LOS ANGELES — Khalil Tate already was set to be one of the main attractions at Wednesday’s Pac-12 Media Day.
Now the Arizona Wildcats quarterback really has something to talk about.
A report published Tuesday morning said the UA’s Heisman Trophy hopeful had some influence — maybe even significant influence — on the coaching search that led Arizona to hire Kevin Sumlin.
Around the time Ken Niumatalolo’s name was gaining traction as Arizona’s leading candidate — the Star reported that the UA offered him the job — Tate tweeted the following: “I didn’t come to Arizona to run the tripple (sic) option.”
Niumatalolo coaches at Navy, where the option is the primary offense.
Tate and UA President Robert C. Robbins acknowledged to Bleacher Report on Tuesday that the quarterback’s tweet resonated with the administration, which pivoted to Sumlin. He was hired two days later.
“I knew exactly what I was doing when I tweeted that out,” Tate told Bleacher Report. “I had to make sure I was heard, make sure the team was heard, because my teammates didn’t want to run the triple option, either.”
The quarterback deleted the tweet the same day and told Bleacher Report he did so to add emphasis.
Arizona hired Kevin Sumlin, middle, two days after Tate tweeted that he didn’t want to run the triple-option offense.
Tate was interviewed at Steve Clarkson’s quarterback camp in Pacific Palisades, California. A request made by the Star to interview Tate earlier in the offseason was declined. Players were not made available during spring practice until after the spring game, when Tate spoke briefly along with teammates at a news conference.
Tate sent the tweet Jan. 12, the same day the Star reported that Arizona had offered Niumatalolo the job. Arizona hired Sumlin on Jan. 14.
The author of the Bleacher Report story, Matt Hayes, theorized that the sequence of events from January 2018 could change the way universities go about hiring coaches.
Wrote Hayes: “Years from now we may look back at that moment in January when Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate tweeted out those 10 words that essentially torpedoed Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo’s candidacy as the Wildcats’ new coach — and eventually led to Kevin Sumlin’s hire — as the beginning of innovative change in the way college sports operate.
“The superstar player takes a stand, a willing university proactively responds. Tate’s explanation of those indispensable minutes that started it all is as revealing as it is refreshing.”
Tate further explained that he wanted to show Robbins and UA athletic director Dave Heeke that he and his teammates cared deeply about the identity of their new coach. Tate said he speaks to them regularly, considers them “friends” and was “grateful to be part of the process.”
Other players, including linebacker Tony Fields II, voiced their opinions during the coaching search via social media.
“I think Ken Niumatalolo is a great coach. It’s nothing against him,” Tate said. “But I think it was important to say what I had to say and let everyone know that we’re not just going to be quiet and let things happen. We’re going to be heard.”
Robbins acknowledged seeing Tate’s tweet and thinking, “Wow, man, the power of social media.” Robbins recently told the Star that while he had input in the decision to hire Sumlin, Heeke had the final say.
Sumlin, Tate and linebacker Colin Schooler are scheduled to speak to reporters at 2:30 p.m. at media day.
