Arizona Football: Hold your horses, Kevin Sumlin is NOT on the hot seat!

Making headlines prior to the 2019 season, is Arizona Football head coach Kevin Sumlin on the hot seat? We bring clarity to a rather silly question!

Things are getting a little crazy! Maybe it’s the anticipated start to the 2019 Arizona Football season, but unfortunately making headlines in the media is the “future” of head coach Kevin Sumlin in Tucson.

Making a list of the 130 Division one coaches, CBS Sports writer Dennis Dodd ranked the coaches in order of their job security. On the list of coaches is Sumlin, with Dodd suggesting that Sumlin is already facing some increased pressure.

Arizona Wildcats

Already? Just one year in? Perhaps, since the Wildcats were well-hyped heading into the 2018 season, before the Cats ultimately fell flat in a 5-7 season. Also, it’s worth noting that things don’t get any easier either, with the 2019 schedule arguably being more difficult than last year.

But is it fair to have Sumlin on that list? Well in short, no, but winning reigns supreme, and in the world of college football, results matter, even for a school like Arizona.

A one-time ‘hot name’ in the coaching circuit, you could feasibly argue that Sumlin’s stock has never been lower at any point in his career than it is right now!

But more importantly, the question that we should be asking is, is Arizona truly in a position to fire Sumlin?

Well, that’s a little complicated to answer, because you can never know when time is up for a coach, but in short, no, I don’t think he is, and that’s irrelevant to his results as head coach so far.

Let’s look at facts beyond his record shall we?

• Fact One: Sumlin’s contract is for five years, with a base of $14.5 million (incentives not included)
• Fact Two: Arizona would have to pay Sumlin $10 million if he is fired without cause in the first two years of his deal. Those buyout figures drop to $7.5 million in 2020 and $5 million in 2021
• Fact Three: His first two years, he will earn $2 million each season, before that base salary is bumped up to $3.5 million in years three through five
• Fact Four: For the 2017-18 school year, although Arizona’s overall revenue was up to $95.8 million, their total expenses actually cost $103.3 million… that’s quite a deficit!
• Fact Five: Arizona had to pay a $6.2 million to Rich Rodriguez after terminating his contract in 2017
• Fact Six: Arizona will have to continue to pay for the facilities that were just built and for the facility improvements that will continue to be built

Given the current financial situation, it doesn’t seem likely or prudent that Arizona could afford to part ways with Sumlin right now.

So essentially, no, financially speaking Arizona is not in a position to be able to put Sumlin on the “hot seat”. But a more pointed answer would also be no, because it’s literally been one season, going on two. Hell, we gave John ‘Freaking’ Mackovic more time to “prove himself”, and the guy was a complete dumpster fire of a coach.

At the end of the day, Sumlin is not going anywhere yet, and you’d be better off cheering he works out as head coach and support the program rather than assume the worst!

At Zona Zealots, we are hoping for a good, drama-less football season, and one in which the Wildcats perform well! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!