Sumlin finally feels like talking
Arizona’s new coach says he needed break after leaving A&M
In the days following his firing from Texas A&M, coach Kevin Sumlin said he had one overriding emotion in retreating to his home south of town: fatigue.
“The first week was a little bit tough, because I was really tired,” said Sumlin, introduced as Arizona’s new coach Tuesday at a news conference in Tucson, Ariz.
In speaking publicly for the first time about the weeks following his firing Nov. 26, Sumlin said friends and family called and checked on him, but for the most part, he didn’t feel much like interacting. He decided he needed to take flight, far from College Station and far from college football.
“I took some time, left the country for a little bit,” Sumlin said. “I went as far south as I could without crossing the equator. And I actually went four days without someone saying, ‘Hey, coach,’ and that was really good for me.”
Sumlin, 51-26 over six seasons at A&M, said he returned from his vacation refreshed and ready to delve into what the future held.
“I came back, sat down and started to assess some things,” he said.
Sumlin, 53, wouldn’t have had to work another day. He received a $10.3 million payout from A&M to not coach the Aggies over the final two years of his contract that paid $5 million annually.
Arizona revealed Tuesday that he’s agreed to a five-year contract worth $14.5 million, with $2 million annually over the first two years and $3.5 million annually over the last three years.
As spurned coaches and athletes are wont to do, Sumlin believes he has plenty to prove following his A&M tenure. He didn’t win any Southeastern Conference or division titles over his six years, and he had a 16-20 record in the SEC West.
Sumlin also coached four seasons at the University of Houston, putting together a 35-17 record before exiting for A&M.
In 10 seasons as a head coach, he’s won twice as many games (86-43) as he’s lost, and in his early 50s, he’s considered in his prime years as a college coach.
“Coach Sumlin is going to transform Arizona football, restore us to national prominence and championship football,” said Arizona president Bobby Robbins, who before moving to Tucson served as president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center from 2012-17.
A&M replaced Sumlin with Jimbo Fisher from Florida State, with the pledge (and a 10-year, $75 million contract) of also getting the Aggies back to championship football. A&M hasn’t won a conference title since 1998, when it was in the Big 12, and Arizona hasn’t won a Pac-12 title since 1993.
Both teams finished 7-6 this season, and Arizona fired Rich Rodriguez just after the new year when a claim was filed with state government citing a hostile work environment and a charge by his former assistant that he had fondled himself in front of her.
This week, Rodriguez, who has denied the assistant’s charge but admitted to an extramarital affair included in the claim, posted a note on Twitter welcoming Sumlin and opining, “I’m sure he will have great success with the most remarkable group of football student-athletes in the country.”
At least one is remarkable: junior quarterback Khalil Tate, who will earn mention in the offseason as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Sumlin inherited a couple of remarkable quarterbacks at UH (Case Keenum) and A&M ( Johnny Manziel), with Keenum leading the Vikings to this weekend’s NFC Championship Game at Philadelphia and Manziel winning the 2012 Heisman.
While Sumlin was assessing his future following his firing, which likely would have included a television gig if he had not hopped right back into coaching, he kept his promise as a speaker at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Charlotte on Jan. 8.
“And people actually showed up to hear what I had to say, which was good because I wasn’t feeling like that four weeks ago,” Sumlin said with a smile. “And then being around your peers, you start to get your confidence back, and you start to look at some things.”
He chuckled when recalling most of the counsel aimed his way came from coaches who had hung up the headset for a microphone.
“It’s not the guys with (coaching) jobs who have advice,” he said. “It’s the guys who don’t have jobs who are on TV who have all kinds of advice. Because they don’t have anything to do, either.”