Texas A&M fired Kevin Sumlin at the end of the 2017 season. His 11-2 debut in 2011 gave way to five seasons in a row with four or five losses, and it was clear by the end that Sumlin would go. It seemed for a time like he wouldn’t coach in 2018, but when Arizona fired Rich Rodriguez in January, Sumlin emerged as a candidate and got the head coaching job.
Kevin Sumlin’s at Arizona now, after collecting a huge buyout from Texas A&M
If you’re just catching up, Sumlin found a job late in the coaching carousel after A&M fired him.
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Sumlin negotiated a great buyout (for him) from Texas A&M, which allowed him to be extra selective about the job he took.
Sumlin’s buyout in College Station was $10.4 million. Unlike most coaching contracts, his didn’t have an offset clause to lower the amount by whatever he earned in another job. And in turn, it didn’t have a clause requiring him to make “reasonable efforts” to find other work. The deal called for Sumlin to get the whole payout within 60 days. This was around the time A&M committed $75 million to his replacement, Jimbo Fisher.
So, Sumlin could take his time and wait for the right thing to open up. At various points, rumors connected him to Florida State and Arizona State. He was a candidate at UCF, but he took himself out of consideration for that job, seeing himself as a better fit elsewhere.
The money A&M paid Sumlin might have helped get the deal done in Tucson. Sumlin’s contract with the Wildcats is for five years and a relatively small $14.5 million.
Reaction to the hire at Arizona has been positive.
Sumlin immediately brings credibility to the program and it’s not crazy to think that Arizona can compete for the Pac-12 South in 2018. And going forward, whether Sumlin is here for two years or stays to truly build the program, the expectations have been raised.
The excitement around Sumlin makes it a lot easier to want to go to Arizona Stadium for a game. Getting a guy like Sumlin, whether he was second to Ken Nuimatalolo, shows Heeke’s commitment to the football program — a program that is now trending in the right direction. It took a while, but Sumlin is Arizona’s coach. He is who everyone was asking for, and now it’s time to get engaged.
Arizona is a new region for Sumlin, but he’s got a lot going for him there.
He starts out with Khalil Tate, an electric QB who ran wild in Rodriguez’s spread offense in 2017. Tate has two years of eligibility left and could be a massive college star, calling to mind the beautiful music Sumlin and Johnny Manziel made at A&M in 2011. Tate apparently played some kind of role in the search that ended with Sumlin’s hiring.
The first few months of Sumlin’s recruiting for UA left something to be desired. He doesn’t have coaching experience this far west, unless you count a graduate-assistant stint at Washington State from 1989-90, which you shouldn’t. But he signed a couple of great classes at A&M and should have the chops to land real talent at Arizona in the long run.
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