Aaron j. latham / arizona daily star 2004

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Since arriving at the UA in January 1994, athletic director Jim Livengood has survived ordeals inherent to big-time college programs. He ordered 19 job positions eliminated. There was a book-selling scandal. All-Pac-10 basketball stars Ben Davis and Jason Terry violated NCAA rules and were suspended. Women's hoops star Shawntinice Polk died, as did football players Damon Terrell and McCollins Umeh.

Livengood fired two football coaches, a soccer coach and a baseball coach. But many, perhaps most, of the troubling personnel issues within the athletic department, were never publicized.

Those experiences should serve him well because he has probably never been involved in crisis management the way he is now.

He faces uncomfortable situations with underachieving football coach Mike Stoops and slumping women's basketball coach Joan Bonvicini. The school's jewel of a softball program must play a season without Olympic coach Mike Candrea, and he has to address potentially unsettling staff questions. And then there are the UA's graduation rates, which are the worst in the Pac-10.

All of it is trumped by Lute Olson's leave of absence and the complicated and potentially volatile issue of what to do, long term, with Kevin O'Neill. If a vote were taken today, O'Neill easily would be the Pac-10's coach of the year/month.

Here's the punch line: The one thing Livengood doesn't have to worry about, today, at least, is money. His self-sustaining athletic department continues to fully support itself.

Last week, the East Valley Tribune quoted ASU athletic director Lisa Love saying the Sun Devils athletic department had a $30 million service debt. That's appalling.

In a recent interview, Livengood told me the UA has no athletic department debt.

"We've paid as we've gone along, and we haven't encumbered the university with debt,'' he said. "I'm not going to leave a mess for someone else to pay off.''

Livengood is paid about $390,000 annually, which is under market value for BCS conference ADs. You can't say he doesn't earn it.

Sophomore point guard Nic Wise played so well in Arizona's dazzling comeback victory over Illinois on Saturday that you can picture him taking charge of that position through the 2009-10 season.

But what about incoming freshman point guard Brandon Jennings of Virginia's Oak Hill Academy? It isn't a stretch to say that Jennings might be the most talented player ever recruited to Arizona. Yes, and that includes Chris Mills, Mike Bibby, and everyone else.

Through six games for the nation's No. 1 prep basketball team, Jennings is averaging 40.5 points and 9.6 assists. That's not all. He is averaging 6.8 steals and he is shooting .573 afield. He's also a skilled free-throw shooter (.865). All against the nation's top high school schedule.

You can get a full look at Jennings on Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN. His team will play St. Benedict's (N.J.) in a Kentucky tournament. Oak Hill remains tentatively scheduled to play at McKale Center on Feb. 17.

Although it seems Tucson is rarely recognized as a soccer town, our high school teams have won or shared 14 state soccer championships (boys and girls) dating to 1998. Thus, it figures college soccer would ultimately have some prominent Tucson storylines.

Such is the case today when UMass and Bradley, two underdog men's teams playing for a berth in the College Cup — soccer's equivalent of the Final Four — are led by Tucsonans.

Atlantic 10 champ UMass (16-7-1) hosts Illinois-Chicago. UMass junior starters Doug Rappaport and Chris Brown lead team in minutes played. Both helped Salpointe Catholic High School to a share of the 2004 state title.

Rappaport, an academic All-American, has enjoyed a fascinating career. After undergoing ankle surgery in 2006, he left UMass, returned to Tucson and attended the UA for a semester. He then spent a semester studying in Florence, Italy.

Bradley (17-5-3) plays today at Ohio State. Sophomore Travis English is from Catalina Foothills High School. He is one of nine Bradley Braves to have played in all 25 games this year.

English, Rappaport and Brown frequently played against one another while learning the game in Tucson. If their teams win today, they will meet again, Friday in Cary, N.C., in the national semifinals in college soccer's biggest weekend.

