After a dominating 2025 defensive performance the Aztecs football program is searching for a new coordinator next season. Rob Aurich has taken the same position over at Nebraska of the Big Ten. Oh joy.
If you’re anything like me, immediate Google searches begin for the candidate who can take the Aztecs over the top and lead us to the promised land! Okay but seriously, soon as I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I put my brain focused towards who might be out there. The first name jumped out to me—Zach Arnett.
Since leaving the Mesa where he coached under Rocky Long & co. Arnett has spent time as interim—turned HC at Mississippi State. From there he bounced around the SEC at both Ole Miss and Florida State as an analyst. So I’m thinking hey, we might have something here!
Yeah, then as soon as my Google search came back to me the first link I saw was: Zach Arnett is returning to Starkville, Mississippi for a second time as DC. Ugh, there goes my hopes of one day becoming a future CFB General Manager up in smoke. I tried.
No need to fear though guys. SDSU HC Sean Lewis dished it all out for us to hear, listen, and be full of courage when he thanked Rob Aurich for his time on the Mesa publicly. Then he made a very wise, but not quite permanent announcement.
“Obviously, there’s work to be done,” said Lewis in his opening statement to the media on Monday morning. “I’m very excited to announce that Demetrius Sumler is going to be our interim defensive coordinator as we go forward and lead us in this bowl opportunity for us to go get our 10th win.”
Cornerbacks coach, Demetrius Sumler is in his 9th season on the Mesa overall—his seventh as an official coach on staff after spending his first two seasons as a graduate assistant. Sumler in his time has shown he is a fantastic recruiter of the defensive backfield and much more.
His work over the years has shown proof of his abilities to not only recruit but develop young players. Darren Hall, Luq Barcoo, Noah Tumblin, Tayler Hawkins, just to name a few—his work with this years team is such an added flex on the resume with the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year going to one of his own players, Chris Johnson.
“Our program’s in a great place.” Lewis continued. “The connection and brotherhood in that locker room is what drives us and the connection amongst the players. The guys were excited about Coach Sumler taking the reins and leading, so excited to see the work that he does, excited to see the way that our team responds.“
Coach Lewis isn’t the only one excited to see what Demtrius can do:
Sumler’s time as a player at Cathedral Catholic during his high school years before heading out to a fine career at Colorado University, has without a doubt fortified those local connections with the current Aztecs on the roster. It appears to be a crucial point of connection with SDSU recruiting locally moving forward.
When asked more about the qualities Sumler brings Lewis gave some more insight. “His commitment to the program first and foremost, right? He’s a great connector of young men and bringing people together, and that’s important in this time right now to have a leader that does that at an elite level, which he does.
Though his time is short being in the 4-2-5 scheme that previous DC Eric Schmidt and then Rob Aurich changed over to when Lewis assumed control of the program, Sumler’s understanding of the defensive backfield positions where most of the personnel in the formation are, should earn him a bit more sway.
“He’s a great football mind that obviously has a depth of knowledge of scheme from what he learned with Coach Long and previous coordinators that he’s worked under, and how he has developed his own skill set and his own ideas, and he’s done a great job the past two years as well.“
“Like even though one man has the coordinator title, it’s not one guy who puts it all together, right? Like I’ve talked at length since we’ve been in here about how the D staff does a great job coming together and building a plan, and Coach Sumler has an integral role in that. And so now for him to shape and craft the plan with the assistance of his assistants, right, as we go forward, I’m excited to see him do that work. I’m excited to see him lead our guys.“
With a top-ranked offense in North Texas waiting for the Aztecs in the New Mexico Bowl, this will be the kind of opportunity that can really propel his chances of earning that coordinator job full-time. Coach Lewis was very upfront about that possibility.
“This is the best interview that he could possibly have is this opportunity.”
While the official replacement has not been named, Lewis just as he’s been with choosing other coordinator positions will not be too hasty in making his final decision.
“I’m not new to this. Every year I’ve been a head coach, there’s been either two or three assistants that I’ve had to replace because of the success that we’ve had. Sumler will be very much a part of the conversation. I have the utmost confidence that we’re going to find the right person, whether that’s in-house or external.”
With the transfer portal just about a month out, Sean Lewis will need to move quicker than maybe he would like to, as this is the fourth time in four years the SDSU program will be searching for a new defensive coordinator. Though he does find strength in being that steady, immovable object while the frantic waves of change in CFB swirl around him.
That’s one thing about this club and about the culture that we’ve built. It’s built for moments like this. We talked to the guys about moments of adversity, moments of change. Those are things that are going to be constant in their lives and those things that we have felt through this year, and our guys have responded at a really high level and I know that we’ll do that again.
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