Jedd Fisch has become known as something of a world-class poacher since leaving Arizona and becoming the football coach at Washington. His coaching staff and roster is populated with ex-Wildcats. Last week, Fisch himself was poached. His UW director of recruiting, Josh Omura, was hired away by Arizona State and will become the Sun Devils’ executive director of recruiting and player personnel. Fisch also lost assistant director of recruiting Armond Hawkins to Bill Belichick’s North Carolina staff last week.

Washington head coach Jedd Fisch watches from the sideline during the first half of the loss at Iowa on Oct. 12, 2024.
However, Fisch is expected to land a key UA athletic department operative, Matt Hayes, who has been the UA’s associate AD for football and, more recently, the Senior Associate AD and CFO, in charge of potential naming rights for Arizona Stadium and McKale Center. Hayes’ name has been removed from the UA staff directory. He is from Seattle.
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– Joe Smigiel was a starting offensive tackle in Arizona’s Desert Swarm years. He is now a highly successful head football coach at Newbury Park High School in SoCal. His son, Brady, is a 6-foot, 5-inch quarterback with a five-star recruiting rating. Don’t expect Brady to play for his father’s alma mater; he initially committed to Florida State, picking the Seminoles over Ohio State, Oregon and Washington, but recently backed off the FSU pledge. Buckeyes offensive coordinator and the UW’s Fisch both made recruiting visits to Smigiel’s home last week. Arizona isn’t in the picture.

Kansas City Chiefs' Rick Burkholder during a game against the Los Angeles Chargers Oct. 22, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo.Â
– There will be one ex-Wildcat in the Super Bowl next week. Rick Burkholder, a trainer on Dick Tomey’s staff in the late 1980s, is now the head trainer for the Kansas City Chiefs, preparing for yet another Super bowl. After leaving Arizona, he was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers and later, the Philadelphia Eagles. This is his 26th season working for KC coach Andy Reid.
– Alijah Arenas, son of Arizona’s 2000 and 2001 basketball whiz Gilbert Arenas, chose to attend USC over Arizona last week. Not much of a surprise. USC coach Eric Musselman is an uber-recruiter, a non-stop talker who has been very good at selling himself. The plusses for Arenas: He knows Musselman, who was Gilbert’s coach with the Golden State Warriors in 2003. And he gets to stay in SoCal and play in front of his family. The negatives: USC is averaging 4,679 fans at home this year. Last year it was 6,302 and the year before 4,021. He might be the best son/daughter of a star-level Arizona player to decline an ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV offer.
Until now, it was probably baseball standout Michael Conforto, son of Arizona’s NCAA synchronized swimming champion and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Tracie Ruiz-Conforto, who declined an ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV offer. Conforto, who grew up in Seattle, played at Oregon State and, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been in the major leagues for 10 seasons. He was recruited by Arizona’s Andy Lopez.
– The Golden State Warriors last week announced they will retire the jersey number of former Arizona forward Andre Iguodala (2002-04) next month. Iguodala, who played nine seasons at Golden State, was MVP of the 2015 NBA Finals. The only other ex-Wildcat athlete to have his jersey retired is Sean Elliott, whose No. 32 hangs in the rafters of the San Antonio Spurs arena. Believe it or not, Elliott is in his 20th season as the Spurs radio-TV analyst.