Not really but maybe somewhat OT: Sumlin out at Arizona
Can’t link to The Athletic story right now, but Kevin Sumlin is out at Arizona after 3 seasons. Jedd Fisch and Navy’s coach are a couple of names being tossed around. When you get beat by your rival 70-7, even a virtual non entity on the college football scene knows enough to cut bait. Yet here we are still waiting on UM to make a decision.
December 12th, 2020 at 8:20 PM ^
9-20 at Arizona
Amazing. I didn't think he'd be great, but I thought they would at least be better than that with Sumlin as coach
December 12th, 2020 at 10:28 PM ^
Sumlin / Manziel.
Harbaugh /Luck (or Kap)
Orgeron / Burrows
Great players make good coaches look great. When we look for a new coach we should take the best recruiter we can find.
December 12th, 2020 at 11:04 PM ^
Coach O just beat #6 Florida without Burrows and 40 some scholarship players. Would be nice for Michigan to at least lose by single digits to a team of that caliber.
December 13th, 2020 at 9:34 AM ^
Too bad RR screwed up there. He did about as well as you could expect at a school like Arizona
December 12th, 2020 at 8:22 PM ^
49-21 > 9-20
Try to be rational
December 12th, 2020 at 10:28 PM ^
Rational? Shit. Don’t really want to get into it with a fellow Indy guy, but you went there. Pretty happy with all those big wins that make up that 49? Pretty happy with the trajectory of the program? The stockpiling of talent? Don’t you just know when something isn’t working and it’s time to move on? My point was that at Arizona - a place where successful football means nothing - this wasn’t just one embarrassing loss, it was a realization that a pretty good and respected coach wasn’t working out and they had the balls to make a decision. Meanwhile, tick tock tick tock, signing day is 3 days away. Unless there’s some brilliant plan playing out behind the scenes, what s happening here is incompetent.
December 12th, 2020 at 10:32 PM ^
Ok let me do the math...
0 conference championship game appearances...
Get blown out by rival...
Players looking like they don’t give a shit...
Nope, I’d say that’s about the same thing for both programs. Sumlin was just more efficient in getting there and has an AD that will fire his ass.
December 12th, 2020 at 11:24 PM ^
Here let me help you....
- 0-5 vs OSU, with the 2 worst losses ever
- 3-3 vs MSU
- 0 B1G titles, not even playing in the B1G title game let alone CFP
- best road win is against #20 Northwestern
- 1-4 in bowl games
- 0-15 when Michigan is an underdog
- 2-12 vs. top 10 teams
- worst halftime deficit in Michigan stadium history & 2nd worst loss ever at home
- home loss to an 0-5 team
- 4 straight home losses
- talented players transferring / leaving the program early
- inability to recruit and develop certain position groups
- 4th highest paid coach in the country
December 13th, 2020 at 9:22 AM ^
Is this like a hotkey on your computer?
I wonder if it ends up in emails to your family or co-workers, too.
"Honey, need anything from the store? Oh, and btw, 0-5 vs OSU..."
"Yes, boss, I'll get you that report right away. Might I also mention 4 straight home losses?"
It's impressive, your dedication.
December 12th, 2020 at 8:22 PM ^
U of Arizona is where football coaches go to die.
December 12th, 2020 at 8:24 PM ^
Tis a shame. Rich Rod was was 43-35, clearly better than Sumlin, but broke the rules too many times.
December 12th, 2020 at 9:39 PM ^
Broke the rules? Please provide details on that.
It seemed to be a more a matter of an unfavorable trajectory. His bad habits (odd recruiting, etc.) caught up to him.
- - -
OP mentions the Navy coach. It's interesting that Niumatalolo was a candidate last time. Rumor had it that Khalil Tate (the team's star at the time) had some influence on Arizona looking elsewhere. Not sure if true ...
- - -
There are still a handful of RichRod's recruits on that team. Like Junior Hemingway, they might get to play for their third coach.
December 12th, 2020 at 9:59 PM ^
Didn't really break rules, but some pretty gross sexual harassment allegations and marital infidelity. Pretty sure he'd still be there otherwise, they were decent pretty consistently.
December 12th, 2020 at 10:33 PM ^
I enjoyed watching Rich Rod coach Arizona so much so that bought some Arizona t-shirts. He had a really good thing going. Too bad he F'd that up.
December 12th, 2020 at 10:51 PM ^
His son Rhett is still on the team, a QB high enough on the depth chart that he got some PT in that beat down...can’t imagine how awkward it has to be for him, both on the team and at home with his folks.
December 12th, 2020 at 9:16 PM ^
Losing 70-7 to your rival will do that.
At least Arizona’s AD has the balls to make that decision. Warde clearly still believes that an extension is an option after what would’ve been an extreme likelihood of Michigan getting skullfucked 70-0 by OSU this weekend.
December 12th, 2020 at 9:30 PM ^
70-0? We’re you assuming day would have started kneeling early in the 4th?
December 12th, 2020 at 9:39 PM ^
His starting QB, starting RB, and back up QB turned the ball over 7 times. That’s the reason for the score. Firing Sumlin for that score and loss is a stupid over reaction by an idiot AD. Sumlin was an early spread innovator and former SEC coach of the year.
Yah he is 0-5 during this stupid covid season but so are a number of other successful programs. They need to evaluate his whole body of work at Arizona at the end of the season and then make a decision. They also need to take account for this being a stupid season for evaluating anything and responsibility for him having to coach at Arizona.
December 12th, 2020 at 9:36 PM ^
I think OSU would have beaten Michigan 70-3 but Harbaugh would remained as coach, if he wanted too. But I wonder if Harbaugh has an NFL team he would like to coach.
December 12th, 2020 at 9:48 PM ^
I could easily see Don Brown’s, don’t protect against the big play, defense giving up 70, but the offense is usually good for 20 or more points. That is if we have a healthy QB and OL.
December 13th, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
We couldn't manage 20 points against 0-5 Penn State, at home. I highly doubt we would've put up 20 points against Ohio State in Columbus...
December 12th, 2020 at 10:38 PM ^
I think Harbaugh is working out a deal with the Bears right now. No proof, but just a hunch he goes there does great for 2 maybe 3 years and then it falls apart.
EDIT: Just read there is a large shift in the Vegas odds towards the Lion’s job for Harbaugh. They always seem to know what’s going on
December 12th, 2020 at 11:27 PM ^
We can only hope!!! Fords will not even care if he loses. Win-win for the Michigan fanbase and Jim!!!
December 12th, 2020 at 10:53 PM ^
I don’t know about that 3...we’ve had some issues with our kicking game this year.
December 12th, 2020 at 10:10 PM ^
Watched ASU-UA last night. Just a brutal game. Arizona barely showed up and Arizona State was playing like it was their super bowl. Hence, 70-7.
December 12th, 2020 at 10:28 PM ^
....so M vs. MSU? Ending in the same result of course.
December 13th, 2020 at 9:20 AM ^
Humorously, we were headed for a 70-7 beatdown but got saved by Covid. You have to hand it to our staff: in this one regard, they performed well.