Players left caught in the middle by changes in coaches
Kevin Sumlin sat in a recruit’s living room in a suburb north of Houston. The young football star was still weighing his college options. He and his mother had met with a few coaches, several notable ones.
But something felt right about Texas A&M. He committed that evening and signed a few months later.
“It was Coach Sumlin,” said the A&M player, who wished to remain anonymous. “He’s the reason I came here. When he talked to me, it felt like the right place, the right fit.
“So this has been a hard couple weeks.”
Like so many others, the player signed with a school because of his connection to the coach.
So when Sumlin was fired Sunday, he was left in a program in transition.
“It’s nothing against whoever the new coach is going to be,” he said. “But I came here to play for Coach Sumlin, and now he’s gone.”
He’s not the only one who was down on the decision.
Current and former players took to social media to express their displeasure with Sumlin’s dismissal.
It was reminiscent of a year before, when the University of Texas fired Charlie Strong.
Several Longhorn recruits had tough decisions to make and current players were left to adjust to a new coach and new system.
It’s part of college football, but a part a lot of recruits wish they could avoid.
For so many players, the relationship to a coach is the No. 1 reason to attend a school.
While experts will tell students
to choose a team based on the school, it doesn’t always work that way.
A lot of universities have great academic programs and options. But a coach and his style and system are key to a recruit’s decision.
With the constant changes in coaching and the unstable nature of college football, those decisions are getting even tougher.
“I chose A&M for Coach Sumlin’s staff and the culture they wanted to build,” the player said. “He didn’t even really get the chance to build that culture all the way.”
Chris Gunnell and his family have some waiting to do and then some decisions to make regarding the situation at Texas A&M.
He has a son, William, who is a receiver at A&M, and a younger one, Grant, a 6-6 junior at St. Pius X who has committed to A&M.
Grant, a highly touted pro-style quarterback, had 35 Division I offers and picked A&M before his junior season.
“We really felt like the program was stable,” Chris said.
The coaching staff, particularly Sumlin and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone, was the reason Grant picked the Aggies over Alabama, Florida State and Notre Dame.
“You really do connect with people and with the style and system,” Chris said. “Grant’s a quarterback, so the system matters a lot.”
The Gunnells are on hold right now while A&M is between coaches.
“We have to wait and see if the new coach wants Grant, then have to decide if it’s the right program for him,” Chris said. “There’s some anxiety about it.”
Right now, Grant is focused on the playoffs. St. Pius X is in the state semifinals this weekend, so he can think about that and put off major college decisions.
“It’s tough,” said a senior football player at Texas who went through a coaching last season when Strong was replaced by Tom Herman. “Coach Strong meant a lot to me, and he’s a big reason I came to play here.
“But I have bonded with my teammates and I love the University of Texas and want to graduate from here, so I adjusted and so did a lot of my team after Coach Strong left.”
The constant changes and the coaching carousel that never slows down year after year doesn’t just impact the coaches who have to uproot their lives and families. It also changes the lives of recruits and current players who are left deciding what to do next.
While some teams and programs seem stable, there are no guarantees when it comes to the employment of a coach.
“It’s disappointing,” Chris said. “We really respected Coach Sumlin and what he was doing at Texas A&M, and we thought he was doing a good job. We just have to see what happens next.”
For the A&M player who is still reeling from the departure of Sumlin, he and his teammates are leaning on each other and eager to hear what will happen next.
“We are just waiting,” he said. “And I think we are just hoping that we fit with the new coaching staff. For now, we can just focus on classes and finals and hopefully we will have an idea of what will happen next soon.”