Would you be happy initially with Sumlin?

[combes1]

My godson plays for Sumlin and likes him a lot. Very offensive oriented, though. He would need to bring a top defensive coordinator type with him.

In fairness to Sumlin, he lost a Heisman candidate at quarterback during the UCLA game. The Rice loss was a bad one. Mississippi State is pretty good. Beat Florida a couple of weeks ago. Houston bounced back and beat a decent SMU team last week.

My godson is now the quarterback. True freshman. So there was some growing pains, although he threw for 301 yards in his first start against Mississippi State. He led the team to 31 points against Rice, but the defense was awful as they gave up 34. Last week, the defense played better and they scored 47 points.

Obviously, I am proud of my godson. He was the quarterback at South Lake Carroll in Texas. Before him, the SMU quarterback played there. Before him, McElroy the Alabama quarterback played there. And before him it was Chase Daniel of Missouri. So it is a big time qb school.

Back to Sumlin, he is very well respected by fans and players down there. He has a Big Ten background. It would be interesting if his offense would succeed in this league, though.

 

[Seniorsmoke]

My godson plays for Sumlin and likes him a lot. Very offensive oriented, though. He would need to bring a top defensive coordinator type with him.

In fairness to Sumlin, he lost a Heisman candidate at quarterback during the UCLA game. The Rice loss was a bad one. Mississippi State is pretty good. Beat Florida a couple of weeks ago. Houston bounced back and beat a decent SMU team last week.

My godson is now the quarterback. True freshman. So there was some growing pains, although he threw for 301 yards in his first start against Mississippi State. He led the team to 31 points against Rice, but the defense was awful as they gave up 34. Last week, the defense played better and they scored 47 points.

Obviously, I am proud of my godson. He was the quarterback at South Lake Carroll in Texas. Before him, the SMU quarterback played there. Before him, McElroy the Alabama quarterback played there. And before him it was Chase Daniel of Missouri. So it is a big time qb school.

Back to Sumlin, he is very well respected by fans and players down there. He has a Big Ten background. It would be interesting if his offense would succeed in this league, though.

Thanks for the insight. Perhaps you can give a more educated viewpoint and Sumlin the recruiter as I am sure your godson had other choices on where to attend school.

 

[howeda7]

In the end, I would be fine with Sumlin, but right now I view him as a fall-back candidate. Fair or not, Maturi and Bruicks have set the bar higher.

And if we don't get someone like Belotti, Richt, Fulmer, Shannon or another current BCS coach, I will assume they struck out and failed to do thier job. Either by shooting off thier mouth and setting bar too high or simply by whiffing/scaring off the viable options. Needless to say I don't have much confidence in our current A/D to do his job, so if Sumlin is where we end up, I'll be thrilled it's not Trestman or Mike Grant.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

If anyone big wanted Sumlin, he would have been hired. His teams have poor defenses, he has almost no HC experience and is a kind of media hype type of candidate - young, promising, some ties to MN, etc. Paying him 2.5 mil would be insane and hiring him at all would be borderline suicidal. We've been doing this for 40 years - hiring people who kinda, mighta, shoulda been good - maybe - if they develop, etc. Go for a proven big time top conference winner and pay 2.5 mil or more. Forget about Calhoun, Shannon, Sumlin, and even Golden.

 

[Seniorsmoke]

If anyone big wanted Sumlin, he would have been hired. His teams have poor defenses, he has almost no HC experience and is a kind of media hype type of candidate - young, promising, some ties to MN, etc. Paying him 2.5 mil would be insane and hiring him at all would be borderline suicidal. We've been doing this for 40 years - hiring people who kinda, mighta, shoulda been good - maybe - if they develop, etc. Go for a proven big time top conference winner and pay 2.5 mil or more. Forget about Calhoun, Shannon, Sumlin, and even Golden.

That FACT that Sumlin spurned interview requests from BCS schools with much more recent success than the Gophers this past offseason makes you first statement 100% incorrect.

 

[corcoran1]

He did not rebuild that program from scratch. To me he is still an unproven coach. He is not worth close to $2.5 million per year.

 

[50PoundHead]

I expect the UM to contact the top names. If we get turned down, at least we tried. How do we know that? I would guess the Harbaugh types want no publicity with this.

