Arizona will be inducting seven people into the UA Hall of Fame during Saturday’ night’s football game, but plenty of previous Hall of Fame members will also be on hand for the home opener against San Diego State.
That includes Steve Kerr, who will serve as Arizona’s honorary captain.
Add Arizona Football Honorary Captain to the list. @SteveKerr will be the first honorary captain of the @CoachJeddFisch era when the Cats take on San Diego State this Saturday at 7:00 PM MST! Be sure to be there! #ItsPersonal #BearDown pic.twitter.com/9vdjxJ3Vic
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 7, 2021
Kerr, a 1993 Hall of Fame inductee, played basketball for the Wildcats from 1984-88. He followed that up with a successful professional career, winning five NBA titles as a player before turning to coaching, where he’s won three titles with the Golden State Warriors.
UA coach Jedd Fisch said at Pac-12 Football Media Day in July that what Kerr has done with the Warriors has inspired him.
“One of the four values of the Golden State Warriors is joy,” Fisch said. “And I’ve done a lot of research in my past and I always felt like if I ever have a chance to build my own program, joy was gonna surround it.”
Bringing Kerr to Tucson for the SDSU game is the latest in a series of measures Fisch has done in an effort to pack Arizona Stadium for the home opener. Fisch made another sales pitch during his Monday press conference, noting how the crowd during Sunday’s Notre Dame/Florida State game in Tallahassee helped FSU rally to force overtime.
“I’m very optimistic about what’s it going to look like on Saturday night, and very hopeful that we are sold out,” Fisch said. “I think that is a huge part of college football. I believe that you saw the fan base come out (in) full force on Saturday night. You could hear the Arizona crowd when we got that safety, that return, that touchdown, that 2-point play. And you could feel that shift (in) momentum. Now it’s up to us to take that thing on Saturday night, and make it absolutely an intimidating environment. An incredible environment, and we need to match the intensity of some of the other stadiums and programs across the country when it comes to a homefield advantage.”
Kerr’s visit this weekend coincides with the Lute Olson tribute event set for Sunday morning at McKale Center.