On Sept. 11, 1993, the Pacific Tigers came to Tucson to face the Arizona Wildcats. Paul Rhoads was in his second year as Pacific’s secondary coach — his first full-time job as a college assistant.
The game was delayed by lightning, Rhoads recalled Friday. A discussion ensued during the storm.
“They came in and asked us during the delay if we wanted to take the check and go home,” Rhoads said. “They were a very physical team, and we got ourselves beat in pretty good.
“One of the veteran coaches says, ‘Heck yeah, take that check, let’s go.’ I was young and naive. I said, ‘Heck no. We’re staying and fighting. We’re playing this game.’”
The Tigers — a struggling Big West program that dropped football two years later — stayed and fought. They lost 16-13 to a UA team that would finish 10-2 and ranked 10th in the country under Dick Tomey.
Although his exposure to Arizona was brief, Rhoads saw what the program was capable of when the Wildcats were rolling. He experienced UA football at its peak.
“I knew this was a place someday that I’d like to have the opportunity to coach,” Rhoads said.
That chance arrived this week. Rhoads was named Arizona’s defensive coordinator Friday.
Since those early days in Stockton, California, Rhoads served as the defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh for eight seasons and as the head coach at Iowa State for seven. He spent the past two years as the defensive backs coach at UCLA.
UA coach Kevin Sumlin said Rhoads is “not just a coach but a man that has tremendous integrity, has a lot of experience, has been around this game. I’ve competed against him at different places. The biggest thing that he brings to the table is a tenacity — a defense that’s going to play hard, that’s going to be aligned correctly and is fundamentally sound.”
Teacher first
Rhoads, who spent seven seasons in charge of the Iowa State Cyclones, says many years ago he knew the UA “was a place someday that I’d like to have the opportunity to coach.”
Sumlin introduced Rhoads at a news conference Friday afternoon at the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility. After telling the tale of his trip to Tucson 26 years ago, Rhoads revealed his plan for the Arizona defense, which has struggled for a long time.
“The first thing you gotta do is, you gotta tackle great,” Rhoads, 52, said. “And I think tackling is taught. I think not only do you teach it, but your rep it and you rep it in the proper ways.
“Player safety is a high concern to me. So we’re going to teach our kids how to take care of themselves, how to protect themselves, but how to get offensive players on the ground. I don’t think, overall, it’s taught like it was in the past, and that will be priority No. 1.
“We’re going to play hard. We’re going to fly around the field, and we’re going to play with a fanatical effort that Arizona fans will be proud of. We’re going to get lined up properly. We’re going to be fundamentally and technically sound.”
Rhoads did not disclose any specifics about schemes, coverages or fronts. He said those things would be “secondary” to tackling, effort and fundamentals.
Rhoads conceded that he doesn’t know much about Arizona’s defensive personnel, having focused on the other side of the ball while helping prepare the Bruins to face the Wildcats the past two seasons.
Rhoads said he would get to know the veteran players “one guy at a time.” Students have vacated the campus for winter break. The spring semester is set to begin Jan. 15.
A native of Ankeny, Iowa, Rhoads played defensive back for Missouri Western State. He primarily has coached that position but said “there’s a good chance” he’ll lead the linebackers at Arizona because they’re “most connected” to all aspects of the defense.
That decision has not been finalized, as Arizona still has two openings on its defensive staff. Asked how much authority he would have to make those hires, Rhoads said he would be meeting with Sumlin to discuss that dynamic later Friday afternoon. The only other defensive assistant currently on staff is cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin.
Sumlin fired three defensive assistants during the season, including fourth-year coordinator Marcel Yates. Sumlin dismissed Yates on Oct. 27, the day after a 41-31 loss at Stanford — the third straight game in which Arizona allowed 41 or more points.
Yates was one of two assistants Sumlin elected to retain after becoming the head coach in January 2018. The two previously had worked together at Texas A&M.
Arizona never ranked higher than ninth in the Pac-12 in points allowed or total defense during Yates’ tenure. The Wildcats ranked last in the league in both categories entering bowl season.
Chuck Cecil served as fill-in coordinator over the final four games. After an awful performance against Oregon State, the defense showed signs of progress over the final three games, especially in a 24-14 loss at Arizona State. But Cecil did not receive serious consideration for the full-time job.
“Confidence through knowledge”
Paul Rhoads has had stops at Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Auburn, Arkansas and UCLA before coming to Arizona. The new defensive coordinator’s philosophy at Arizona: “We’re going to play hard. We’re going to fly around the field, and we’re going to play with a fanatical effort that Arizona fans will be proud of.”
Although he was able to get a jump on the process by parting ways with Yates in late October, it took Sumlin almost two months to hire a successor. The early signing period for recruiting ended Friday. Arizona did not have a defensive coordinator in place while trying to lock down future Wildcats.
“It would have been a plus,” Sumlin said. “The situation is what it was. We knew what it was the last couple, three weeks of the season. So those conversations were ongoing for really the last month.”
Asked what he said to defensive recruits about the coordinator opening, Sumlin said: “Just that we had the right guy coming in here. I couldn’t really say (who it was). We knew what we were looking for schematically. Just trust the process, trust us and trust me.”
Rhoads served as an assistant coach at Iowa State from 1995-99 before becoming the defensive coordinator at Pitt from 2000-07. Two years later, he became the head coach at Iowa State. He posted a record of 32-55, leading the Cyclones to three bowl appearances over seven seasons.
Rhoads was fired in November 2015. He spent the next two seasons at Arkansas and the past two at UCLA. He said he wasn’t “actively looking” for a coordinator job but had “a personal itch to coordinate again that needed scratching. When the opportunities started to present themselves, this is one I was immediately very excited about.”
UCLA struggled defensively the past two seasons. The Bruins ranked last in the Pac-12 and 129th nationally in pass defense (310.8 ypg) entering bowl season.
Rhoads was one of UCLA’s main recruiters in Arizona, and the Bruins signed four players from the state this week.
They include four-star linebacker Damian Sellers of Scottsdale and offensive lineman Bruno Fina, who played at Salpointe Catholic.
Arizona remains in the running for four-star defensive end Jason Harris of Gilbert. Harris, whose father used to play for the Wildcats and whose brother currently does, visited UCLA last weekend.
Arizona’s recruiting history suggests Rhoads mostly will be coaching three-star-caliber talent. He prides himself on getting the best out of his players.
“Young men gotta gain confidence,” Rhoads said. “They gain confidence through knowledge. They gain knowledge through being taught, and it’ll be a staff full of great teachers.
“Our kids will know what the expectations are and what it is that they’re supposed to do. And with that in mind, I think they’ll go out and attack their duties with great success.”
