent 25 years in the NFL. His instincts are too good not to solicit.

This is probably the last time the Aztecs have a chance to get their football problem fixed.