Tucson’s take on Livengood

Pat Finley, Arizona Daily Star

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 | 3:24 p.m.

Sometime during Jim Livengood’s first weekend as UNLV’s new athletic director, he’ll likely conduct interviews and select a football coach, a man who will hold no less than the Rebels’ athletic future in his hands.

Ho-hum.

At least when compared with the past two drama-filled years at the University of Arizona.

During his 16 years at Arizona, Livengood earned a reputation for having a remarkable knack for balancing the books, a personality that enabled him to know the name of every athlete on campus and the skill to lead the program to 11 national titles — most in softball, a few others in women’s golf as well as swimming and diving.

The one big one, of course, was in men’s basketball in 1997, and that’s why, fairly or not, Livengood will be mostly remembered as the man who was in charge when Arizona’s legendary head basketball coach, Lute Olson, retired.

Which brings us to the events of the past two years, most of which were not the 64-year-old AD’s doing.

A brief primer:

• In November 2007, Olson announced a leave of absence. A month later, Livengood said interim coach Kevin O’Neill will be Olson’s successor should he not return. Olson decided to return after O’Neill led the team to the NCAA tournament; in a contentious first news conference, Olson announced O’Neill would not be welcomed back as an assistant.

• On Oct. 23, 2008, Olson retired, leaving only Livengood to face questions.

• The next day, Livengood gave the interim job to Russ Pennell, but only after fellow assistant Mike Dunlap declined when the university refused to give him more than a one-year tryout.

• After Pennell took Arizona to the Sweet 16 in March, Livengood flew USC coach Tim Floyd to Tucson for a job interview, and put feelers out to Memphis coach John Calipari and Louisville coach Rick Pitino. All wound up in various states of moral and professional trouble in the ensuing months. He hired Xavier’s Sean Miller.

Olson’s situation might have forever changed the way some influential boosters saw Livengood.

Half the fan base, it seemed, thought Livengood was too soft on Olson. Others thought Livengood should have not let Olson return in the first place.

Doing either, however, would likely have damaged Livengood for good.

Force Olson out, and Livengood might have been soon to follow. After all, Olson had reached the NCAA tournament in 23 consecutive years. In that sense, he was still on top of his game — and probably the most famous sports figure in the state.

Let Olson stay, however, and the Wildcats would have tried to sell their program to recruits who had watched from afar as the coach’s life had turned, well, bizarre.

Olson went on radio shows to bash his second wife, Christine, whom he had divorced. The day Olson retired, Christine Olson placed a target-practice sheet ridden with bullet holes on the desk of the coach’s doctor. The doctor later asked for, and was granted, a restraining order.

The next week, the same doctor announced Olson had suffered a stroke sometime in the past 12 months and it had likely affected the coach’s decision-making and personality.

Livengood had waited for Olson’s career to play itself out, and it did.

But still, from Livengood’s point of view, there was probably no winning.

The athletic director survived the aftermath, but barely. University President Robert Shelton said Thursday he had decided not to renew Livengood’s deal this past spring, more than a year before his contract expired and only six months or so after Olson’s retirement.

Shelton, who came to Arizona after Livengood’s last renewal, said there was no singular sticking point for his decision. Livengood’s legacy at Arizona extends beyond just the Olson incident.

History here will prove Livengood ran a remarkable business.

Since arriving at Arizona in 1994, his athletic department never finished in the red — stunning, given that the Wildcats received no state funding. For half that time, the Wildcats’ struggling football program robbed the department of the income that comes with a full stadium.

The fundraising whiz announced a $10 million gift — the largest one-time gift in department history — one month ago. He thought big, too, announcing a $378 million plan to renovate 12 facilities over 20 years.

In 16 years on campus, he raised the athletic department budget from $18 million to $44 million.

Academically, the Wildcats have consistently ranked at the bottom of the Pac-10 in NCAA reports, but Shelton said this week he was proud of progress made the past few years.

As for the most pressing matter at UNLV, however, Livengood’s football coaching hires have been one colossal failure and one semi-hit. His 2000 hiring of John Mackovic was as disastrous as modern moves get; in 2002, players met with the school president in mutiny against their coach’s boorish behavior. He was fired the next year.

Livengood’s selection of Mike Stoops to replace Mackovic has recently born fruit; Arizona will play in its second consecutive bowl game Dec. 30 against Nebraska.

In a way, Livengood inherits much of what he had at various points at Arizona — a basketball program that succeeds financially and athletically, and a football program in need of traction. UNLV fans hope Livengood’s football choice comes sooner rather than later, and is far more Stoops-like than Mackovickian.

Livengood, meanwhile, probably won’t mind leaving some of the drama and distractions back in the Sonoran Desert.

Patrick Finley is a sports reporter for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson.