To revive your lawn, water is the remedy. You'll want to run your sprinkler system so the water soaks down to 6 - 8 inches which could take from 10 - 20 minutes depending on your type of sprinklers. Because your soil is probably compacted, its best to split the watering into 2 or 3 applications with 30 minute to 1 hour periods in between. This will allow the water to soak in and not run off. The frequency should be 2 or 3 times a week during summer. If you get a good monsoon rain, you can probably skip a watering.

Be prepared to see weeds sprout too. Once your grass has grown in thick and lush it will choke out most weeds. As for mowing its best to mow your grass tall for a while until it fills in. This also keeps the soil a little more shaded and is less stressful than mowing short.

Here's a link to information on caring for lawns in the desert. It includes watering, fertilizing, mowing etc.

Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Lawn Care

You should put down some pre-emergent to stay a step ahead of the weeds.

Ditto on the water recommendation. Bermuda could be 'dead' for a hundred years and come back once watered.

For the record, one of our neighbors (we're also in Tucson) NEVER waters his Bermuda "lawn" - instead he uses it as a parking lot for his ever-evolving collection of RVs.

Every summer, after a few good monsoon rains, his grass springs back to life and he has to borrow another neighbor's mower to keep it under control!

OT, but doesn't Tucson have an ordinance that prohibits your neighbor's RV 'collection' on his lawn?

Thank you so much for the help! Pre-emergent has been placed and and the yellow patch of scruff has been getting some water (the sky is even pitching in once in a while with a few drops! Yippee!)

Looking forward to seeing the results!