New Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin gets his quarterback’s name wrong

As his first order of business as Arizona’s new head football coach, Kevin Sumlin will have to begin by apologizing to quarterback Khalil Tate.

Sumlin was in attendance for Arizona’s basketball game against Utah on Saturday and was interviewed by FOX early in the second half. Sumlin talked about his new program and tried talking up Tate, but he got his QB’s name wrong.

“There’s a lot of excitement. First of all, we gotta have this kind of intensity and electric atmosphere. We gotta do our job to keep it that way,” Sumlin said of the fan excitement at the basketball game. Then he committed his blunder.

“We got a great leader coming back in the quarterback in Khalil Mack. And play a lot of young guys … we’re excited about it.”

Yikes.

Obviously Sumlin meant Tate and not Oakland Raiders defensive star Khalil Mack, so that was a clear misspeak. Still, it is reflective of how new on the job Sumlin is considering he only was announced as coach on Jan. 14.