College Football: 10 coaches who could be on hot seat in 2020
By Dante Pryor
3. Kevin Sumlin, Arizona
Kevin Sumlin did get the Arizona job pretty late in the cycle in 2018 and Rich Rodriguez left the cupboard pretty bare in Tucson, but Khalil Tate did not get better with the coach who is supposed to be a quarterback guru. The fact that Tate seemed to regress under Sumlin is what has his seat fairly warm.
He’s a coach that — barring a complete disaster — should be safe this season, but 3-9 or 4-8 will heat his seat in 2021.
There is a lot of work to do in Tucson. Arizona does not churn out a lot of Power Five level players so Sumlin and his staff have to get creative about how the program is going to be run. He does not have the pipelines he did at Texas A&M or even Houston.
Where the Wildcats need to get better is on defense. Their defense ranked 118th in points allowed last season.
Along with Tate’s regression, ending the season on a seven-game losing streak was not helpful either. During that streak, the Arizona offense was held under 20 points four times. That cannot happen again next season.