Kevin Sumlin’s time at Texas A&M is coming to an end
By Jack Crosby
After a miserable loss to Auburn, it’s now evident more than ever that Kevin Sumlin’s time in College Station should be coming to an end.
It seems like forever ago that Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin was being anointed as the next big leader of young men in college football. Back in 2012, after a successful stint as the head coach at the University of Houston, Sumlin took over the Aggies and led them to an 11-2 record behind a Heisman quarterback in Johnny Manziel, and one of those 11 wins was an upset of Alabama that fans will never forget. Sumlin was, indeed, the hottest new coach in college football and it seemed he and his Texas A&M program had nothing but even brighter days ahead as a member of the vaunted SEC West.
Well, things haven’t exactly worked out that way. While Sumlin won nine games with Manziel as his quarterback once again in 2013, he’s stumbled his way through three consecutive 8-5 seasons, which includes losing his last two bowl games. There have been some ugly losses along the way, losses in which fans who once gushed over him were now calling for his head. Throughout the course of the last three seasons, Sumlin has consistently been on hot seat lists all over the media.
After a 42-27 loss on Saturday to fellow SEC West member Auburn that now drops Sumlin and the Aggies to 5-4 on the year and 3-3 in the SEC, it’s evident now more than ever that Texas A&M cannot keep Sumlin around for these type of efforts any longer.
Simply put, there are no signs this team will improve enough at any point to legitimately compete in the SEC. Sumlin has been lauded as an offensive genius at times, yet coming into this weekend prior to the Auburn loss, they ranked 81st in the nation in total offense — hardly a comfortable position when Sumlin is the head coach. While the defensive side of the ball has shown flashes of improvement here and there, there’s no consistency in that department whatsoever. One week, you could get an Aggie defense that will surrender only 27 points to the No. 1 team in the country in Alabama, while another week you’ll get the A&M defense that will let UCLA come back from the dead as they did in Week 1.
Let’s not forget, also, Sumlin hasn’t exactly been lighting the recruiting trail on fire either. He hasn’t been ungodly awful by any means here, but many believed he’d be able to capitalize in recruiting in a major way after making a name for himself and his program in 2012, but that really hasn’t been the case.
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And one of the final reasons Sumlin needs to be removed as the head coach of Texas A&M lies with his inability to win big games near the end of the season. In recent years, we’ve been wooed into falling in love with his teams early in the season, only to see them tail off in embarrassing manners as the seasons grow older.
Kevin Sumlin did do some good for the Texas A&M Aggies football program and there were some moments we’ll never forget — for better or worse. But, the remaining three games of this season should be the last we see him on the sidelines manning this Texas A&M program.