Belotti comes before Sumlin in my world. Then Golden.

If we have run through the top dogs still searching, Sumlin would be OK.

+1

 

[Sumtimegophs]

he has almost no HC experience

This is really a hollow argument that tires me, especially since most of your cohorts are, or would, drool over Jim Harbaugh.

Sumlin is in his third year of being a HC at a FBS school. Jim Harbaugh went to Stanford AFTER his 3rd year at the University of San Diego, a non-scholarship DIAA school playing in the Pioneer League that loses regularly to DIII schools.

It is hilarious that the mighty Gopher fans would sprun a FBS HC because "he has almost no HC experience" when other lesser football schools such as Stanford would embrace them. I guess 40 years of futility isn't enough to humble some of us to the point were we would simply accept a coach with SOME HC experience rather than a used car salesman from Denver.

 

[Donovan]

Yes please. A young energetic coach with a winning record and a proven track record as a good recruiter.

I view him as a 1b right behind Harbaugh, Peterson and Patterson and even with Bellotti and Mullen.

+1

 

[Triple D]

Sumlin would definitely not give me a boner or anything but I could support that hire.

The only football coach that could give me a boner is Goldie Hawn in Wildcats.

I voted no, he is in my second tier, if we settle for second tier I would be happy with him, but he's no Goldie Hawn. Now that I think about it, why not hire her, she is name qualified, but I guess we might be going younger.

 

[littlebigboy]

ABSOLUTELY NOT! He is a knee jerk candidate. He would not turn this program around. HE is not the man. Just an average D-I coach!

 

[SquidWeber]

Leach is the best choice and Sumlin is 2nd imwo.

 

[ruralgopher]

His resume doesn't in any way stack up against leach's. Leach had better ranked defenses and was defending big time opponents.

 

[imthewalrus]

I always liked Sumlin when he was an assistant coach here.

I was disappointed when he left here. I think he would be a great choice for a coach.

I also think he would evaluate the talent that will be at Minnesota when he would come here and would devise a way to be as competetive as possible starting from GAME ONE. I don't think he would feel that he had a "throw away season..." the way the Brewster thought he had a whole season to waste. (As a result, Brewster was pretty much d.o.a. here at Minnesota. He didn't stand a chance of surviving after that first 1-11 season, 0-8 in Big Ten play.) I believe he would realize that EVERY Big Ten game is crucial and that even ONE Big Ten win is far superior to zero Big Ten wins.

Sumlin would NOT come in and go 1-11 the way Brewster did in year number one. Sumlin IS a coach. Brewster was NOT a coach. Brewster wanted to be a "gm/recruiter." Sumlin wants to coach! Sumlin would surround himself with assistants he knows will share his core beliefs about offense and defense and can assist him in coaching up the talent he has in executing the fundamentals essential to those systems and beliefs of offense and defense. The direction and core beliefs would come directly from Sumlin and then be taught and coached by his assistants.

Brewster surrounded himself with "rent a coordinators" that he thought could fill him in and perhaps show him a core belief in offense and defense. And when none of them could do it, he replaced them with new coordinators...or, when those coordinators saw that Brewster couldn't do it and that Brewster didn't "get it" they moved on. Brewster did not have a CORE concept of what HIS football philosophy was. He was committed to no offense or defense. And, it showed.

Sumlin is a great candidate and it is time for Maturi and Prexy B to just "do it" and get Sumlin hired. Sumlin KNOWS that this job is all about being competetive with Iowa and Wisconsin. Sumlin KNOWS that the Big Ten record matters more than " fantasy recruiting star rankings..." Big Ten wins minus Big Ten losses will always determine how a Big Ten Coach is evaluated, judged, ranked and stays a Big Ten Coach. Sumlin spent 5 seasons at the University of Minnesota. Sumlin KNOWS a lot about the challenges and the positives about the Minnesota job.

Hire Sumlin now!

 

[Seniorsmoke]

ABSOLUTELY NOT! He is a knee jerk candidate. He would not turn this program around. HE is not the man. Just an average D-I coach!

Just so we are clear on what an average D-1 coach is:

-Led Houston to first bowl victory in 20 plus years
-3 victories over Top 25 teams (2 on the road and 1 of these against the 5th ranked team in the country)
-Has had team ranked in the Top 25 for 12 weeks during his tenure reaching as high as #12
-Team led the nation in Offense last year

All of this done in less than 3 years on the job. I'm thinking average at best.

