Is Arizona Football going to part ways with head coach Kevin Sumlin?

It’s been a tough couple of seasons in Tucson, and with the Arizona Football team going bowl less again, could Kevin Sumlin be out as head coach?

My what a difference two years makes for the Arizona Football program. After hiring what many (including myself) believed to be a home run hire in Kevin Sumlin, now there’s talks the school could be parting ways.

Already? Yeah, it does seem a little early to be honest, but if you’ve been following via social media the past few days, you may have seen story lines and tweets about Athletic Director Dave Heeke and Arizona potentially looking to part ways with Sumlin.

Arizona Wildcats

That’s certainly a stark contrast from when Sumlin first came in, as the hype was there for him, and many believed he was a solid coach with a dynamic talent in Khalil Tate at quarterback.

Fast forward a few years, and it’s not hard to see that things have been less than stellar since his arrival.

A program that had just one season in which the team didn’t win seven games or more under previous head coach Rich Rodriguez, Arizona will now have back-to-back losing years when the season closes against rival Arizona State on Saturday.

Unfortunately, this team has also regressed from last year to this year, winning just five games in 2018, and after this weekend, they could finish the year with just four wins.

In addition to that, things don’t look good to an outsiders perspective. Attendance is certainly down and the recruiting has struggled mightily with the current class ranking just 73rd in the country. In addition to that, a few assistants have already been let go, and you’ve also had assistants get into skirmishes on the sidelines. That’s not good!

So the questions is, will Heeke and Arizona part ways? Well, it’s really hard to say at this point, since letting Sumlin go wouldn’t be cheap.

According to his contract, if Arizona were to terminate him now, the school would owe him $5 million now and $5 million in three years. That’s quite a lot of money for a school like Arizona.

Let’s also not forget the bad look this would have if Arizona were to part ways after just two seasons.

But we must also be honest too, just because there is some uncertainty regarding Sumlin’s future, it’s also not guaranteed the Wildcats will indeed part ways, as there is belief he has a plan in place to not only hire a defensive coordinator to replace Marcel Yates, but to also get things turned around quickly.

Either way, it should be an interesting few weeks to see how this all develops. Just tough being an Arizona Football fan right now.

At Zona Zealots, we’re just hoping for significant improvements regardless of who is coach. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!