Ready for the challenge

The challenges that awaited Tom Minnick were clear from the day he stepped foot on the campus of Arizona Western College three months ago.

The Matador football team was on the decline after three straight losing seasons. The program was eager to become a contender in the Western States Football League. The school was trying to move out of the shadow cast by a sexual harassment scandal involving some of its former coaches.

But Minnick also knew he had a personal history of winning on his side, a speedy and talented roster already in place and help coming with him from Joliet (Ill.) Junior College to solve the problems he was brought in to fix.

Game One of the Minnick era at AWC kicks off at 7 p.m. tonight in Veterans Memorial Stadium against American Sports University, but the principles of teamwork and discipline that may define the coming years have already been put in motion.

"I think at any junior college program you have to start off well and win right off the bat to get the kids' confidence," Minnick said. "It was important to our guys to get the win in the scrimmage last week. They were down at halftime and had to come back, and that's good for the morale our our team."

Winning was something Minnick felt very confident about the day he was introduced as AWC's new football coach, predicting a seven or eight win season this year. Injuries and depth issues at key positions have made him back off that statement a bit. Among those banged up and out for tonight's opener are preseason All-American corner Marcus Benjamin and defensive end D.J. Hampton.

"Our first-string kids are pretty dang good, I truly believe that," he said. "But if we want to win seven or eight games we'll have to be lucky enough to not have anybody get hurt."

As players have taken a hit in the past month, so has AWC's toughness on the field. Minnick said his team's tackling abilities in scrimmages bothered him and have become a focal point at practice.

"It's different football out here in the west as far as being physical," said Minnick, who hails from the Midwest. "The speed of the kids out here is great, but what I've seen as of right now is my team's in the past were more physical and better at wrapping up tackles."

Depth is not a problem - at least on the roster - at the quarterback position. Minnick had not named a starter as of Thursday morning to run his spread offense that has produced a 17-6 record and a pair of bowl games. He is still deciding between freshman Brandon Gorusch and Bryan Mann, a sophomore transfer who committed to Minnick while at Joliet and decided to follow him to Yuma.

"I may not decide until just before the game starts," he said. "As long as they take care of the ball, that's who we'll go with."

While AWC begins the Minnick era tonight, American Sports University is in its inaugural season as a team. Located in San Bernardino, Calif., ASU is coached by Don Markhum and runs a double wing offense. Fellow WSFL partners Glendale Community College beat American Sports 34-0 in California last Saturday.

"We just got the film on them [Wednesday] and they bring kids left and right blitzing, so our offense will be tested right off the bat to hit the right receiver," Minnick said. "It's important that we start turning things around and get headed in the right direction quickly."

Arizona Western will host a pre-game tailgate party with SportsRadio 560 at the stadium at 5:30 p.m. to serve free hot dogs, cookies, chips, soda and water from Wal-Mart and Pepsi-Cola of Yuma until 6:15 p.m. All children 12 and under can attend the game for free when accompanied by an adult. The game can also be seen on AWC TV on Time-Warner Cable channel 74 or heard at 560 AM KBLU and online at www.azwestern.edu/athletics.