 

[50PoundHead]

Sumlin would NOT come in and go 1-11 the way Brewster did in year number one. Sumlin IS a coach. Brewster was NOT a coach. Brewster wanted to be a "gm/recruiter." Sumlin wants to coach! Sumlin would surround himself with assistants he knows will share his core beliefs about offense and defense and can coach up the talent in those systems and beliefs about offense and defense. The direction and core belief would come directly from Sumlin. Brewster surrounded himself with "rent a coordinators" that he thought could fill him in and perhaps show him a core belief in offense and defense. And when none of them could do it, he replaced them with new coordinators...or, when those coordinators saw that Brewster couldn't do it and that Brewster didn't "get it" they moved on. Brewster did not have a CORE concept of what HIS football philosophy was. He was committed to no offense or defense. And, it showed.

To me, this is the number one thing that must be avoided in the next coaching hire. I don't care if the new coach runs the "lonesome polecat" offense and the old St. Peter high school "eleven men up" defense (well, maybe I care a little about that), I want someone hired who has a solid idea of who he is and what he wants to accomplish. As Brewster's tenure wore on, I saw him more as a good football guy who simply wanted to "win now with any scheme" as opposed to creating a foundation and building on it. That may work for a season or two, but we need a guy who is in for the long haul.

 

[Stan The Caddy]

the old St. Peter high school "eleven men up" defense (well, maybe I care a little about that), .

The Radar Defense was the best ever!

 

[Plinnius]

Sumlin would NOT come in and go 1-11 the way Brewster did in year number one.

Why would he go 1-11?

Sumlin would surround himself with assistants he knows will share his core beliefs about offense and defense and can assist him in coaching up the talent he has in executing the fundamentals essential to those systems and beliefs of offense and defense. The direction and core beliefs would come directly from Sumlin and then be taught and coached by his assistants.

Why do you think that?

 

[Plinnius]

Just so we are clear on what an average D-1 coach is:

-Led Houston to first bowl victory in 20 plus years
-3 victories over Top 25 teams (2 on the road and 1 of these against the 5th ranked team in the country)
-Has had team ranked in the Top 25 for 12 weeks during his tenure reaching as high as #12
-Team led the nation in Offense last year

All of this done in less than 3 years on the job. I'm thinking average at best.

How is Sumlin responsible for any of that? They're Art Briles' players and it's Art Briles'/Texas Tech's system.

 

[50PoundHead]

The Radar Defense was the best ever!

It was certainly fun to watch!

 

[imthewalrus]

Brewster propaganda stated long before he ever coached a game that...

he head coached in. At North Carolina, he and mac brown won only one game the first TWO seasons. He went on to "throw away" the 2007 season here at Minnesota in that same frame of mind. He also tanked big time in the second half of the 2008 season. He won zero border battle games and zero trophy games. His motto was "wait until tomorrow..." Well, we all know that "tomorrow NEVER came with Brewster. At Minnesota you have GOT to figure out how to win the most games you can with what you have got. And, if you don't know what the heck you want to do anyway, what difference does it make whether you know what you have got or not? How can you recruit when you keep changing systems, schemes and core values the way Brewster did?????

Sumlin or any other coach could NOT do that at Minnesota and survive.

Brewster thought he could start out setting the bar EXTREMELY low for himself. In the process, he condemned himself to being fired at Minnesota. Brewster was a fool to think that kind of nonsense would ever sell.

 

[tpbeight]

How is Sumlin responsible for any of that? They're Art Briles' players and it's Art Briles'/Texas Tech's system.

So you can just install a system (TT's Air Raid) and because of the way it has been developed it will automatically work?

Sumlin coached those teams. A system is nothing without the staff to teach it. The Gophers tried Northwestern's offense, some BS pro-style offense, and now Wisconsin's offense and they all sucked. Why have those systems worked elsewhere, but not at Minnesota?

Writing off Sumlin because he's using "someone else's players & someone else's system" is ridiculous. He's in charge. He hired the staff and he coaches the team. Give the man his credit.

 

[Seniorsmoke]

How is Sumlin responsible for any of that? They're Art Briles' players and it's Art Briles'/Texas Tech's system.

