After plenty of uncertainty and lots of speculation, the Arizona Football team has its new head coach, former Texas A&M head coach, Kevin Sumlin!
It’s been a wild and weird few weeks for Arizona Football. After an untimely and unceremonious parting with former head coach, Rich Rodriguez, the Wildcats have been in hot pursuit of their next coach.
The coaching search has certainly been a whirlwind of rumors, from names like Les Miles, Ken Niumatalolo, Beau Baldwin, Marcel Yates and even Rick Neuheisel among others, it was hard to keep straight who the serious candidates were.
It appears the Wildcats have chosen Kevin Sumlin, the former head coach at Texas A&M. News broke of his hiring Sunday afternoon after Gil Brandt had reported it, and those rumors circulated and were later confirmed.
Hearing its official. Kevin Sumlin to Arizona. YESSIR!
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) January 14, 2018
Breaking: Arizona has reached an agreement to hire Kevin Sumlin as coach, as first reported by SiriusXM and confirmed by ESPN. pic.twitter.com/xOOLIBNL9Z
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 14, 2018
Sumlin served as the lead man at A&M from 2012-17, compiling a 51-26 record, most notably going 11-2 in just his first season in College Station! In his 10 seasons of coaching, he’s missed the postseason just once.
The news of Sumlin’s hiring comes as bit of a shock, considering Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo was considered a legitimate candidate and was mulling an offer from Arizona just a few days ago.
Reports initially came out that Niumatalolo could take the offer as early as yesterday, (Saturday morning). However, 24 hours later, it was official that Niumatalolo had withdrawn his name from consideration.
SOURCE: Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo had withdrawn his name from consideration for the Arizona job. He will remain with the Mids for an 11th season. https://t.co/Uclu5KVbPj
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) January 14, 2018
One thing about the head coaching search, is that it feels good to finally be over! While Sumlin was the fan favorite early on, he wasn’t necessarily the schools’ number one choice.
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At 53, he’s still a relatively young head coach with a solid coaching pedigree and ability to recruit at a high level. Some things desperately needed here in Tucson!
Also interestingly enough, he becomes the first black coach for the Arizona Football team in school history.
Sumlin enters a unique situation, inheriting a pretty talented roster with Khalil Tate perhaps being the focal piece. Sumlin recruited Tate, so the two know each otehr and Sumlin respected Tate’s game as a quarterback as a recruit. Important to not, Sumlin coached the 2012 Heisman winner, Johnny “Football” Manziel at A&M. Also worth noting, Sumin coached a prolific passer in Case Keenum while head coach at Houston too!
Moving forward, it will be interesting to see what kind of staff he puts together. According to Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman, Marcel Yates will be retained as the teams’ Defensive Coordinator, and Noel Mazzone will be the Offensive Coordinator.
SOURCE: New #Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin will retain DC Marcel Yates (they worked together at A&M) as Cats defensive coordinator. Noel Mazzone is expected to be the new OC. RBs coach Clarence McKinney also is expected to join staff.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 14, 2018
This is huge! Yates was an important piece to the current team, and he has a great relationship with the players. So much, that many were vying for him to become the next head coach.
Getting some former Arizona guys back in the fold could be a potential possibility too, something the previous staff didn’t seem to want to do until Chuck Cecil this past season!
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At Zona Zealots, we’re hopeful for the hire and think this could be a good fit for Arizona. Sumlin could really help the Wildcats potentially get to that next level! Welcome to the Wildcat family, Coach, and Bear Down, Arizona!