The summer months leaves a lot of time to think, and that leads to questions. You’ve got them, and we want to try to answer them.
The AZ Desert Swarm Spam Folder has been cracked open, and below are responses to some of the queries we’ve received in the past week or so:
What Arizona sport do you think will be the next to win a national title?
Triathlon gave Arizona its 23rd national title by winning the USA Triathlon National Championship in November. As a result, the entire squad and coach Wes Johnson will be inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame this fall.
That was the UA’s first national championship since women’s golf in 2018, the first by a sport that hadn’t won it all before since men’s and women’s swimming swept the NCAA titles in 2008. Eight sports that the school currently offers (RIP, synchronized swimming) have won it all, leaving plenty that are still seeking that first natty.
The big ones without an NCAA title are football and women’s basketball, though the latter made the championship game in 2021. Neither of those programs are in position to contend for one anytime soon, so the next title for Wildcat Nation will almost certainly come from an Olympic sport.
Our best guess? Men’s tennis.
Clancy Shields has established the UA as one of the top programs in the country, reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament the last three seasons while winning the Pac-12 Tournament in 2024 and Big 12 Tournament in 2025.
The Wildcats have to replace all-time great Colton Smith but have plenty coming back, and Shields has made Tucson a desirable place for recruits and transfers.
What’s the outlook for women’s soccer in the Big 12, and how does Arizona fit into that?
TCU edged out Texas Tech and West Virginia in the Big 12 last season, going 9-0-2 in league play. Both TTU and WVU won eight conference matches in 2024. There’s every reason to believe those three teams will battle it out again this year.
The Horned Frogs return two of their three top goal scorers, both of whom scored double-digit goals in 2024. Sixteen of the Mountaineers’ 28 players have at least three years of college under their belts, including their top two goal scorers from last season. TTU had seven players contribute 12 or more points last year. The top six return this year.
Arizona brought in a very talented group of freshmen, has several strong sophomores returning, and got two SEC transfers who should contribute immediately. The Wildcats must replace a lot in the midfield, though. They lost the creativity and speed of Nyota Katembo, as well as the grit and toughness of Megan Chelf. The team also lost its top two goal scorers from last year in Nicole Dallin and Gianna Christiansen. In all, 21 of its 32 goals were scored by players who exhausted their eligibility after last season.
Arizona should finish in that second group of three or four teams behind TCU, TTU, and WVU, but it must avoid the letdowns like last season’s losses to Utah, Kansas, and especially Houston. It also needs to pull off the occasional unexpected result, such as the draw against WVU in 2024.
Can Arizona four-peat in the Territorial Cup series?
While football wasn’t able to hold onto the official Territorial Cup, the unofficial one given to the school that does best in head-to-head competition across all common sports has belonged to Arizona for three straight years.
In 2024-25 the Wildcats won 14-8, the largest margin in the competition since 2011-12.
A point is awarded for each sport, with that based on either regular season and conference tournament games or placement at national championships. It is possible to split the point.
ASU, which has only won the series once in the past six seasons, has the advantage in football, volleyball and both men’s and women’s swimming. Arizona should be favored in gymnastics, men’s and women’s basketball and both men’s and women’s tennis. Everything else should be a toss-up.
Our prediction: Arizona makes it four in a row, winning 13-9.
What’s the latest on renovations to Arizona Stadium?
Bit by bit, Arizona Stadium has undergone a makeover in an attempt to modernize a facility that will turn 100 years old in 2029. The most noticeable changes have been on the north side of the stadium, particularly the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility that opened in 2013.
Since then, though, the changes have been very minor. New turf was installed in 2022, while this fall you’ll see some on-field cabanas in the south end zone.
But what about the west side of Arizona Stadium? What happened to the grand plans to tear a lot of that down and erect something bigger and bolder?
COVID put a pause on that project, and the financial issues that came from the pandemic contributed to the athletic department getting way into the red. By the time Dave Heeke was fired and Desiree Reed-Francois was hired as athletic director in Jan. 2024, Arizona’s athletic budget deficit was $39 million.
Per Reed-Francois, that deficit is down to $5 million with the plan to be balanced by next summer.
While that’s great news, it also coincides with the major change in college athletics that sees schools able to share up to $20.5 million of revenue with student-athletes. Arizona is planning to dole out the max, which would lessen the ability for it to use funds from TV contracts to help pay for any football stadium projects.
That will have to come from fundraising, which Reed-Francois said raised $5.9 million more in 2024-25 than the previous year. It will take a lot more than that to do anything considerable to Arizona Stadium, but a sign that could happen sooner than later will be whenever the UA gets around to announcing a naming rights deal.