Athlon Sports ranks Kevin Sumlin near bottom among Pac-12 coaches

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The first two years of the Kevin Sumlin at Arizona haven’t gone well, nor has that lack of success gone unnoticed.

Multiple media outlets have put out coach rankings this offseason, and in each case Sumlin’s spot on the list has dropped considerably from a year ago.

The latest to rank Sumlin low is Athlon Sports, which has him as the 11th-best coach in the Pac-12.

Here’s what Athlon’s Steven Lassan had to say:

Sumlin is more accomplished than some of the names above him on this list, but the Wildcats are a disappointing 9-15 in his two years in Tucson. Arizona is also just 6-12 in Pac-12 play during that span and finished last in the Pac-12 South with a 2-7 mark in conference action last fall. Sumlin landed his first head-coaching gig at Houston in 2008. The Cougars posted three winning records over his four years at the helm, including a 12-1 mark in 2011. After going 35-17 at Houston, Sumlin took over at Texas A&M in 2012. The Aggies started Sumlin’s tenure on a high note with an 11-2 mark and No. 5 overall finish in the Associated Press poll. However, the program never won more than nine games in each of the next five seasons and finished .500 or worse in SEC play every year during that span. Sumlin’s overall record as a head coach is 95-58 going into 2020.

The only coached ranked below Sumlin is Karl Dorrell, whom Colorado hired in February after Mel Tucker left to take the Michigan State job after just one season in Boulder. Other first-year Pac-12 coaches Nick Rolovich (Washington State) and Jimmy Lake (Washington) are ranked eighth and 10^th, respectively.

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