Rebuilding has been hard work for Stoops Bros.

There's still Iowa Hawkeye blood in the Stoops brothers' veins.

Mark Stoops, the youngest of three brothers who played defensive back for Hayden Fry at Iowa before breaking into coaching as a graduate assistant or volunteer coach for Fry, relishes his college days.

“I really loved my experience at Iowa,” Mark Stoops said by phone this week. “It's a fantastic place, a great school. I had an awfully good experience with such quality coaches and such a strong program.”

Bob, Mike and Mark Stoops are in their 40s, half a lifetime from Iowa and with long resumes.

Bob's the 11th-year head coach at Oklahoma. Mike is in his sixth season as Arizona's head coach. Mark has been Mike's defensive coordinator for those six years after stops at an Ohio high school, South Florida, Wyoming, Houston and Miami.

Mike and Mark take their Wildcats to Kinnick Stadium Saturday to play the Hawkeyes. What they have tried to do in Tucson is what Fry, and then Kirk Ferentz, have accomplished in Iowa City.

“It's building it and building it,” Mark said. “It takes a lot of work. We've had to grind our way just to be even. Then you recruit better and start winning.”

The year before Mike and Mark headed for Arizona, Mike was the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma for Bob, and Mark was the secondary coach at Miami.

“For five straight years,” Mark said, “I was either coaching in a national championship game or I was on the sideline watching Mike coach in one.”

Then the brothers learned what it's like to take over a program that was in decay. Arizona had four straight losing seasons and just finished a 2-10 year when the Stoops brothers arrived.

Compared to where they had just come from, “it was night and day,” Mark said. “We took over absolutely one of the worst programs in college football at that time.”

The climb to respectability has been slow. Arizona's records under Mike are 3-8, 3-8, 6-6, 5-7, 8-5, and now 2-0.

Last season had a happy ending, a Las Vegas Bowl win over BYU. Now the objective is to sustain the winning and add to it.

“I don't know of any magic formula,” Mark said. “It's keeping your nose down and grinding it out, trying to be consistent in your approach.”

This week is a chance for Mike and Mark to see how their players will fare on the road in tough, unfamiliar surroundings.

Unfamiliar to Arizona's players, anyhow.

When Mark was a high school football player in Youngstown, he would get in the car with his family after Friday night games and ride all night and into the morning for 600 miles to attend his brothers' college games in Iowa City.

“By the time I came around (as a recruit),” he said, “I was so familiar with the program and the coaches that it would have been very difficult not to come to Iowa.”

Now, Mark and Mike will try to get a big win at Iowa's expense.

“It will be a great experience,” Mark said, “and a great challenge.”