Arizona fires football coach Kevin Sumlin after 70-7 loss in Territorial Cup

The University of Arizona has fired football coach Kevin Sumlin after two-plus seasons, the school announced Saturday.

Sumlin, 56, posted a 9-20 record as Wildcats coach after arriving in January 2018. His winning percentage of .310 is the second worst for any UA coach who has presided over at least 20 games.

Sumlin inherited a team that went 7-6 in 2017 under Rich Rodriguez. Since then, Arizona has gone 5-7, 4-8 and 0-5 – with the latest loss the worst of all: a 70-7 defeat against rival Arizona State on Friday night. It was the most lopsided setback by the Wildcats in the 94-year history of the Territorial Cup game.

Arizona has lost 12 consecutive games overall, a school record. The Wildcats' last victory came on Oct. 5, 2019, at Colorado. They were 4-1 at that time.

“When we hired Kevin three years ago, we had very high hopes for our football program," UA athletic director Dave Heeke said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we simply have not seen the results and upward trajectory in our program that we needed to, and I believe now is the time for a change in leadership. I thank Kevin for his service to the University of Arizona and wish him the very best in the future.

"Our attention now turns to finding the next head coach at the University of Arizona, while we continue to support our student-athletes, who have sacrificed so much since returning to campus this summer. We will cast a wide net to identify and recruit a coach who shares our vision, our values and our passion for winning.”

First-year defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads, formerly the head coach at Iowa State, will serve as the interim coach. Arizona is supposed to be part of the Pac-12’s Dec. 18-19 schedule, but the status of that game has yet to be determined. The Wildcats were in danger of falling below the threshold of 53 available scholarship players before several players got hurt vs. the Sun Devils.

Sumlin was in the third year of a five-year contract that runs through Jan. 15, 2023. He is owed a buyout of more than $7 million. Half of that amount is due within 30 days of termination. The other half must be paid by the original end date of the deal.

The university said it will "honor the terms of Sumlin’s existing contract, including all buyout provisions, with funding from athletics-generated revenue and sources."

We’ll have more on this developing story later today.