The Arizona Wildcats football program represents the University of Arizona (UA) in the sport of American college football. Arizona competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Big 12 Conference. They play their home games at Casino Del Sol Stadium, which opened in 1929 on the university's campus in Tucson, Arizona, and has a capacity of 50,782. The Wildcats head coach is Brent Brennan.
Arizona's inaugural season was in 1899. The school first played as an independent before joining a conference in 1931, when they became a member of the now-defunct Border Conference. They, alongside rival Arizona State (ASU), would become part of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1962. In 1978, both Arizona and ASU joined the Pac-12 Conference (then known as the Pac-10). They were placed in the Pac-12 South Division when the conference realigned in 2011. Divisions within the Pac-12 were removed starting in the 2022 season, with the teams with the two best records in the conference making the conference title game.
Arizona joined the Big 12 in the 2024–2025 academic year on August 2, 2024, as part of a more extensive NCAA conference realignment.
The Wildcats have won at least a share of six conference championships, as well as a Pac-12 South division title in 2014, and made 21 bowl appearances, one of which are among the New Year's Six bowls.
History
Arizona has had a long football history since it first played in 1899. Although the football program has been mostly playing in the shadow of the Wildcats' elite basketball program in terms of winning and recruiting which has been leading to many mediocre and losing seasons, it has, however, had successful winning seasons sporadically over the years, primarily during the early part of the 1990s when it had a dominant defense that was known to fans as the "Desert Swarm".
1899–1950s (Early history)
The varsity football program at the University of Arizona began in 1899, though the Wildcats nickname was not adopted until later. Stuart Forbes became the first head coach of Arizona football history and the team compiled a 1–1–1 record. From 1900 to 1901, William W. Skinner served as head football coach at the University of Arizona.Will Skinner , College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved June 2, 2010. While there, he also studied geology. He guided Arizona to 3–1 and 4–1 records, respectively. On November 7, 1914, the team traveled to the west coast to play Occidental, then one of the reigning gridiron powers in California. Occidental won 14–0. Arizona later received the name "Wildcats" after a Los Angeles Times correspondent, Bill Henry, wrote that "The Arizona men showed the fight of wildcats".
Pop McKale was a very successful high school coach in the Tucson area when he was hired at UA. In 1921, Drop-kicker/receiver Harold "Nosey" McClellan led the nation in scoring with 124 points. Wildcats finished the regular season 7–1, and were invited to UA's first bowl game, the East-West Christmas Classic in San Diego, to play powerhouse Centre College of Kentucky; Arizona lost the game 38–0. The Wildcats did not compete in football in 1918 due to World War I. On October 18, 1926, UA quarterback and student body president John "Button" Salmon died from injuries sustained in a car wreck. His final words, spoken to coach "Pop" McKale, were: "Tell them.....tell the team to Bear Down." Soon thereafter, the UA student body adopted "Bear Down" as the school's athletic motto.
On October 18, 1929, Arizona opened up Arizona Stadium for college football play. They won their first game against Caltech with a shutout score of 25–0. McKale retired after sixteen seasons at Arizona. The McKale Center, the Wildcats' home basketball venue, was opened in 1973 and named in McKale's honor. In 1931, Arizona joined the Border Conference and Fred Enke replaced McKale as coach and in one season as the head coach, he posted a record of 3–5–1 before getting demoted to assistant coach. Gus Farwick served as the head football coach at Arizona in 1932, compiling a record of 4–5 before his resignation. Tex Oliver coached the Arizona Wildcats to a 32–11–4 record in five seasons. During that stretch, his teams never had a losing season. Oliver's "Blue Brigade" played an expanded, more nationwide schedule, and Arizona produced their first All-Americans under Oliver. The team's 1938 record of 8–2 was a school best to date. Oliver resigned after the 1937 season to accept the head football coach position at Oregon. Orian Landreth replaced Oliver and struggled in his one season as head coach, compiling a 3–6 record before he was fired. That season was the first losing season for the Wildcats in several years.
Mike Casteel came to Arizona from his post as an assistant coach at Michigan State. In his eight seasons (Arizona did not field football teams in 1943 or 1944 due to World War II), Casteel compiled a 46–26–3 record and led the Wildcats to the first bowl berth in three decades in his final season, a loss in the 1949 Salad Bowl to Drake. Bob Winslow served as Arizona's head football coach for three seasons, posting a record of 12–18–1, with the team improving every year under his tutelage, going 2–7–1, 4–6 and 6–5 in Winslow's three years. Winslow resigned after three seasons.
In 1954, under coach Warren Woodson, who came to Arizona from Hardin–Simmons, the Wildcats were led by starting halfback Art Luppino. He went on to lead the nation in rushing, scoring, all-purpose running, and kickoff returns. Luppino became the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in rushing twice. He also tied for the national title in all-purpose running and was third in scoring. Woodson was replaced after five seasons and a 26–22–2 record and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1989. Ed Doherty came to Arizona from his post as an assistant coach for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles. In two seasons, Doherty compiled a record of 4–15–1 before getting fired. Doherty is the only person to serve as head football coach at both Arizona and archrival Arizona State. Jim LaRue, formerly running backs coach at Houston, was hired to take over the program as head coach after Doherty's firing. LaRue's 1961 team finished 8–1–1 and finished the season ranked No. 17 in the final AP Poll.
