Kevin Sumlin
Kevin Sumlin went 95–63 as a head coach, 2008–2020, at Houston, Texas A&M and Arizona. Share
- Record
- 95–63 career
- Seasons
- 13
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 1 season
- Born
- Aug 3, 1964
- Alma mater
- Purdue 1988
- Best season
- 2012 11–2, No. 5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Houston | 8–5 | 3rd | Armed Forces Bowl W | ||
| 2009 | Houston | 10–4 | 1st | Armed Forces Bowl L | ||
| 2010 | Houston | 5–7 | 3rd | |||
| 2011 | Houston | 12–1 | 1st | TicketCity (not coached) | ||
| 2012 | Texas A&M | 11–2 | T–2nd | Cotton Bowl W | 5 | |
| 2013 | Texas A&M | 9–4 | 4th | Chick-fil-A Bowl W | 18 | |
| 2014 | Texas A&M | 8–5 | 5th | Liberty Bowl W | ||
| 2015 | Texas A&M | 8–5 | T–5th | Music City Bowl L | ||
| 2016 | Texas A&M | 8–5 | 4th | Texas Bowl L | ||
| 2017 | Texas A&M | 7–5 | T–4th | Belk (not coached) | ||
| 2018 | Arizona | 5–7 | T–3rd | |||
| 2019 | Arizona | 4–8 | 6th | |||
| 2020 | Arizona | 0–5 | 6th |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Germain IfediNo. 31 pick, 2016- Cedric OgbuehiNo. 21 pick, 2015
- Trevor Knight2016 Wuerffel Trophy
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 37 | 16–21 | 43% |
| Against top-10 teams | 16 | 5–11 | 31% |
| Against rivals | 32 | 18–14 | 56% |
| Conference games | 103 | 55–48 | 53% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 7 | 4–3 | 57% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 57 | 31–26 | 54% |
| At home | 81 | 54–27 | 67% |
| On the road | 64 | 32–32 | 50% |
| At neutral sites | 13 | 9–4 | 69% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 105 | 75–30 | 71% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 53 | 20–33 | 38% |
His own 158 games on file, 2008–2020, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dan Mullen 2009–2017 | 4–4 | Mississippi State | 8 | |
| June Jones 2008–2013 | 6–0 | SMU | 6 | |
| David Bailiff 2008–2014 | 4–2 | Rice | 6 | |
| Nick Saban 2012–2017 | 1–5 | Alabama | 6 | |
| Bret Bielema 2013–2017 | 5–0 | Arkansas | 5 | |
| Hugh Freeze 2012–2016 | 2–3 | Ole Miss | 5 | |
| Gus Malzahn 2013–2017 | 2–3 | Auburn | 5 | |
| Mike Price 2008–2011 | 3–1 | UTEP | 4 | |
| Todd Graham 2008–2015 | 3–1 | Tulsa, Arizona State | 4 | |
| Les Miles 2012–2015 | 0–4 | LSU | 4 |
Kevin Sumlin’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi Stateseries | 8 | 4–4 |
| SMUseries | 7 | 7–0 |
| UCLAseries | 7 | 3–4 |
| Arkansasseries | 6 | 6–0 |
| Riceseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Auburnseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Ole Missseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Alabamaseries | 6 | 1–5 |
How he was hired
- Hired by Arizona for the 2018 season from Texas A&M, where he was head coach. He had a prior connection to the school.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989–90 | Washington State | Graduate assistant | |
| 1991–92 | Wyoming | Wide receivers coach | |
| 1993–96 | Minnesota | Wide receivers coach | |
| 1997 | Minnesota | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 1998–2000 | Purdue | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2001 | Texas A&M | Assistant head coach and wide receivers coach | |
| 2002 | Texas A&M | Offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and wide receivers coach | |
| 2003–05 | Oklahoma | Tight ends and special teams coach | |
| 2006–07 | Oklahoma | Co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| 2008–11 | Houston | Head coach | |
| 2012–17 | Texas A&M | Head coach | |
| 2018–20 | Arizona | Head coach | |
| 2021 | Alabama | Analyst | |
| 2022 | Houston Gamblers USFL | Head coach | |
| 2023–24 | Maryland | Assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| 2026 | Houston Gamblers USFL | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Mike PriceWashington State
- Joe TillerWyoming, Purdue
- Jim WackerMinnesota
- Glen MasonMinnesota
- R.C. SlocumTexas A&M
- Bob StoopsOklahoma
- Nick SabanAlabama
- Mike LocksleyMaryland
Assistants who became head coaches
- Clarence McKinneyTexas Southern
- Dana HolgorsenWest Virginia, Houston
- Jason PhillipsHouston, Texas State, Baylor, SMU, Kansas, Oregon State, Utah State, Jackson State, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Colorado
- Leon BurtnettPurdue
- Tony LevineHouston
- Jake SpavitalTexas State
- Eric MorrisNorth Texas, Oklahoma State, Incarnate Word
- Kliff KingsburyTexas Tech, Arizona Cardinals
- Lee HaysSul Ross
- Brian PolianNevada, John Carroll
- David BeatyKansas
- Mark SnyderMarshall, Shawnee State
- and 5 more
Worked under (8)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Price | Washington State | 1989–90 | Graduate assistant | |
| Joe Tiller | Wyoming | 1991–92 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Jim Wacker | Minnesota | 1993–96 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Glen Mason | Minnesota | 1997 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Joe Tiller | Purdue | 1998–2000 | Wide receivers coach | |
| R.C. Slocum | Texas A&M | 2001–02 | 2001: assistant head coach and wide receivers coach; 2002: offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and wide receivers coach | |
| Bob Stoops | Oklahoma | 2003–07 | 2003–05: tight ends and special teams coach; 2006–07: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Nick Saban | Alabama | 2021 | Analyst | |
