TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Rich Rodriguez made his first public appearance as football coach at Arizona, standing at center court at McKale Center on Tuesday at a news conference interrupted frequently by applause from fans who were encouraged to attend.
The former West Virginia and Michigan coach reeled off a list of attributes that Tucson and the university have, then asked “Why not Arizona? Why can’t we win it all?”
Arizona is the only member of the old Pac-10 never to appear in the Rose Bowl.
Rodriguez signed a five-year, $9.55 million contract. The university pays $8.05 million and the rest comes from Nike and IMG. The deal also includes incentives — the largest being $150,000 for an appearance in the BCS championship game and $100,000 for any other BCS bowl game.