Catalina Foothills High School grad Nolan Swett established career records in receiving (201 catches), yards (2,623) and touchdowns (31) for Division III Colorado College this year. Swett completed his college career Saturday in the Aztec Bowl in Chihuahua, Mexico. Sweet was one of 50 American small-college players invited to play a Mexican All-Star team. … Baseball America last week ranked former Pima Community College left-hander Donald Veal as the No. 6 overall prospect in the Chicago Cubs farm system. Veal, of Sierra Vista, was the Cubs' No. 2 prospect last year but had a difficult season at Class AA Tennessee, 8-10 with a 4.97 ERA, although he struck out 131 batters in 130 innings. … Sahuaro High School won girls basketball state championships in 1993 and 1998 under coach Jim Scott. The tradition is such that the Cougars have qualified for 22 consecutive state tournaments. To celebrate the 10th and 15th anniversaries of their titles, they will hold a State Championship Alumni Weekend Jan. 25-26 at Sahuaro. For information contact long-time Cougars assistant coach Don Day at 390-0178.

Lute Olson's divorce attorney is Leonard Karp, 66, a 1965 graduate of the UA law school. Karp is a Philadelphia native and UA football fan whose law firm rents two suites every year at Arizona Stadium. His Web site describes his practice this way: "Mr. Karp focuses his practice on representing high net-worth individuals involved in complex marriage dissolution actions.'' … A coach short on the bench and in practice, it wouldn't be inconceivable if Jim Rosborough returned for the remainder of the UA's basketball season. Rosborough and Kevin O'Neill coached together on the Tulsa staff of J.D. Barnett in 1985-86. Both left Tulsa that year; when O'Neill asked for help to get an interview at Arizona, it was Rosborough who arranged it and gave O'Neill a strong recommendation. Asked if he would consider rejoining the team, Rosborough declined comment. He is working in a development and fundraising capacity at McKale Center. … In his first three games as a point guard for Poland's Prokom Trefl Sopot, Mustafa Shakur is averaging just 15 minutes a game. He has one start and is averaging 4.6 points. … Cochise College basketball coach Jerry Carrillo, a Tucson native, got the traditional powerhouse Apaches off to another good start (8-0) and No. 19 in the NJCAA poll. Cochise was averaging 105 points entering last week's games. Desert View High School grad Mike Martin, who transferred from Saddleback (Calif.) College this year, is averaging 15 points for Cochise.

What is particularly impressive about UA cornerback Antoine Cason winning the Jim Thorpe Award as college football's top defensive back is that no other player on a losing team had won the Thorpe trophy. Moreover, it is an award that only twice has been won by a Pac-10 player: Arizona's Darryll Lewis in 1990 and USC's Mark Carrier in 1989. Big 12, SEC and Big Ten players had won 16 of the previous 20 Thorpe awards. Cason's national reach and reputation were impressive. … UA football coaches are in the middle of the most important recruiting weekend of the fall season. At least nine prospects are on campus, about half of them linebackers, a particularly needy position at Arizona. Name to remember: R.J. Young of DeSoto (Texas) High School, a four-star linebacker who plays at the same high school that produced UA All-Pac-10 receiver Mike Thomas, defensive lineman Donald Horton and letterman safety Corey Hall. Young has already visited Colorado but probably can't find an immediate vacancy at LB like he could at Arizona in 2009. … Here's some context on UA linebacker Spencer Larsen's Pac-10 leading 131 tackles: He joins ex-Wildcats Ricky Hunley, LaMonte Hunley, Byron Evans and Marcus Bell as Pac-10 tackles champs since the league began keeping that stat in 1983. It is the type of company he earned.

In the final two games of his UA career, center Channing Frye had double-doubles in the 2005 NCAA tournament against Oklahoma State (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Illinois (24-12).

Saturday's stat line by UA sophomore center Jordan Hill — 23 points, 14 rebounds — was the game of his young life. It generated hope that, like his predecessor, Hill can become one of the leading centers in college hoops.

As good as he was at Arizona, Frye was under-appreciated. Not until he was in the NBA did many of us fully understand his value.

Hill refreshed our memories Saturday against Illinois.