Texas A&M fans don’t doubt for one minute whether football coach Kevin Sumlin is a great guy. He’s very personable and honest, and folks in the Brazos Valley downright like him.
For example, a friend of mine was hired to do some work at Sumlin’s College Station home. The guy said the coach came out to greet him and, when the work was complete, the two chatted quite a while about the city, the neighborhood and, of course, football. The fellow I know said he was a casual fan before the encounter, but was now a huge Sumlin fan.
Feelings aside, it’s time for Texas A&M to part ways with Sumlin and find a new coach. The days of building great programs from scratch and giving a coach nearly a decade are behind us. Wednesday night’s 33-28 loss to a so-so Kansas State team in the Texas Bowl should be the punctuating mark on Sumlin’s five-year tenure at A&M.
The program has started fast and finished slow each of the past four years. They’ve had three starting quarterbacks transfer. Now, three straight eight-win seasons means the school should go a new direction. This is the SEC West, where being good just isn’t good enough.
Heck, Charlie Strong lasted only three seasons at Texas. Although Sumlin’s seasons weren’t as dismal as Strong’s, Sumlin isn’t doing what the fans and boosters want — win championships.
What started out as a shiny, new car in the 2012 season has turned into a rusting clunker. The Aggies are getting the athletes on campus and racking up eight wins a year. That’s fine if we’re in the 1970’s, or perhaps the 80’s. But this is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ generation — and for football populous in general.
Fans in Aggieland still talk about the 2012 season and Johnny Manziel’s dazzling Heisman Trophy year like an out-of- shape 40-year-old talks about his high school days when he made second-team all-district. That was a great year. The Aggies beat No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa, crushed Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 5 in the nation. The only two losses were by a combined eight points (20-17 to Florida and 24-19 to LSU).
Let’s rewind back to the tail end of the 2011 season. Sumlin was the hottest up and comer out of Houston when he guided the undefeated Cougars to the Conference USA championship game against Southern Miss. The Cougars were 12-0 and ranked No. 7 in the nation, and many considered that to be the best team in school history.
Southern Miss, coached that season by Larry Fedora, throttled Houston, 49-28, in the conference title game — in Houston. The Cougars went on to beat Penn State, 30-14, in the Ticket City Bowl to finish the year 13-1.
Then 2012 began with concern on whether Sumlin was the right fit for a Texas A&M program heading into its first season in the mighty Southeastern Conference, which had won six consecutive national championships, including three teams (Alabama, Auburn, LSU) from the SEC West.
Uncertainty swirled. Would the new offense work? Will the Aggies compete well coming off a 7-6 season and seventh-place standing in the Big 12? Who’ll be the quarterback to replace Ryan Tannehill, who entered the NFL Draft?
Well, 2012 went way better than expected. Then, Manziel had a better year statistically in 2013, but the Aggie defense mailed it in most of the year. The Aggies still had a respectable season in 2013 at 9-4 with close home losses to Alabama and Auburn and then a 34-10 loss at No. 19 LSU and a 28-21 loss at No. 5 Missouri. The Aggies staged a big comeback to beat Duke in the Chic-fil-A Bowl.
The next two seasons saw Sumlin play quarterback shuffle with one big name recruit after another. First there was Kenny Hill (now at TCU), followed by Kyle Allen (now at Houston) and Kyler Murray (now at Oklahoma). Then there were those 5-0 starts each of the last three seasons, only to finish the season at 3-5, 3-4 and 3-5. That won’t win a championship.
Sumlin has built great character in those who have stayed. The school has built a fantastic new stadium to keep up with the arms race in the SEC. The facilities are top-notch and the fan base and traditions are one of a kind.
Aggie faithful fans are getting restless, though, and not just because of the late-season squanders. Sure, they look a lot better than their old rival in burnt orange two hours to the west, but after the 2012 season, Aggies know of the possibilities. They have the potential to win championships.
And add to that, Texas A&M hired defensive coordinator guru John Chavis away from LSU after the 2014 season. The defense improved in 2015 and was spotty at best in 2016. Still, the Aggies have failed to beat LSU during any of the five years they’ve been in the SEC together.
It’s not hard to fire a friend, one who most people love. But business is business, and if Texas A&M wants to eventually win a championship, they must move on.
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