TUCSON, Ariz. — Here in the office of Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege, you will hear the story of a college football species that has practically gone extinct.
Doege, who played quarterback at Texas Tech a decade and a half ago, points to the sofa up against the wall. That's where Noah Fifita was sitting seven months ago after Arizona completed its surprising 9-4 season, when Doege asked a question that would determine both of their futures.
"There's no doubt he's the best quarterback in the league, so people are hitting this guy up to tamper, to say, 'Hey, we'll pay you $3.5 million to come play for a year," Doege told Yahoo Sports. "And you know how it is. When you go 9-4 on a team that was picked dead last in the Big 12, now all the coaches are getting hit up [for new jobs].
"So I sat him down and said, 'Dude, what is your plan? Man to man, brother to brother, you know there's real love here. What are you gonna do? Because if you're leaving, I need to think about what I need to do. But if you're staying, I'm with you. And then he said the exact same thing, and that was that."
At Arizona, which looks like a dark-horse contender for the Big 12 ******* le, most everything revolves around Fifita and his unconventional decision to not merely spend all five years at the same school but at a program with a somewhat tortured football history and a relatively low national profile.
#doege
Doege, who played quarterback at Texas Tech a decade and a half ago, points to the sofa up against the wall. That's where Noah Fifita was sitting seven months ago after Arizona completed its surprising 9-4 season, when Doege asked a question that would determine both of their futures.
"There's no doubt he's the best quarterback in the league, so people are hitting this guy up to tamper, to say, 'Hey, we'll pay you $3.5 million to come play for a year," Doege told Yahoo Sports. "And you know how it is. When you go 9-4 on a team that was picked dead last in the Big 12, now all the coaches are getting hit up [for new jobs].
"So I sat him down and said, 'Dude, what is your plan? Man to man, brother to brother, you know there's real love here. What are you gonna do? Because if you're leaving, I need to think about what I need to do. But if you're staying, I'm with you. And then he said the exact same thing, and that was that."
At Arizona, which looks like a dark-horse contender for the Big 12 ******* le, most everything revolves around Fifita and his unconventional decision to not merely spend all five years at the same school but at a program with a somewhat tortured football history and a relatively low national profile.
#doege
8 days ago
