kelly presnell / arizona daily star 2008

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The buffet meal at Tuesday's Arizona Wildcats kickoff luncheon was served with a heaping spoon of optimism.

Expectations were as high as the red and blue balloons in the Tucson Convention Center ballroom, where about 580 fans listened to coaches talk about their upcoming fall seasons.

Master of ceremonies Dave Sitton introduced football coach Mike Stoops by quoting late singer James Brown — as in, "I feel good."

Stoops was the most emotional of the four coaches who spoke.

He was charming, joking that he had received "a lot of self-help books" about patience.

"I don't need any more," he said, smiling. "I've got plenty. I don't have enough time to read them all."

Stoops turned passionate in thanking UA athletic director Jim Livengood for his support last season.

"I cannot tell you last year how difficult it was," he said. "We were playing literally for our lives."

And Stoops was fiery when he said his team is making progress since his arrival four seasons ago.

"A lot of times the media will tell you you're not," he said. "If you look at what we've done the past few years, a lot of it is tarnished by what's written."

Stoops told a fan he should expect to feel proud about the football team more often than not, hinting at a winning season.

A rare reference to last year's athletic department drama came from Livengood, who said that "yesterday was yesterday, last year was last year."

Volleyball coach Dave Rubio good-naturedly apologized for last season. At last year's luncheon, Rubio said, he promised his team would win more than the season before. The Wildcats only improved by one victory — going 14-17 after a 13-17 season in 2006.

"We promise to win a lot more," Rubio said.

Track and field coach Fred Harvey filled in for cross country coach James Li, who is with the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing. He predicted good things for the cross country women, who return six of last year's top seven runners.

Soccer coach Dan Tobias joked that "probably our biggest issue" of the preseason "was what to wear" to the event. The soccer team opens the season Sunday against Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

"We're going to score a lot of goals," said Tobias, whose team went 6-13-1 last year. "We have the right people; we have all the right pieces in place."