Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach who is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

for the Houston Gamblers of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). Sumlin served as the head football coach at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

from 2008 to 2011,

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...

from 2012 to 2017, and at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first ...

from 2018 to 2020.

Early life

Sumlin was born in

Brewton, Alabama Brewton is a city in and the county seat of Escambia County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 5,276. Brewton is located in south central Alabama, just north of the Florida Panhandle. Brewton was ranked as one ...

, on August 3, 1964. He later attended

Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School (BJPS) is a private college-preparatory school founded by the Jesuits and located on the northwest side of Indianapolis. It is a part of the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus and geographically located wi ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

. Following his prep career, Sumlin attended Purdue University and was a starting linebacker throughout his entire college career. He was a member of the

1984 Peach Bowl The 1984 Peach Bowl featured the Purdue Boilermakers of the Big Ten against the Virginia Cavaliers of the ACC. Virginia defeated Purdue 27–24 in the first bowl game in school history. Purdue jumped out to a 24–14 halftime lead, but Virginia ...

team and finished in the top 10 in total tackles with 375 (191 solo, 184 assisted) and in the top 20 in solo tackles with 191. He led the team in tackles during his freshman season of 1983 with 91 total tackles, (50 solo, 41 assisted). He was a teammate of players such as

Jim Everett James Samuel Everett III (born January 3, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Rams. He played college football for the Purdue Boilerma ...

, Hall of Famer

Rod Woodson Roderick Kevin Woodson (born March 10, 1965) is an American former professional football defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He is currently the Head Coach of the XFL's Vegas Vipers. Woodson was drafted in the ...

, fellow linebacker Fred Strickland, and long-time NFL players Mel Gray and Cris Dishman.

Coaching career

Early years

Sumlin served as an assistant coach at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

, and

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mo ...

(all, except for Minnesota, alongside

Joe Tiller Joseph Henry Tiller (December 7, 1942 – September 30, 2017) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at the University of Wyoming from 1991 to 1996 and Purdue University from 1997 to 2008, with a career record of know ...

); served as assistant head coach at Texas A&M for two years under R.C. Slocum; and for five years at

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

under

Bob Stoops Robert Anthony Stoops (born September 9, 1960) is an American football coach. He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 through the 2016 season, and on an interim basis during the 2021 Alamo Bowl. He led the Oklahom ...

, serving the last two years as co-

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach r ...

. In addition to Stoops and Slocum, he has served as an assistant coach under

Mike Price Michael Bruce Price (born April 6, 1946) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach at Weber State College from 1981 to 1988, Washington State University from 1989 to 2002, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) from 2004 ...

and

. While at Purdue,

Jim Chaney James Allen Chaney (born January 12, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is an offensive analyst for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. He previously served as an offensive analyst for the New Orleans Saints of the National F ...

and he aided Tiller in implementing the then-uncommonly used

spread offense :''"Spread offense" may also refer to the four corners offense in basketball.'' The spread offense is an offensive scheme in gridiron football that typically places the quarterback in the shotgun formation, and "spreads" the defense horizonta ...

, and the Boilermakers, with

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees i ...

as starting quarterback, broke a string of

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

passing records and made a surprise run to the

2001 Rose Bowl The 2001 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2001. It was the 87th Rose Bowl Game, and matched the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences. The University of Washington Huskies defeated the Purdue University ...

, Purdue's first Rose Bowl in three decades. He left for

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

to serve as the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach for two seasons before joining the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

. In his final year with the Oklahoma Sooners, Sumlin's offense was one of the best in the country, averaging 44 points per game.Mark Schlabach
Yellow Jackets, Wolverines, Midshipmen earn high marks
ESPN.com, December 17, 2007.

Head coaching career

In December 2007, Sumlin was hired as the head coach of the

. In December 2009, Sumlin was announced as a finalist for the

Paul "Bear" Bryant Award The American Heart Association (AHA) Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards are an annual awards banquet that is hosted each year in January, in Houston, Texas, by the AHA.For a list of American Heart Association offices, by state, go to: There are two aw ...

. In 2011, Sumlin coached

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

to a 12–0 start before losing the Conference USA Championship Game to the

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Miss ...

. On December 10, 2011, Sumlin told his players he was leaving Houston, effective immediately, to accept a job at another school. KRIV in Houston and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's Joe Schad both reported that Sumlin was to become the new coach at

. Special-teams coordinator

Tony Levine Tony Levine (born October 28, 1972) is a former American football coach who last coached at Purdue as the special teams coordinator, co-offensive coordinator, and tight ends coach. He is a former head coach for the Houston Cougars football team. L ...

coached Houston in the

2012 TicketCity Bowl The 2012 TicketCity Bowl, the second edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on January 2, 2012, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, as one of the 2011–12 NCAA football bowl games. The game, which wa ...

.Berman, Mark
Kevin Sumlin is Leaving the University of Houston
KRIV, December 10, 2011. In 2012, Sumlin named quarterback

Johnny Manziel Johnathan Paul Manziel ( ; born December 6, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the FCF Zappers of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and was also a me ...

his starter. Manziel went on to win the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

and Sumlin took Texas A&M, in their first year in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

, to an 11–2 record, including victories over then No. 1

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

in Tuscaloosa, and No. 11

in the AT&T Cotton Bowl. The Aggies finished the 2012 season ranked in the top five of both the Coaches Poll and the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and br ...

for the first time since 1956. Texas A&M also led the SEC in total offense, total scoring offense, and total rushing yards, and led the nation in third down conversion percentage. Sumlin and the Aggies became the first SEC team in history to amass over 7,000 yards in total offense. Coach Sumlin was the first head coach to win more than eight games in his first season as head coach. On November 30, 2013, Sumlin agreed to a new six-year contract as head coach at Texas A&M. The contract, valued at $30 million over six years, was guaranteed. If Texas A&M had fired him after the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the buyout amounts ($20 million and $15 million, respectively) would have had to be paid out within 60 days of termination. On November 21, 2017, news outlets reported that Sumlin would be fired following the 2017 season finale against LSU. On November 26, 2017, Sumlin was fired after six seasons. He compiled a 51–26 record during his tenure. Despite never posting a losing record as the coach of A&M, he only won more than nine games once, and only had one winning record in SEC play. Sumlin received a $10.4 million buyout under the terms of his contract, and was replaced by

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State, where his team won the 2014 BCS ...

for the 2018 season. On January 14, 2018, Sumlin was hired as the

's head coach. Sumlin suffered perhaps the worst defeat of his coaching career when his University of Arizona team lost to their traditional in-state rival Arizona State on December 11, 2020, by a score of 70–7. The following day, Sumlin was fired. On January 6, 2022, Sumlin was named the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers of the

Head coaching record

NCAA

USFL

Notes

References

External links

Arizona profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumlin, Kevin 1964 births Living people African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football American football linebackers Arizona Wildcats football coaches Coaches of American football from Alabama Coaches of American football from Indiana Houston Cougars football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football coaches People from Brewton, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama Players of American football from Indiana Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football players Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Washington State Cougars football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football coaches Houston Gamblers (2022) coaches