– Arizona basketball walk-on Jackson Francois, son of Arizona atheltic director Desireé Reed-Francois, has been hired to be the head boys basketball coach at Walden Grove High School. He's just 21. That's the youngest head coach for any high school sports I can remember. Jackson will be a busy young man. He has also accepted a one-year MBA to study in the UA's Eller College of Business next year. He spent last summer working as an intern for CAA Sports in Nashville, working for Jimmy Sexton, perhaps the most well-known player agent in sports. This is a career with a very high trajectory. Sexton's clients, past and present, include Matt Stafford, T.J. Watt and Sam Darnold. Francois is off to a promising start.
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Arizona guard Jackson Francois coaches the boys basketball team at Southgate Academy, 850 W. Valencia Road, in Tucson on Nov. 20, 2025.
– Colton Smith, probably the top tennis player at Arizona since Bill Lenoir in the 1960s, qualified for the ongoing French Open. He won a first-round match and then lost in the second round last week to Jaime Faria, a seven-year veteran on the pro tennis tour. This year's UA All-American tennis player, Jay Friend, hopes to follow Smith's path to the pro tennis circuit.
– Hope Hisey, the former soccer goalkeeper of note at Canyon del Oro High School and Arizona, had another terrific season in pro soccer. She was a unanimous selection to the Gainbridge Super League all-star team of 2026. Hisey plays for the Spokane Zephyr and had a 76% save percentage (86 goal saves). She played every minute of the season for Spokane.
– In 1991, Dick Tomey and fellow Pac-10 coaches Rich Brooks of Oregon and Terry Donahue of UCLA began the Coaches Classic golf tournament at Pebble Beach. Now, 35 years later, the Memorial Day three-day event is thriving. It has raised more than $405,000 for the Positive Coaching Alliance, of which Tomey's son, Rich Tomey, is an executive. It raises money for athletes needing financial help to play in youth sports leagues. Among those playing in the Pebble Beach event have been UA defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, former UA offensive coordinators Dino Babers and Pat Hill, as well as current UA football coach Brent Brennan. Tomey was a regular at the event until his death in 2019.
– I'm not suggesting Big 12 baseball doesn't hold up well against what Arizona used to know in the Pac-12, but when Kansas won the Big 12 Tournament last week, it was their first baseball conference championship since 1949. It was the best baseball season at Kansas since Palo Verde High grad Dave Bingham coached the Jayhawks to a 45-18 record and second place in the Big 12 in 1993. Bingham, a former catcher at Arizona, was inducted into the KU Jayhawks Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.
– Riccardo Fois was part of Tommy Lloyd’s first Arizona basketball coaching staff in 2021-22, a Pepperdine grad from Italy who earned his stripes on Mark Few’s Gonzaga staff of 2014-19. Fois took a chance when he left Arizona after the ’24 season, but it was a gamble that paid off. After being fired by the Sacramento Kings a year ago, Fois was hired to be an assistant for the New York Knicks. Talk about landing on your feet. Fois and the Knicks will be playing in the NBA Finals this week.
– Bob Horner is probably on the Mount Rushmore of ASU's baseball program, with Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds and maybe Rick Monday. Sadly, Horner died last week at 68. After graduating from Glendale Apollo High School, Horner became the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft of 1978. He proved his worth in his final appearance at the UA's Sancet Field in May 1978, hitting two home runs before a record Tucson crowd of 10,619 at the UA. That game officially eliminated Arizona from postseason contention. Horner left ASU as its single-season home run leader, 24. That record now belongs to ASU sophomore Landon Hairston, who has hit 28 this season. Landon is the son of former CDO all-state infielder Scott Hairston, who helped the Tucson Sidewinders to the 2006 Pacific Coast League championship.
