ARIZONA FOOTBALL

The 5: Notable quotes from Kevin Sumlin’s introduction at Arizona

Jan 16, 2018, 1:30 PM | Updated: 4:05 pm

New University of Arizona Wildcats head football coach Kevin Sumlin speaks during his introductory ...

New University of Arizona Wildcats head football coach Kevin Sumlin speaks during his introductory press conference at the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Tucson, Ariz. Sumlin succeeds Rich Rodriguez, who was fired in December 2017. (Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

(Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

Kevin Sumlin arrived in Tucson on Tuesday as a beacon of hope after the Arizona Wildcats abruptly fired Rich Rodriguez 13 days earlier.

In his introductory press conference, Arizona Athletic Director Dave Heeke said he’d not offered the job to anyone else, even though reports indicated Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo declined an Arizona offer. University of Arizona President Robert Robbins made it clear what the school was searching for — indirectly, he said that would be an opposite personality compared to Rodriguez.

Sumlin, who will make a base salary of $14.5 million over five years of his contract, was honest about how the Arizona job came into his focus. And of course, he sees no reason why the Wildcats can’t make a Rose Bowl for the first time.


1.

No matter what the situation, I never saw him out of control. He was poised, he was confident, and that’s the type of person I wanted to see here.

— University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins

In learning about Sumlin through the coaching search process, Robbins said the coach’s stoicism on the sidelines and in press conferences stood out. Robbins used a phrase from late ESPN host Stuart Scott — “cool as the other side of the pillow” — to describe Sumlin’s demeanor.

It was a notable trait considering the leaders that be at Arizona reportedly hadn’t taken well to former coach Rich Rodriguez’s sideline outbursts, press conference freezes and disconnect with fans.

“As a coach, you have to do all those things, and I understand that,” Sumlin said later on. “It’s more than just football. We will not be an isolated football team with our players.”


2.

I was really tired (after being fired from Texas A&M). Then I took some time, left the country for a little bit and went as far south as I could go without crossing the equator, and actually went four days without somebody saying ‘Hey, coach.’ That was really good for me.

People actually showed up (to the American Football Coaches Association convention) to hear what I had to say, which was good, because I wasn’t feeling like that four weeks ago. Being about your peers you start to get your confidence back … that first week after I was let go, people called and I just really didn’t feel like it. Over the course of the next five, six weeks I got back to being me. As I said, timing has a lot to do with everything. The timing was right.

— Sumlin 

Sumlin considered staying out of coaching for a year and admitted he wasn’t thinking about his next job for a while after Texas A&M fired him following a 7-5 season.

After he explained his drive to return to coaching, Sumlin said the Arizona job presented potential that he believes in.

“As a school that hasn’t been to the Rose Bowl, to me you can look at it one way or another,” he added. “In our conversation, it’s just what Dave said: I said, ‘You know, it’s gonna happen. It’s just what time is it going to happen and why not now, and why not us?”


3.

Offensively, we’re quite similar in philosophy, a little bit, in what we want to do in maybe throwing the ball a little bit more. I thought it was important with so many young players … I didn’t want them to leave the building this morning thinking we’re going to run the triple-option.

— Sumlin on what he’s telling current players and recruits about his style of play

Before attempting to win a press conference, Sumlin met with the current Wildcat players early Tuesday morning.

He wanted to set a tone about the expectations and, even more importantly, about what they can expect playing for him.

Overall, gaining the trust of the team’s most important player, quarterback Khalil Tate, was key. Sumlin’s mention of the triple-option offense said as much after Tate wrote on Twitter that he didn’t want to run triple-option as reports indicated Arizona was closing in on hiring Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo.

Offensively, Sumlin has run a high-powered offense that found success being led by dual-threat quarterback Johnny Manziel during his Heisman campaign in 2012.

Defensively, Sumlin confirmed he will retain his former assistant, Marcel Yates, as defensive coordinator, lending stability to a unit that flashed with young talent last season.

The new head coach said he expects to play more aggressively on both sides of the ball, hinting at more downfield shots in the passing game and perhaps more blitzing on defense.


4.

How we do things: From everyday business, just starting off this morning with that meeting, I told Dave, it’s not going to be a fire and brimstone. I don’t have a bunch of (Notre Dame head coach) Knute Rockne speeches. The first year that works, and then you have to start to make up stuff.

I’m me. I think the way we approach this thing is we talked this morning about me being truthful to them and building this thing on truth and trust.

— Sumlin on changing the environment of the program

Sumlin brings a distinctly different personality to Arizona after the hot-tempered Rodriguez departs.

He admitted during his press conference that he wasn’t about coach speak. When he recruits, he said that he wants to reach high school players by being honest about successes and failures of his past players. Teaching those players to learn from mistakes is how the coach expects to change the environment of the program.

Opening the doors to former coaches, especially Dick Tomey, who led Arizona’s most successful teams during the late 1990s, is something Sumlin said he’s prepared to do as well.


5.

I haven’t talked to (ASU coach) Herm (Edwards). I had him come speak to our football team two years ago, and he was a guy that I thought would come in and energize — he did a great job as an outside speaker. He’s a guy I did internships with as a younger coach with the Tampa Bay Bucs, so I know him. 

Even when I moved to Houston, a quick story, maybe it’s not on this level: (Former Rice coach) David Bailiff and I were really close as assistant coaches. Houston-Rice, you’re playing for a trophy. We lived in the same neighborhood, our kids played together. We were friends really 51 weeks out of the year. Literally blocks away we lived, give each other rides sometimes and do all that stuff and our kids — we wouldn’t let our kids play with each others’ kids that week. It’s a rivalry, right?

— Sumlin on the ASU-Arizona rivalry 

Sumlin and first-year Arizona State coach Herm Edwards know each other, and their successes and failures inevitably become linked — just like their predecessors, Rodriguez and former ASU coach Todd Graham.

That’s because many ASU fans hoped Sumlin would be the Sun Devils’ next coach before the school pulled the surprise to hire Edwards.

Comparing Sumlin and Edwards moving foward is also an experiment in terms of the powers of recruiting: Edwards can do well with his personality and caring nature, but Sumlin has proven recruiting chops in Texas especially, one of the best hotbeds for football talent in the country.

Heeke said the Wildcats hope to recruit Texas along with Las Vegas, Southern California and the state of Arizona.

Sumlin already has connections in the Phoenix area, and winning the top recruits there — fairly or not — is viewed as a key part in determining the success of both in-state programs.

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The 5: Notable quotes from Kevin Sumlin’s introduction at Arizona