UC Coaching Search Official Thread

[#41]

You are basing your opinion all on 1 year?? Maybe his team was not very talented and he did a great job coaching them but they just play poorly a couple of games. To ask any coach to go undefeated every year and be pumped to play every game is asinine. If there was a college coach out there that could do it, he wouldnt be coaching college, he would be winning SBs every year in the NFL

There's not a lot to go on with Sumlin, since he only has 2 years of head coaching experience. His first year wasn't a lot better -- losses to Rice, Marshall, Colorado State, Air Force and Oklahoma State. Heck, even his recruiting is questionable, since his entire team is juniors and seniors (15 / 22 starters are upperclassmen) -- all we're going on when we say "good recruiter" is his Rivals/Scout ranknig.

He loses. A lot. And he loses to teams that aren't very good. This year he had a Heisman-level QB and a ranked team, and still crapped the bed THREE times to unranked teams.

I'm sorry, but the UTEP loss is the kind of thing that would get most coaches at big-time programs on the hot seat. UTEP got smacked around by Texas 64-7 and then came back to beat ranked Houston the next week 58-41 -- and UTEP is *terrible*. Then you add in the other unranked losses and it just compounds the problem.

Houston isn't a bad team; they beat a pretty good Oklahoma State team fairly soundly. They're just inconsistent. I want no part of a coach with only 2 years experience and an "inconsistent" label that can be affixed. I don't demand perfection, but I don't think it's unfair to demand you beat at least 2 of the 3: UTEP, UCF and ECU.

[Dannyboy]

Sumlin has some bad losses, but BK had plenty of losses at CMU to marginal teams. When you coach a team like Houston, you're going to have let down games.

Sumlin, Jones and Holtz are probably the top three available. I leave it to MT to pick the best.

[Jmac84]

Let's be careful as fans when they finally make this hire. We all have our one or two guys that we'd prefer, but if they don't go that way, don't let it affect your support for whomever they do hire. While I'm not defending Steve Kragthorpe as a coach, I do think some of his struggles at Louisville had to do with fans not supporting him from the get-go. Let's not be like those Cardinal fans.

[UcatsRick]

Honestly Jones is the right man for the job. He has studied under both Brian Kelly and Rich Rodriguez if I am not mistaken. If you are going to continue to run the spread, you can't have a better pedigree than that. He has had great success with a Collaros type QB. The only thing that worries me is that he HAS had an outstanding QB the whole time he has been at CMU... how will he do with an average QB?

Don't recruit an average QB and the problem is solved.

[UcatsRick]

You're focusing too hard -- Sumlin is a bad hire because his teams are too inconsistent.

10/03/09 -- #12 Houston loses to unranked UTEP
11/14/09 -- #11 Houston loses to unranked UCF
12/05/09 -- #18 Houston loses to unranked ECU

I don't want a guy who can't keep his team up to play when they're facing inferior competition.

Hiring Sumlin is asking to go 8-4 every year.

BK's Bearcats lose to Louisville.
BK's Bearcast lose to UConn.

And I certainly would not want Pete Carroll whose team lost to Washington.
Or Mike Tomlin, whose team lost to the Cleveland Browns.

Need I say more?

[hangarninetysix]

Sumlin has some bad losses, but BK had plenty of losses at CMU to marginal teams. When you coach a team like Houston, you're going to have let down games.

Agreed. Not saying he's better than Jones, but I don't think it means he's terrible.

[#41]

BK's Bearcats lose to Louisville.
BK's Bearcast lose to UConn.

And I certainly would not want Pete Carroll whose team lost to Washington.
Or Mike Tomlin, whose team lost to the Cleveland Browns.

Need I say more?

Mike Tomlin has won a Super Bowl.
Pete Carroll has won a National Championship.
Brian Kelly had (at the time) won a MAC Championship and a D1AA Championship.

Kevin Sumlin lost his first C-USA title game.

Apples and Oranges.

[JasonS]

I trust Mike Thomas to make the right hire. As fans we should get behind whomever that is 100%.

[UcatsRick]

Mike Tomlin has won a Super Bowl.
Pete Carroll has won a National Championship.
Brian Kelly had (at the time) won a MAC Championship and a D1AA Championship.

Kevin Sumlin lost his first C-USA title game.

Apples and Oranges.

My point exactly. Every coach loses games sometime. Even the best. I bet they all lost games they should not have before they won the big one.

[slimm]

charlie weis is available...

[cafemerald]

Yup. Old and unmotivated. We need:

- Young. Mid forties.
- D1 HC experience. No coordinators or high school coaches.
- Offensive minded. No 3 yards in a cloud of dust.

I can think of some one whos a man and whos forty. MIIIIKKKKEEE GUNDY!

"Im a man! Im forty! Come after me!" (his direct quote when asked about the UC coaching position.

[norwoodbearcat]

I can think of some one whos a man and whos forty. MIIIIKKKKEEE GUNDY!

"Im a man! Im forty! Come after me!" (his direct quote when asked about the UC coaching position.

aha, thats one of the best coach meltdown clips ever.

[colocat]

We GET it on Sumlin, 41. Let it rest. I can guarantee you that this board has absolutely ZERO impact on who UC will hire, so your campaign does not matter. You first tried to tell us that Sumlin has been out of the midwest forever, before a simple search showed that he did not leave for Texas A&M until 2001, at age 36. I know you'll do everything you can to convince us that he can't be hired, just as you spent weeks talking gloom and doom before Kelly left. You often have some good insights. I'd love to hear some insights on who you actually like, and why.

There's not a lot to go on with Sumlin, since he only has 2 years of head coaching experience. His first year wasn't a lot better -- losses to Rice, Marshall, Colorado State, Air Force and Oklahoma State. Heck, even his recruiting is questionable, since his entire team is juniors and seniors (15 / 22 starters are upperclassmen) -- all we're going on when we say "good recruiter" is his Rivals/Scout ranknig.

He loses. A lot. And he loses to teams that aren't very good. This year he had a Heisman-level QB and a ranked team, and still crapped the bed THREE times to unranked teams.

I'm sorry, but the UTEP loss is the kind of thing that would get most coaches at big-time programs on the hot seat. UTEP got smacked around by Texas 64-7 and then came back to beat ranked Houston the next week 58-41 -- and UTEP is *terrible*. Then you add in the other unranked losses and it just compounds the problem.

Houston isn't a bad team; they beat a pretty good Oklahoma State team fairly soundly. They're just inconsistent. I want no part of a coach with only 2 years experience and an "inconsistent" label that can be affixed. I don't demand perfection, but I don't think it's unfair to demand you beat at least 2 of the 3: UTEP, UCF and ECU.

[#41]

My point exactly. Every coach loses games sometime. Even the best. I bet they all lost games they should not have before they won the big one.

Except, in Kevin Sumlin's body of work -- he hasn't won the big one (even by CUSA standards). He's just lost lots of little ones.

I don't want to offer him a 3 year deal and find out, after year two, that the big one ain't coming.

[norwoodbearcat]

We GET it on Sumlin, 41. Let it rest. I can guarantee you that this board has absolutely ZERO impact on who UC will hire, so your campaign does not matter. You first tried to tell us that Sumlin has been out of the midwest forever, before a simple search showed that he did not leave for Texas A&M until 2001, at age 36. I know you'll do everything you can to convince us that he can't be hired, just as you spent weeks talking gloom and doom before Kelly left. You often have some good insights. I'd love to hear some insights on who you actually like, and why.

#41 post some real doom and gloom stuff but then makes up for it with some real good post. Im not to sure what to expect when I see his name before the message.