| Mike Locksley | Maryland | 2023–24 | Assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (17)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clarence McKinney | Houston, 2008–09: running backs coach; 2010–11: running backs coach and recruiting coordinator; Texas A&M, 2012, 2014–17: running backs coach; 2013: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; Arizona, 2018: assistant head coach and running backs coach | Texas Southern | |
| Dana Holgorsen | Houston, 2008–09: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | West Virginia, Houston | |
| Jason Phillips | Houston, 2008, 2010–11: co-offensive coordinator | Houston, Texas State, Baylor, SMU, Kansas, Oregon State, Utah State, Jackson State, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Colorado | |
| Leon Burtnett | Houston, 2008–10: linebackers coach; 2011: director of player personnel and quality control coach | Purdue | |
| Tony Levine | Houston, 2008–11: special teams and tight ends coach and outside wide receivers | Houston | |
| Jake Spavital | Houston, 2009: graduate assistant; Texas A&M, 2013: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2014–15: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Texas State | |
| Eric Morris | Houston, 2010: assistant offensive quality control coach; 2011: graduate assistant | North Texas, Oklahoma State, Incarnate Word | |
| Kliff Kingsbury | Houston, 2010–11: co-offensive coordinator; Texas A&M, 2012: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Texas Tech, Arizona Cardinals | |
| Lee Hays | Houston, 2010: offensive line coach | Sul Ross | |
| Brian Polian | Texas A&M, 2012: special teams and tight ends coach | Nevada, John Carroll | |
| David Beaty | Texas A&M, 2012: wide receivers coach; 2013–14: wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator; Houston Gamblers, 2022: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | Kansas | |
| Mark Snyder | Texas A&M, 2012–14: defensive coordinator; Houston Gamblers, 2022: linebackers coach | Marshall, Shawnee State | |
| Jeff Banks | Texas A&M, 2013–17: tight ends and special teams coach | Texas A&M | |
| Dave Christensen | Texas A&M, 2015: offensive line coach and running game coordinator | Wyoming, Spokane Falls | |
| Ron Cooper | Texas A&M, 2017: defensive backs coach | Eastern Michigan, Louisville, Alabama A&M, Long Island University | |
| Paul Rhoads | Arizona, 2020: defensive coordinator | Iowa State | |
| Tim Lewis | Houston Gamblers, 2022: defensive coordinator | Birmingham Iron |
Other assistants under him (11)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| John Skladany | Houston, 2008–09: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Brian Stewart | Houston, 2010–11: defensive coordinator | |
| Jamie Bryant | Houston, 2011: linebackers coach | |
| Marcel Yates | Texas A&M, 2012–13: co-defensive coordinator; Arizona, 2018–19: defensive coordinator | |
| Mark Hagen | Texas A&M, 2014: defensive coordinator | |
| John Chavis | Texas A&M, 2015–17: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Noel Mazzone | Texas A&M, 2016–17: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Arizona, 2018–20: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Conner McQueen | Texas A&M, 2017: offensive quality control coach | |
| Jerry Neuheisel | Texas A&M, 2017: quality control coach | |
| Tyrone Nix | Texas A&M, 2017: defensive analyst | |
| Chuck Cecil | Arizona, 2018–20: senior defensive analyst; 2019: interim defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Texas A&M | head coachbonuses up to $1,050,000; $100,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $10,416,667 | $5,000,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Texas A&M | head coachbonuses up to $1,350,000; $50,000 in bonuses paid | $5,000,000 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Texas A&M | head coachbonuses up to $1,350,000; $50,000 in bonuses paid | $5,000,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Texas A&M | head coachbonuses up to $750,000 | $5,006,000 USA Today | |
| 2013 | Texas A&M | head coachbonuses up to $750,000 | $3,100,300 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2012 | Texas A&M | head coachbonuses up to $625,000 | $2,436,300 USA Today via Leeds |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Sumlin’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 32% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 55% of plays and took 20.9 seconds a play, 2008–2020.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 11 g | Houston | 16 of 68 24% | 35% | 61% | 20.4 | +0.11 | |
| 2009 14 g | Houston | 21 of 89 24% | 28% | 66% | 18.5 | +0.17 | |
| 2010 12 g | Houston | 19 of 68 28% | 37% | 55% | 17.2 | +0.10 | |
| 2011 14 g | Houston | 25 of 92 27% | 43% | 63% | 19.3 | +0.24 | |
| 2012 13 g | Texas A&M | 13 of 71 18% | 33% | 50% | 21.2 | +0.19 | |
| 2013 13 g | Texas A&M | 17 of 74 23% | 38% | 52% | 21.6 | +0.26 | |
| 2014 13 g | Texas A&M | 19 of 95 20% | 33% | 58% | 21.6 | +0.11 | |
| 2015 13 g | Texas A&M | 19 of 109 17% | 27% | 53% | 21.6 | −0.05 | |
| 2016 13 g | Texas A&M | 17 of 109 16% | 25% | 51% | 21.5 | +0.08 | |
| 2017 13 g | Texas A&M | 13 of 117 11% | 23% | 50% | 23.3 | +0.02 | |
| 2018 12 g | Arizona | 17 of 87 20% | 27% | 47% | 22.3 | +0.10 | |
| 2019 12 g | Arizona | 20 of 95 21% | 34% | 52% | 22.2 | +0.12 | |
| 2020 5 g | Arizona | 12 of 44 27% | 39% | 55% | 22.0 | −0.10 | |
| All 158 g | 228 of 1118 20% | 32% | 55% | 20.9 | +0.12 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.