Many reasons Arizona is an 'attractive job' for Wildcats' next football coach

By Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star

The identity of the new Arizona Wildcats football coach remained unknown as of Saturday.

Will Arizona hire a currently out-of-work but established commodity such as Kevin Sumlin, Les Miles or Mark Helfrich? An up-and-coming offensive coordinator such as Beau Baldwin or Jedd Fisch? Or a former Wildcat such as Joe Salave’a or David Fipp?

What is known is that Rich Rodriguez’s successor will be stepping into a promising situation.

Arizona might have the best returning quarterback in the Pac-12 in Khalil Tate. Barring transfers, the Wildcats will return nine starters on defense — including five who were freshmen or redshirt freshmen this past season. Facility upgrades are in the works. And the Pac-12’s South Division has no clear favorite with star quarterbacks Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen entering the NFL draft.

“I definitely think it’s an attractive job,” Pac-12 Networks analyst Anthony Herron said. “I saw the Arizona program this past season where Washington State was a couple years ago. That’s the sort of trajectory I saw. I felt like they’d be right in the thick of the Pac-12 championship picture next year.”

That’s a lofty prediction for a team that finished 7-6 and lost four of its last five games. Arizona also will face a learning curve with a new coaching staff.

It won’t be quite as steep on one side of the ball if defensive coordinator Marcel Yates remains on board. Herron based his comparison to Washington State in part on Arizona bringing in Yates to improve the defense and complement the offense, just like WSU did with Alex Grinch. The Cougars jumped from 3-9 in 2014 to 9-4 the following season. They have gone 26-13 over the past three years.

Arizona hasn’t enjoyed as dramatic and immediate a turnaround under Yates, who didn’t inherit much in the way of talent and depth. But there were encouraging signs this past season, and that’s as good a place to start as any in assessing the appeal of the UA job.

Rodriguez — who was fired Tuesday amid allegations that he created a hostile workplace and sexually harassed a former employee — said from the moment the 2017 recruiting class officially signed that those players were expected to have an immediate impact. It wasn’t just talk; freshmen populated and energized the Arizona defense.

Linebacker Tony Fields II and “Stud” Kylan Wilborn started every game. Linebacker Colin Schooler and safety Scottie Young Jr. started nine apiece.

Fields led the team in tackles (105) and ranked second in sacks (five). Wilborn led the team in sacks (9.5) and the Pac-12 in forced fumbles (four). Schooler ranked second in tackles (95), first in stops for losses (13.5) and won the Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year award. Young had 53 tackles, 3.5 TFLs and an interception in 10 games.

Another 13-game starter, cornerback Lorenzo Burns, was a redshirt freshman. He ranked third on the team in tackles (81), second in pass breakups (seven) and tied for the league lead in interceptions (five).

“We’re going to be so much better (in 2018),” Fields said after the season-ending Foster Farms Bowl. “We have so many guys that were young.

“We’re going to have so much more experience. Everybody’s going to know how to play together.”

There’s a widely held belief that athletes – especially football players — make the most progress they’re ever going to make between their freshman and sophomore years of college. Departing senior guard Jacob Alsadek cited the ultimate example at Arizona: linebacker Scooby Wright.

“Scooby was a good player,” Alsadek said. “Then he started winning all these awards.”

Wright was a unanimous All-American and won the Nagurski, Lombardi and Bednarik awards as a sophomore in 2014. Not that all the 2017 freshmen will make a similar leap, but the foundation is in place for future success.

“We can be a lot better this next year than we were these last two,” Yates said before the Foster Farms Bowl. “We played a ton of young guys, which was great. But with those young guys comes mistakes and that learning curve. There’s good and bad.”

The next Arizona coach will inherit a special talent in Tate.

In 11 games, including eight starts, Tate rushed for 1,411 yards, which ranks 17th in the country entering the national-championship game Monday. He capped his sophomore season with a career-high 302 passing yards and five touchdowns, a UA bowl-game record.

A lot goes into a successful football program. You can’t win without quality quarterback play. Herron explained how a prospective coach might assess that situation:

“Is there someone on the roster that gives me an opportunity to win? Or do I have to go find that individual and bring him there? To have a talent like Tate … that level of excitement, that level of playmaking ability, that’s going to be a huge draw.”

Even better, Tate might just be scratching the surface. He has yet to play a full season, and he turned 19 in October. Departing tailback Nick Wilson said Tate only “semi” knew what he was doing this past season, when he nonetheless set several records.

“Khalil will be the first to tell you, his best football’s out in front of him,” Rodriguez said in what turned out to be his final postgame news conference as Wildcats coach. “He’s a second-year player. He hasn’t even started a whole season yet. He hasn’t gone into the season as the established starter, and he is now.

“Knowing Khalil, he’ll work his tail off in the offseason and the summer and in August camp next year to be an even better version of himself. That’s what’s exciting about it.”

Depth behind Tate could be a concern. Donavan Tate (no relation) has left the program, and it’s hard to imagine Rhett Rodriguez, Rich’s son, returning. Former starter Brandon Dawkins could be a candidate to leave as a graduate transfer.

If all of that comes to pass, the only scholarship quarterback remaining on the roster besides Khalil Tate would be K’Hari Lane, who redshirted as a freshman in 2017. But at least Arizona would know who its starter is. The same can’t be said for some of its top rivals in the Pac-12 South.

USC and UCLA will have the most talented rosters in the division next season. They always do.

But both must replace generational quarterbacks in Darnold and Rosen, who could be the first two picks in this year’s draft. That’s always a challenge.

“UCLA and USC will have some of the most highly rated quarterbacks on campus,” Herron said. “But what can the expectations truly be if you’re starting true freshmen? The South Division feels wide open.”

The Bruins and Trojans might not start freshmen at quarterback, but they will have new, unproven starters no matter what. That gives Arizona an advantage at the sport’s most critical position.

Arizona State, Utah and Colorado have returning starters at quarterback, but all three teams have potential issues.

ASU is conducting the biggest experiment in college football with Herm Edwards heading a new leadership structure. Utah was the only Pac-12 school to win a bowl game, but the Utes’ 7-6 record was their worst since 2013. Colorado fell from 10 wins in ’16 to five this past season, cranking up the pressure on sixth-year coach Mike McIntyre.

Yogi Roth, another Pac-12 Networks analyst, told the Star during the season that he would pick Arizona to win the South in 2018 if Darnold did not return. That was before UCLA hired Chip Kelly, whom most expect to turn the Bruins into contenders sooner than later.

UCLA has upgraded its facilities. The Arizona Board of Regents signed off on two major projects at the UA scheduled to begin this offseason: the renovation of Arizona Stadium and the construction of an indoor practice facility that also could serve as a pregame tailgating spot.

Arizona has some cultural and image issues to repair after recent controversies involving Rodriguez, the basketball program and the track program. But as far as football goes, the pieces appear to be in place for prosperity.

So can the Wildcats compete for the South championship as soon as this year?

“If the right coach is hired,” Herron said, “yes.”