ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

– I remember Jesse Mermuys as a backup guard on coach Brian Peabody’s state title-contending teams of the late ‘90s, a man on a mission more than someone who averaged five points per game for the Lancers. His path to becoming a new assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns began on the staffs at Salpointe and Pima College, at Southern Utah and New Mexico State, and finally to the UA before an impressive climb with the Nuggets, Rockets, Raptors, Lakers, Kings and Magic in the NBA. Mermuys, whose mother died when he was a pre-teenager and whose father was in prison, built up $30,000 in student loans at Arizona. Now he’s in his 17th year in the NBA. Talk about a survivor.

– Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois is still restructuring her front office staff. She is advertising for a coordinator of major gifts to assist recent hire Matt Giller, the associate athletic director for major gifts. She has now hired 11 to her front office staff in 15 months, which necessitated parting ways with about the same number of those from Dave Heeke’s staff. The latest to leave is James Francis, senior associate AD for development, who had been in the athletic department since 1997. Giller was hired away from Creighton, where he was a senior AD for fundraising.

– I recently saw an advertisement offering the former Tucson home of ex-Wildcat women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes and Salvo Coppa for $1.79 million. It is in the Sam Hughes area, with a pool/patio area that looks big enough to host the Olympic Swimming Trials. I’m not saying Barnes was paid too much at Arizona — $1.2 million last season before leaving for SMU — but it is a reflection on how the compensation of college coaches has few boundaries. Barnes posted a photo of herself on a recruiting trip last week; she was in a private jet. You didn’t see much of that in women’s basketball recruiting at Arizona.

– UA volleyball coach Rita Stubbs got a recruiting commitment from Scottsdale Saguaro Class of ’27 volleyball standout Nylah Bibby last week. Sound familiar? She is the daughter of Arizona 1998 All-American point guard Mike Bibby, now the head coach at Sacramento State. Nylah is the first daughter of an ex-UA basketball player to accept an ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV offer. About 15 years ago, Arizona pursued Reily Buechler, daughter of the UA’s 1990 All-Pac-10 forward Jud Buechler. Riley went on to become an All-American at UCLA and is now an assistant coach for the Texas Longhorns. Then came Maddy Kerr, Steve Kerr’s daughter, who went on to be a three-year starter for the Cal Bears. Maddy is now an attorney in San Francisco. The most successful father-daughter connection in UA sports is probably that of Jack Redhair and Banni Redhair. Jack was a starter at guard/tight end on Arizona’s 1956-57 football teams; he went on to be a prominent Tucson attorney. His daughter, Banni, a Canyon del Oro product, went on to be a first-team tennis All-American at Arizona in 1992. (His son, Mike Redhair, became a starting point guard on one of Bill Frieder‘s ASU basketball teams in the early 1990s).

– Much has been made of Arizona failing to place a single player on the preseason All-Big 12 football team. Arizona should be used to it. The Wildcats did not place a player on the All-Pac-10/12 football teams of 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2022. What’s amazing is that the Larry Smith and Dick Tomey UA football teams of 1980-2000, never failed to have at least one player on the all-conference first teams. Times have indeed changed.