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Sherman was a great coach, must be why he got another head coaching job right away.
First, UA was desperate because of bad timing. Rich Rod was not fired until January 3, 2018. Most know, but early-mid December is the time to hire College HC's.* We hired Jimbo on Dec 1, 2017.
Arizona fired Rich Rod over a slew of Title IX claims. He was only fired after UA's outside counsel concluded it's internal investigation in late December.
UA hired Sumlin because the options were limited. Anybody doubt, see below. They were considering names like Jeff Tedford, Seth Littrell, and Butch Jones...retreads
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/arizona-coaching-candidates-jeff-tedford-seth-litrell-butch-jones-among-top-choices/Second, Sherman got a job as the OC for the Dolphins. Sumlin will never get hired as a pro coordinator, and probably never again be a college OC.
Currently, Sherman is now JFF's HC in Canada.
Stoops gave him the Co-OC title for resume fluff. Sumlin has not called plays since 2002 and is probably not capable. It is why Sumlin did not strip Spav of play-calling. Sumlin knew that he could not do a better job. A real Offensive HC would have stepped in and taken over play-calling in 2015.
Sumlin will never be a professional HC, nor OC, nor positions coach, nor anything else. He does not know enough football.
Sumlin will crash so unbelievably hard at Arizona. He might have a good year initially because of Khalil Tate, but he will tank by year 3 or 4. Arizona cannot recruit against USC and UCLA. About the only programs with inferior recruiting positions to UA are Washington St and Oregon St.
And, most middle class PAC programs have superior coaches: Utah, WSU, Colorado, Oregon. ASU doesn't and Cal's is unproven.
Sumlin is a decent recruiter, but look at his situations. At UH, he was able to recruit AAC level athletes without going more than an hour from home. He was at a huge advantage. At A&M, he was the only SEC program in the state. He had far greater resources than the majority of the conference.
Sumlin won most of his games at UH and A&M after KK left by, out-athleting opponents. Superior coaches like Dan Mullen and Hugh Freeze pushed it in him when they had halfway decent athletes.
Sumlin has never built anything. Sherman rebuilt us about 3/4 of the way (where we still are today). Briles rebuilt UH.
*Most NFL wait until either their team is out of the playoffs, or gets knocked out.