UCLA defensive back Obi Eboh sacks Arizona quarterback Will Plummer during the first half of the Wildcats’ 10th straight loss on Saturday night.

 Keith Birmingham / the associated press

Before leaving the turf after Arizona’s 10th straight loss on Saturday, Kevin Sumlin and his defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads trotted to mid-field and exchanged bro-hugs with UCLA coach Chip Kelly. They chatted for 30 or 40 seconds, amiably it appeared, and then walked without incident into the loser’s locker room.

Nice guys.

After six years of being repulsed by Rich Rodriguez’s angry sideline demeanor — after 7½ seasons of TV cameramen capturing Mike Stoops’ fuse-blowing behavior during a frustrating attempt to make UA football relevant — the UA needed a new act.

Sumlin is different, don’t you think? He’s measured and reserved. He has yet to be pictured demeaning a player for missing a block or blowing his stack after a referee blew a call.

But after you lose 10 straight games, the Nice Guy act loses its appeal.

Earlier in the weekend, I watched as Oregon coach Mario Cristobal met Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith at midfield moments after the Beavers crushed Oregon’s college football playoff chances.

Cristobal was clearly agitated; he gave Smith a Bill Belichick blow-by knuckles-tap, without looking at the Beaver coach. Cristobal’s message was clear: I don’t like losing.

And about an hour before Arizona lost at UCLA on Saturday, TV cameras captured Utah coach Kyle Whittingham spending about 0.4 seconds to tap knuckles with Washington coach Jimmy Lake and then turn away as if someone had told him his hair was on fire.

Whittingham always has the look of a coach with a never-ending hunger. Perhaps that’s why the Utes soared past Arizona and ASU as a Pac-12 South contender the last five years.

The body language of Sumlin and Rhoads as they left the Rose Bowl on Saturday was “no hard feelings, guys.”

Well, there should be hard feelings, especially after a record losing streak.

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Even Dick Tomey, the epitome of a gentleman, became testy and obtuse after a season-turning loss. Tomey coached with passion. One of his most-used lines was “I hate to lose.”

The Wildcats of 2020 have shown neither passion nor an I’m-mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-this-any-more attitude.

Instead, they are giving bro-hugs and congratulations to the coach who just beat them. I’d recommend the I’m-mad-as-hell approach before it’s too late.

Some of it exhibits how the culture of college football has evolved.

After being part of the Arkansas staff that was fired in 2018, Rhoads, for example, was rescued from unemployment by Kelly and made UCLA’s defensive backs coach.

Kelly gave Rhoads $500,000 a year to coach the Bruins’ secondary. That came three years after Iowa State fired Rhoads as the Cyclones’ head coach, paying him $4.6 million separation pay, the final portion of a $21 million contract it had given Rhoads a few years earlier.

About this time last year, Rhoads then got a call from Sumlin, who offered him a raise to leave UCLA.

The Wildcats are paying Rhoads $750,000 to be Arizona’s defensive coordinator, with a raise to $800,000 next year. No UA assistant football coach has ever been paid as much. And it’s all guaranteed, no matter how good/bad the Wildcat defense plays.

It helps to ease the sting of losing, doesn’t it?

This isn’t to suggest that Rhoads doesn’t have a hunger to succeed, it’s just that after you lose 10 straight games — the fourth longest losing streak in college football — it’s not a good look to make nice with the opposing coach after another bitter loss.

For his part, Rhoads doesn’t have much to work with. On Saturday night, it was easy to do a double-take when you saw the unfamiliar names across the backs of the jerseys of those now playing defense for Arizona: Isiah Mays. Dion Wilson. Paris Shand. Issaiah Johnson.

Three weeks ago, they were all third-stringers on the UA depth chart.

Rhoads has one of the most difficult coaching jobs in college football. But at some point it’s not on the players.

At some point the coaches have to exhibit that they haven’t been numbed by the oh-no-here-we-go-again slide and show some emotion.

After three games, Arizona’s defense has not forced a turnover. It has one quarterback sack. Those numbers are not acceptable, even at Arizona.

Nor was it acceptable when Sumlin didn’t react to what appeared to be a second-quarter officiating gaffe, when another newcomer on Arizona’s defense, Jaxen Turner, appeared to steal the ball from UCLA’s Brittain Brown on a run near Arizona’s goal line.

Instead of marching onto the field, loudly calling timeout and demanding a TV review, Sumlin did nothing. The Bruins scored to take a 10-7 lead. It changed the game.

The man who did react quickly was Chip Kelly, who ordered Bruins quarterback Chase Griffin to snap the ball ASAP, before anyone could order a replay and negate what then became a Bruin touchdown.

No wonder Kelly was so welcoming after the game, chatting with Sumlin and Rhoads at midfield. The emotionless Wildcats had been on their best behavior.

What was it that Dodgers manager Leo Durocher said a long time ago? Oh, yeah: “Nice guys finish last.”

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Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at 520-573-4362 or ghansen@tucson.com.

On Twitter: @ghansen711