Arizona Football: Top 3 head coaching candidates to replace Kevin Sumlin

Kevin Sumlin was fired as head coach of Arizona football after going 9-20 in three seasons. Here are three possible replacements for Sumlin.

After a blowout loss to their rival Arizona State in the Territorial Cup game, the Arizona Wildcats have parted ways with Kevin Sumlin after three seasons.

During his time in Tuscon, Sumlin went 9-20, including an 0-5 abbreviated season this year. Sumlin was hired rather late in the cycle in 2018 after Rich Rodriguez was fired amid sexual harassment allegations.

Sumlin’s hiring was met with optimism, with quarterback Khalil Tate already there. Unfortunately for him and Arizona, Tate was injured most of the time he was head coach. When Tate was healthy, he struggled to adapt to Sumlin’s offense.

Two aspects of Sumlin’s tenure ultimately led to his demise: offense and recruiting.

Once considered an offensive guru, Sumlin has not been able to duplicate the offensive production he had at Texas A&M. The lack of offensive production at Arizona is due in large part to the poor recruiting. Rodriguez left little on the roster outside of Tate and Sumlin did little to build the roster in two full recruiting cycles. The Wildcats were at or near the bottom of the Pac-12 in recruiting and never higher than 50th nationally.

Whatever direction the Wildcats go with their next head coach, they need someone who can recruit at a high level and put together a staff.

Here are three candidates who could replace Sumlin at Arizona.