Why the timing was just right for Kevin Sumlin to become coach of the Arizona Wildcats

If the Arizona coaching job became vacant in early December instead of early January, Kevin Sumlin might not be the Wildcats’ coach today.

Texas A&M fired Sumlin on Nov. 26, mainly because he didn’t win quite enough, and he took the news hard. Who wouldn’t?

Aside from a year and a half or so in private business, Sumlin had been involved in football since he started playing the sport in third grade. Now he was unemployed, tired and questioning himself.

Sumlin left the country to get away. “I went as far south as I could go without crossing the equator,” he said, declining to disclose his destination.

It was a necessary respite. “I actually went four days without somebody saying, ‘Hey, Coach.’ That was really good for me,” Sumlin said.

He returned home and began to assess his immediate future. He could sit out a year, become a TV analyst and see what jobs became available in the next firing/hiring cycle. Or he could dive back in.

“That first week after I was let go, people called,” Sumlin said. “I just didn’t really feel like it. But over the course of that next five or six weeks, I got back to being me.”

Sumlin participated in ESPN’s “Coaches Film Room,” shoulder programming to the Jan. 8 national championship game. He also spoke at the American Football Coaches Association Convention, which took place Jan. 7-10.

“People actually showed up to hear what I had to say, which was good, because I wasn’t feeling like that four weeks ago,” Sumlin said. “Being around your peers, you start to get your confidence back.”

Meanwhile, a job unexpectedly opened up. Arizona fired Rich Rodriguez on Jan. 2. Every other FBS post was filled.

UA athletic director Dave Heeke met with Sumlin twice. They also had several phone conversations, some of which lasted deep into the night.

Whether Sumlin was ready to get back into coaching was among the subjects they discussed. Sumlin conceded that “there was a concern based on everything that went on at my last place. It was tough. It was tough on me. It was tough on family. Tough on a lot of different things.”

But Sumlin told Heeke that he was in a good place. The more they talked, the more they realized the timing was right.

“I heard that passion and desire and determination and excitement to be here, at Arizona,” Heeke said. “A guy who has been at and wants to be at the highest level.”

Eventually, they reached the same conclusion: Arizona was the right fit for Sumlin. And now was the time for him to seize that opportunity.

“Timing has a lot to do with everything,” Sumlin said. “I felt really good about this situation. The biggest thing for me was, I was ready to do it. After talking with the leadership, our administration, with Dave, Dr. (Robert C.) Robbins, I had a great feeling about the direction of the university.

“That concern,” he added, referring to his desire to coach in 2018, “is over with. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to hire people. I’m there. I’m ready to roll.”

Immediate success

After discussing Arizona’s commitment to football and its willingness to devote resources to aid the program’s success, Sumlin and Heeke shared the same rosy outlook.

Why not here? Why not us? Why not now?

Sumlin assessed the Wildcats’ roster and told Heeke: “It’s not broken.” Arizona finished 7-6 last season after going 3-9 the year before. With quarterback Khalil Tate entering his junior season and several promising young players on both sides of the ball, the UA appears to be a program on the upswing.

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Also, Rodriguez wasn’t fired because of the Wildcats’ on-field performance. The team’s 1-4 finish might have been a factor, but it was pretty far down the list.

Sumlin experienced immediate success at Texas A&M. His 2012 Aggies finished 11-2 (which, it turned out, would be their best record during his six-year run).

That was the year Johnny Manziel emerged as a singular force, helping A&M upset No. 1 Alabama. Manziel would become the first redshirt freshman to win the Heisman Trophy.

“He changed Texas A&M football forever the way he performed, and also made it hard for the staff there,” Pac-12 Networks analyst Yogi Roth said. “Johnny was larger than life, (Tim) Tebow-esque, in a social-media age.”

The expectations in College Station climbed to a level that proved unsustainable.

The Aggies went 9-4 in 2013, 8-5 each of the next three seasons and were 7-5 when Sumlin was let go.

Roth believes the best coaches enjoy their best success after a “failure.” Not that Sumlin failed at A&M — his overall record there was 51-26 — but it didn’t end the way he had hoped.

Roth witnessed the failure follow-up first-hand at USC, where Pete Carroll went from NFL washout to dynasty architect. Bill Belichick had one winning season in five years in Cleveland. He has had one losing season in 18 years in New England, which is favored to win its sixth Super Bowl under his watch.

Roth offered the following prediction about Sumlin: “The next job, this job, will be his greatest achievement because of what he learned.”

Run for the Roses?

Sumlin mentioned during his introductory news conference Tuesday that Arizona never has played in a Rose Bowl game. He knows exactly what that’s like — and what it feels like to end the drought.

Sumlin played at Purdue and worked as an assistant coach there from 1998-2000. His last Boilermakers squad — under the guidance of Sumlin’s mentor, Joe Tiller — reached the Rose Bowl for the first time in 34 years. Their on-field leader was star quarterback Drew Brees. Sumlin couldn’t help but see some parallels.

“It’s gonna happen,” Sumlin said of Arizona reaching the Rose Bowl. “Our goal here is to win championships. We’ve got the tools in place here structurally to make that happen.”

Any talk of the Wildcats playing in the Rose Bowl is premature, of course. Their roster is still young. They have yet to practice for Sumlin, let alone play for him. Chip Kelly is part of the Pac-12 South now. USC isn’t going away. A tested Washington squad will enter next season as the league’s prohibitive favorite.

But the Cats are dreaming big for now, encouraged by last season’s progress and amped by Sumlin’s arrival.

“I think he’s stepping into a situation where we can win a Pac-12 championship,” senior receiver Shawn Poindexter said. “And if we don’t win a Pac-12 championship, we’ll have failed.”

Sumlin will make changes. The coaching staff will look different. The schemes will be tweaked. But as he told the Star: “It’s not going to be a situation where, here comes a new coach and he’s blowing the whole thing up and we’re starting from scratch.”

None of the current players view this season as a rebuilding year. Last year was the rebuilding year.

“We don’t have time for a rebuilding year,” veteran receiver Tony Ellison said. “I’m a senior. I want to go out the right way. I want a 10-win season. I’ve got a lot of expectations, not only for myself but my teammates.”

Hungry upperclassmen. Young talent. A new coach. A supportive administration.

If a few breaks go Arizona’s way, the timing just might be right.

“We have so much potential,” linebacker Tony Fields II said. “We have young guys on both sides of the ball. We have Khalil for two more years. We have everything we need.”