Greg Hansen: Former UA president, AD risked reputations, carried out `compassionate subterfuge` to help Dick Tomey
(WorldNews Sport)

For 19 years, former UA president Peter Likins and athletic director Jim Livengood have taken the heat for firing football coach Dick Tomey, a man whose stature and respect in Tucson have reached near-legendary levels as the Wildcats have become the Pac-12´s most unsuccessful football program, the first to lose 100 conference games since Tomey´s departure. But as it turns out, Likins says he not only tried to talk Tomey out of resigning, but risked his presidency and legacy by arranging for Tomey to get a $600,000 buyout - a transaction the former UA president now refers to as `compassionate subterfuge.` When the UA dedicated its football practice fields in Tomey´s honor earlier this month,...