Mon, Dec 01, 2008
 Arizona coach Mike Stoops, left, talks with Sgt. Michael Macias after Thursday's morning practice at Fort Huachuca.
DAVID SANDERS / arizona daily star
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Adding inspiration to perspirationStoops hoping Huachuca visit
galvanizes Cats
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.15.2008
FORT HUACHUCA — The Arizona Wildcats were midway through their morning practice when about 300 drilling soldiers appeared out of nowhere and marched, in perfect precision, the length of four or five football fields.
Fort Huachuca residents refer to the constant marching as "soldierization," an initiation into the Army by sweat.
The Wildcats now know the feeling.
The team opened its 72-hour stay at Fort Huachuca on Thursday with a "two-a-day" practice schedule at Warrior and Sentinel fields, immaculate artificial surfaces used for intramurals and — of course — marching practice.
The Cats' day was planned with military precision, from an early-morning wake-up call to bed checks and "lights out" at 11 p.m. The team practiced for five hours, sat through 4 1/2 hours of meetings and ate two meals, the day's schedule printed out and planned to the minute.
Coach Mike Stoops may never leave.
"The climate and the setup has been wonderful," he said. "It's a neat place, and the field's good. Hopefully, we can get some work done here in the next 72 hours."
Stoops is optimistic the trip to Fort Huachuca, the team's first out-of-town workouts since Dick Tomey's last season in 2000, can help galvanize the team heading into a critical year while building goodwill in the community.
Thursday's practices drew a few dozen curious soldiers. None were more excited than Capt. Donald Gordon.
Gordon, 31, stood at midfield for most of the 2-hour workout, content to watch the same drills that have grown tiresome to players and coaches in Week 2 of training camp. Gordon was born and raised in Olean, N.Y., but became a die-hard Wildcats fan when a friend's brother enrolled at the school.
"He got me into them at a very young age," he said.
Gordon, an intelligence instructor, spent a year in Samarra, Iraq, before being offered his choice of destinations. Gordon chose Fort Huachuca, he said, in part to be closer to his favorite team.
"It was a pretty easy decision for me," he said. "I have a teenage daughter; I hope that she can one day go to the U of A."
Spc. Sarah Rieg followed the UA basketball program while growing up in Hereford, but said she was happy to see the Cats' football players working out on base. The fort frequently brings in outsiders to entertain the troops, she said.
"Howie Mandel's coming on the 23rd," she said.
Until then, the Wildcats are the big attraction on base.
The team moved into Nellis Barracks on Wednesday night, and — without the benefit of television or an Internet connection — bonded by shooting pool and playing dominoes, poker and foosball in a common area.
Some soldiers even joined them.
"I even asked one of them, 'How do y'all have time to come out and watch us practice?,' He said, 'The Army gives us time,'" safety Anthony Wilcox said. "They have fun, too."
Wilcox, a transfer from Compton (Calif.) Community College, said he was impressed with the barracks — especially the beds. Given the Wildcats' Fort Huachuca schedule, sleep should come easily.
"We thought it was going to be bad, but it's pretty comfortable," he said. "Everybody said they slept good."
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