Texas A&M Hires Kevin Sumlin
by cocknfire on Dec 10, 2011 7:21 PM EST
in SEC Football
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PrintHaving moved on from the more absurd candidates for its vacant head coach position, Texas A&M settled on a pretty good choice: Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin -- probably the most sought-after and reportedly available mid-major coaches this year -- was 35-17 in four seasons with the Cougars.
Now he takes over a Texas A&M program about to enter the toughest division in college football, the SEC West, and tries to rebuild the program after the -- let's go with uneven progress -- of the Mike Sherman Era. Best of luck with that.
Not only will Sumlin make A&M history, he'll be part of SEC history as well: Sumlin becomes the third current black head coach in the SEC, along with Kentucky's Joker Phillips and Vanderbilt's James Franklin, a high-water mark for African-American coaches in the league. That's better than a fifth of the head-coaching positions in the SEC, and while that's not anywhere close to the proportion of black players in the conference, it's much better than the NCAA as a whole.
If there is a question about Sumlin as a head coach, it's whether he can win without Case Keenum. The coach has a 3-6 record without his perennial Heisman candidate, though he didn't manage to win Conference USA even with Keenum under center.
But Sumlin will be able to recruit a better grade of talent to College Station than to Houston, something that A&M will need to compete in the SEC West. At least it was able, when it comes to the most important talent on any team, to draw as good a recruit as it reasonably could expect.
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Judging by TexAgs...
it does not seem like an altogether popular choice.
I think it’s a solid hire, but the 2010 season (where they struggled mightily without Keenum) would give me serious pause.
Oh, come on. Don't leave your uncle T-bag hangin'.
James Franklin is a black dude?
Here I was thinking he just had a really good tan.
I await to see the air raid in action vs LSU and Bama next year.
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by RjTheMetalhead on Dec 11, 2011 12:13 AM EST reply actions
I think you mean
“await to see the air raid in inaction vs LSU and Bama next year”
In all kinds of weather we'll all stick together
I'm a tad skeptical of Sumlin
although the defense improved this year, I’ve noticed in Houston over the last three years a tendency to choke once people finally admit they’re good. See: 2009 UTEP, 2010 UCLA, 2011 Southern Miss. And I’m not at all convinced about that offense’s ability to succeed against the LSUs and Alabamas of the world
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 11, 2011 1:28 PM EST reply actions
They are in C-USA.
There are derpy football games you will lose.
So. Miss lost to UAB this year.
UTEP is really good at home for some really weird reason, we call it the UDERP zone.
As for 2010, he lost Keenum and the top backup in the same game and then started a freshman the rest of the way and were still competitive.
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"Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarters, or take any from you." - Edward Teach
by RjTheMetalhead on Dec 11, 2011 11:29 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, and I'm skeptical of Larry Fedora too
I worry about the coaching in general in a conference with so much derpy football.
And as for 2010, I was talking about before Keenum’s injury. They were getting crushed by a really, really bad UCLA team.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
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by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 12, 2011 9:37 AM EST up reply actions
The first order of business will be finding a top notch DC
If he can do that and is willing to tweak his offense so that he’s not relying on a lot of gimmick stuff to win games then he can be pretty good.
I’m really hoping that Sumlin goes away from his Air Raid offense into something slightly more reasonable. A&M returns good running backs and a decent OL for 2012. One of Sherman’s biggest mistakes was trying to pass too much when he could have let his running backs grind out more yards and time. Apparently Sumlin is retaining no one on the current A&M staff, and will not bring anyone from the UofH staff with him: including Air Raid proponent and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. I’ve heard rumblings that he’ll retain some staff though, so we’ll see about all of that.
Bringing in a top notch DC + proven recruiters is how I see Sumlin being successful.
Reject mediocrity or GTFO.
that'll do it for most coaches
Bringing in a top notch DC + proven recruiters is how I see Sumlin being successful.
If I cared more about my UNC side, I'd call myself "Tar Volon," and that'd be awesome.
Bolts, Canes, Preds (now in different conferences!). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity
Rocky Top Talk
by Incipient_Senescence on Dec 12, 2011 12:27 PM EST up reply actions
oops, I hit send too early
I just have one worry about Sumlin’s style of coaching. Albeit, it’s not a big worry, because I think he’s smart enough not to try it. My worry is that he will try to win as he won in Houston, by not focusing on the D and trying to out-point people in shoot outs. My thoughts are that at UofH, he had trouble attracting decent defensive players, and at A&M he shouldn’t have those same troubles. That’s why I think the DC is key, and a focus on recruiting solid defensive players is an important consideration. They should be obvious, but he obviously didn’t focus on the latter at Cougar High.
Reject mediocrity or GTFO.
I don't see why he should
The Air Raid is what he’s run on his march up the coaching ladder. Now that he’s hit a high rung, why should he change? He’ll have to make some adjustments as he gets used to the conference, but there’s no sense in changing who he is preemptively.
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I am not sure that A&M possesses the personnel to run an effective air raid in 2012. The receiving game was not the highlight of the A&M offense in 2011 (no matter how much Mike Sherman tries to push it), and the current commits for 2012 aren’t the kind of speedy slot receivers that one would want for a RnS type offense. He might build to the AR eventually, but in 2012 I hope he’ll play to the strengths of his players.
Reject mediocrity or GTFO.
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