Players don't coach themselves. Sumlin has taken Houston to levels they hadn't been in over 20 years including when Briles was there. Briles NEVER won a bowl game, NEVER had a Top 25 team. Have you watched Houston at all under Sumlin. I encourage you to do so and then let me know if it is Art Briles'/Texas Tech system that is run. Houston's last 2 victories have come from running the ball more than 45% of the time. He has changed his offense to suit is current team. Has won with rbs and wrs that HE recruited. The opinions that are thrown around on this forum with no actual factual evidence to support them is unbelievable. Maybe Sumlin is not everyone's cup of tea and have other favorite's for the job they would like. There are plenty of very good canidates being thrown around and the U would be lucky to have any of them considering where this program is. But to call Sumlin an avergae D-1 coach considering what he has done with a Conference USA team in under 3 years, is just plain worng.

 

[Mick Turition]

So Sumlin would be better than Brewster? You're really going out on a limb there.

Sumlin would be a non-exciting, relatively risky choice. He has a pass-happy offense and a poor defense. Leach has a longer record of winning with a pass -happy offense and a not-quite-as-bad defense playing a lot of games against Big12 competition. Why hire Sumlin when you can hire Leach?

 

[Seniorsmoke]

I guess whomever the next coach is, they should not be jugded at all until their 5th season here. That way no one can use the excuse that he won with someone else's players.

 

[Sumtimegophs]

So Sumlin would be better than Brewster? You're really going out on a limb there.

Sumlin would be a non-exciting, relatively risky choice. He has a pass-happy offense and a poor defense. Leach has a longer record of winning with a pass -happy offense and a not-quite-as-bad defense playing a lot of games against Big12 competition. Why hire Sumlin when you can hire Leach?

A quick question. Do you think it was risky for Stanford to hire Harbaugh given his previous experience?

As for Leach, I find it difficult to visualize a world-class academic institution like UMN hiring a very risky, ethically speaking, coach with the allegations hanging over him. If he wins his lawsuit, then yes, but until that happens I don't see UMN interested in the Leavitt's, Mangino's, or Leach's of he world.

 

[corcoran1]

To think Art Briles is not responsible for a lot of Houston's success is really naive. That does not mean Sumlin could not have done it, but it is not the same as the guy who goes in when things are at the bottom and stays until he shows results. He does get points for continuing what Briles got started, but comparing him with folks who have done the dirty work the first few years of a turnaround is not a fair comparison. Golden would have a much better claim to have done the whole job than Sumlin can claim.
I really do not want any coach who does not bring an aggressive, successful defensive record. I don't think you can win in the BigTen by outscoring people. You have to be able to stop ball control offenses.

 

[Mick Turition]

Not really, but did Stanford just fire a riskily hired coach in midseason before they signed Harbaugh? Leach and Sumlin run similar style offenses/defenses. One coach has a LOT more experience and wins against top level teams than the other coach. Which do you think a now extremely risk averse school is going to hire? Probably neither, but they will go with experience this time.

 

[Plinnius]

A system is nothing without the staff to teach it.

There's not much teaching involved with the Air Raid. It's very, very simplistic. Leach took less than a week to install it. Tony Franklin installed his version in just three days. ECU's offensive coordinator, who just turned 27 last month and barely has any coaching experience, smoothly installed it and has that offense humming.

The Gophers tried Northwestern's offense, some BS pro-style offense, and now Wisconsin's offense and they all sucked. Why have those systems worked elsewhere, but not at Minnesota?

We lack the talent, obviously.

 

[Sumtimegophs]

Not really, but did Stanford just fire a riskily hired coach in midseason before they signed Harbaugh? Leach and Sumlin run similar style offenses/defenses. One coach has a LOT more experience and wins against top level teams than the other coach. Which do you think a now extremely risk averse school is going to hire? Probably neither, but they will go with experience this time.

Okay, but Harbaugh's only HC experience was at a non-scholie DIAA school, and only 3 years just like Sumlin. I would have thought Harbaugh was way more risky than Sumlin given those circumstances.

The previous coach at Stanford was fairly successful at Pitt and moved on to Stanford, forget his name. The guy before him was Ty Willingham who was very successful at Stanford and left to be dismal at ND and Washington.