1960s–1977 (The WAC era) In 1962, Arizona (and rival Arizona State) left the Border Conference and joined the Western Athletic Conference, and LaRue posted records of 5–5, 5–5, 6–3–1, 3–7 and 3–7 before being was fired due to poor results as well as pressure from fans and alumni.
Darrell Mudra came to Arizona from North Dakota State in 1967 to lead the team after LaRue's dismissal. His first team posted a record of 3–6–1 but in his second year, Mudra's Wildcats posted a record of 8–3, capped with a loss to Auburn in the Sun Bowl, only the Wildcats third bowl appearance in school history and first since 1949. Mudra left Arizona after two seasons to accept the head football coach position at Western Illinois. His final record is 11–9–1. Mudra was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2000. In 1969, Bob Weber was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach following Mudra's departure. Under Weber, the Wildcats were 16–26, with their best season being a 5–6 1971 season. Weber failed to post a winning season as Arizona's head coach and was fired after four seasons.
In 1973, Jim Young, formerly defensive coordinator at Michigan, was hired to turn around the downtrodden Wildcats football program. Improvement came immediately, as Young's team surprised the nation with an 8–3 record in his first season and shared the WAC title with Arizona State, Unfortunately, the Wildcats did not go to a bowl game due to losing the head-to-head rivalry game to ASU that season (at the time, only the outright conference winner earned a bowl since there were fewer bowl games available, unless a team from the same conference appears in a major bowl). Young's Wildcats went on to post records of 9–2 in 1974 and 1975, the latter ending with a No. 13 and No. 18 ranking in the Coaches and AP polls, respectively (like in 1973, both seasons ended in no bowl appearances for the Wildcats due to them finishing second in the WAC). In a rebuilding year, Young's team posted a 5–6 record in 1976 to cap Young's mark of 31–13 in four seasons. Young departed Arizona after the 1976 season to accept the head football coach position at Purdue. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1999.
By 1977, Arizona hired Tony Mason from Cincinnati to replace Young. Under Mason, the Wildcats went 5–7, 5–6 and 6–5–1 for a combined record of 16–18–1. The 1977 season was the last for Arizona as a member of the WAC.
1978–1980s (The early Pac-10 years) Before the 1978 season, both Arizona schools accepted an invitation to join the Pacific 8 Conference (which became the Pac-10). After a mediocre inaugural Pac-10 season, the Wildcats would rebound in 1979, and played in the Fiesta Bowl, ultimately losing to Pittsburgh. Mason was let go as head coach after the season due to an alleged slush fund scandal involving him and the program during his tenure.
Prior to the start of the 1980 season, Arizona hired Tulane coach Larry Smith, to replace Mason. His first season was Arizona's third in the Pac-10. Smith put great emphasis on in-state recruiting, built up the rivalry with ASU, and focused the team on what he called "running and hitting". His first team went 5–6, including a 44–7 blowout loss to ASU; it would be his only losing season at Arizona. The highlight of the season was a 23–17 upset of second-ranked UCLA (the Bruins were poised to become No. 1 as top ranked Alabama had lost earlier in the day).Larry Smith: 1939–2008 , Arizonaathletics.com, January 28, 2008. The team improved to 6–5 during his second season, highlighted by a major 13–10 upset of #1 USC on the road. It was Arizona's first victory over a top-ranked team in program history.ARIZONA UPSETS U.S.C., 13–10, Associated Press (The New York Times paid archive, free abstract available), October 11, 1981.
In 1982, the Wildcats improved and finished with a record of 6–4–1, which included upset victories over Notre Dame and rival ASU (with the latter being knocked out of the Rose Bowl as a result). However, Arizona was ineligible for a bowl game due to self-imposing a postseason ban prior to the start of the season as a result of the scandal under Mason's watch. The NCAA would eventually punish the Wildcats by placing them on probation and barred them from bowl eligibility in the 1983–84 seasons.
Despite the NCAA sanctions, Arizona continued to become competitive in the Pac-10 under Smith's leadership, and began to dominate Arizona State, and by 1985, their bowl ban was lifted. They played in the Sun Bowl, where a tie with Georgia gave the Wildcats an 8–3–1 record. In 1986, they defeated ASU yet again and defeated North Carolina in the Aloha Bowl for their very first bowl victory and finished with a 9–3. Seven Arizona players earned All-America honors during his tenure, including two-time consensus All-American linebacker Ricky Hunley and All-Americans linebacker Lamonte Hunley (Ricky's younger brother), Morris Trophy-winning center Joe Tofflemire, safety Allan Durden, placekicker Max Zendejas (who is known for kicking game-winning field goals against Arizona State in 1983 and 1985), linebacker Byron Evans, and safety Chuck Cecil (who is known for returning an interception for a touchdown in the win against ASU in 1986). Over twenty of Smith's Wildcats players went on to play professionally. Smith departed after the season to accept the head football coach position at conference foe USC. Smith ended has Arizona tenure with a 48–28–3 record. He died in 2008 and was voted as the second-best Wildcat football coach only behind his successor, Dick Tomey.