Arizona Wildcats OC Dino Babers loses play-calling duties to Matt Adkins

Arizona Wildcats football coach Brent Brennan confirmed on Monday that offensive coordinator Dino Babers handed off playcalling duties following the team’s blowout loss to Kansas State on Sept. 13.

Coach Brennan said during a press conference Monday that tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Matt Adkins stepped into the role during a bye week and was on the controls for the Wildcats’ upset of No. 10 Utah on Saturday.

Babers spent the first three games of the year handling the Wildcats’ primary playcalling responsibilities.

“With the game against Utah, it was a strategic advantage for us to not disclose that before,” Brennan said. “That’s how we approached it. Coach Babers, he was on board with this, he’s been great about it, we’ve had a lot of conversations about it and he’s incredibly supportive of Matt and the staff.

“Everyone’s working really well together. Coach Babers is an important part of what we’re doing here. I really value his contribution to our offense, to the players, to the coaching and to the mentorship he’s providing for our young players.”

Babers said he came to Arizona knowing Brennan wanted to turn over the offense at some point.

“They way we do things is kind of collaborative anyways,” Babers said Tuesday. “We’re kind of off the Bill Walsh trade where we script a — I won’t says the exact number — but a certain amount of plays for the first half. But really we know what’s going to be called. You just don’t know the order of what’s going to be called, which is the duty of the play-caller.”

On Saturday, the Wildcats scored a 23-10 win against the Utes thanks to an offensive balance that produced 6.4 yards per pass and 6.5 per rush.

It was a departure from the disjointed efforts in a 31-7 loss at then-No. 14 Kansas State before the bye and a 22-10 come-from-behind win against Northern Arizona the week before that.

The Wildcats notably got the run game going with backs Kedrick Reescano and Quali Conley each surpassing 72 yards.

Tight end Keyan Burnett was also involved in the passing game, notching 76 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Adkins followed Brennan to Tucson from his roles as graduate assistant and tight ends coach at San Jose State from 2017-23.

Adkins previously had experience as a head coach and offensive coordinator (Carlstad Crusaders in Sweden, 2012-13), passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach (Southern Oregon, 2010 and 2012-13), safeties coach (College of Siskiyous, 2011) and quarterbacks coach (Shasta College, 2009).

Babers will remain the team’s offensive coordinator, but Adkins is expected to handle calling plays for the rest of the season, continuing on Saturday with a hosting of Texas Tech.

“When we first brought coach Babers in here, the intent was to really help the young coaches grow and develop,” Brennan said. “And he’s been doing a fantastic job with the offensive staff. Watching that over time, we felt like going into the bye week was the right time for Coach Adkins, with the help of Dino, to kind of step into that role.”

Babers was the previous head coach at Syracuse from 2016 until 2023 and had worked at Arizona under former head coach Dick Tomey.

Babers served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 1998-2000 and also led wide receivers (1995-96) and running backs (1997). He and Brennan were both on the 2000 team’s coaching staff.