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2017 Aggie Football Season Prediction – Part 2

2017 Aggie Prediction Graphic

In last week’s post I talked about the team in general and how I think this year’s team is worse than last year’s team from a talent standpoint. The loss of Trevor Knight, Myles Garrett, and Josh Reynolds will be a major factor in how this team does and I think it does worse than last year. That won’t help Sumlin as I think Sumlin needs to win 9 games in the 2017 season to save his job. There’s an outside chance he could win 8 games but he’ll need that 8^th win to be against LSU and I’m not sure that’s possible. At the end of last season I thought the 2017 season would be a colossal failure with 6 wins being a major question.

Looking at the schedule again I think it’s possible there’s more than 6 wins this season. The schedule is not nearly as daunting as I originally thought. There’s a lot of winnable games. Now, that doesn’t mean there’s more wins than last season as we still have the same coaching staff that only won 8 games with a more talented team. Still, this schedule is more manageable for wins that I originally thought. The problem will be coaching.

For this exercise I’m looking at each game from a standpoint of if it’s winnable with the talent we have on the 2017 team and then if it’s winnable from the standpoint of the current coaching staff. I’m calling these two assessments WWT for Winable With Talent and SOS for Same Ol’ Sumlin. There is enough talent to win 9 games but I don’t think our coaching staff and most importantly the man who wears the #1 headset has the ability to win 9 games if the last 5 years are any indication.

Let’s get to the games.

UCLA:

This is an interesting game because UCLA was 4-8 last season and we beat them to open up the season. We had them handily beat but a late 4^th quarter come-back by UCLA sent this to overtime where the Aggies prevailed. Their 4-8 record is deceiving because they lost Josh Rosen halfway through last season and Rosen makes this a totally different team. Prior to Rosen going down in the Arizona State game they were 3-2 with wins over BYU and Arizona with losses to A&M and Stanford. They only lost to Arizona State 23-20 so it’s reasonable to think they win that game if Rosen doesn’t go down. He means a lot to this offense.

They lost quite a bit from last year’s team much like A&M but I think getting Rosen back will be the difference in the game. Their defense is susceptible and they lost some talented receivers. When I look at this matchup I feel that they have a good offensive line and outstanding QB so it’s really a fairly even matchup across the board as we have great defensive tackles. Their defense is susceptible as will be our offense with a new quarterback taking his first ever snaps under center or a quarterback that’s never beat a P5 team in multiple starts.

This is a winnable game but I don’t think Mazzone runs an offense different than last year’s and like always he’s just randomly picking plays over having a real plan to attack their defensive weaknesses. Rosen is going to put up points and we have to counter but I don’t think we do. We’ll be on the road with a new quarterback playing in an almost full stadium. It’ll be a beautiful sight everywhere except on the field for the Aggies. Winnable With Talent is a Yes but Same Ol’ Sumlin is a No here. Sumlin suffers his first loss of the season in game 1 although it’s a winnable game. Not the way to start the season.

SOS: 0-1; WWT: 1-0

Nicholls State and ULaLa:

Two Louisiana schools roll into Kyle Field and get Sumlin back to and above .500 before heading to Jerry World to take on Arkansas. I know ULaLa once beat us causing me to call R.C. Sloucm’s ex-wife to discuss the game but that was in Lafayette and Tupac had just been killed so the team wasn’t focused at all. At least that’s a rumor of why we lost that game. Rap seems to be in a peaceful place where any feuds are just words and not bullets so I think the Aggies are safe in both of these games.

SOS 2-1; WWT: 3-0

Arkansas:

This is the most fascinating series to me because after the Johnny Years when we went back to JerryWorld Arkansas has outplayed us for the most part. The games 2 and 3 years ago we had to make amazing fourth quarter comebacks to send it to overtime where we won out. Last year’s end result was a total ass kicking but had our defense not made some key stops, got some turnovers, and Trevor Knight not make two big runs we lose that game. We really do. While we’re 3-0 in the last three games of this series we could easily be 0-3 at the same time. Sumlin has been lucky these games.

I think Arkansas is similar to us in that they’re not as good as last year. I love their quarterback in Austin Allen as he’s as solid as they come but I think their offensive line is worse than last year and they don’t have the running game they had either. Defensively they’re just okay and not great. I think this is going to be a pretty ugly game but the Aggies win in the end. It’s definitely a winnable game and I think A&M continues their run against Arkansas as Sumlin has Beliema’s number although Sumlin has no clue how or why he does. Arkansas couldn’t definitely win this game though and it’s not a gimme. Still, I think the Aggies win.

SOS 3-1; WWT: 4-0

South Carolina:

Our “rival” in the East comes to Kyle Field to open up SEC play at Kyle. I think South Carolina is getting better under Muschamp but I think they have a long way to go to match A&M’s talent. This is an interesting game to me because I feel A&M is much better from a talent standpoint but Will Muschamp could see this as a winnable SEC game for his squad and pull out all the stops beating Sumlin. Not really a trap game but just South Carolina implementing some wrinkles A&M is not expecting at all. Muschamp knows he needs some SEC wins and a win over A&M would be a big feather in his hat. If Sumlin and the team take South Carolina lightly they’ll absolutely lose but for the first home SEC game of the season I think the Aggies win here.

SOS 4-1; WWT: 5-0

Alabama:

There isn’t ANY chance that A&M beats Alabama in 2017 even at Kyle Field. Not a single chance. I really think this could be a slaughter. Something like 45-7 and this is where the wheels start coming off the Sumlin wagon.

SOS 4-2; WWT: 5-1

Florida:

After getting pounded at home against Alabama the Aggies will have to turn around and head to The Swamp. Believe it or not I think this is a winnable game for the Aggies. I think Florida is a slightly better team but they’re not the Florida teams under Urban Meyer or even Muschamp’s first year. This is a team that went 8-4 getting pounded by Arkansas, Florida State, and Alabama while blowing a sizeable lead to what wound up being a mediocre Tennessee team. Their marque win was a 16-10 win against LSU in Baton Rouge in which they should have lost. They also barely beat Vandy 13-6. Still a really solid team but this is a winnable game with great coaching. However, we don’t have great coaching.

I think we lose but don’t be surprised if this is an Aggie win as this Florida team is really beatable despite what people think. McElwain is not an elite coach at all. They’re going to get pounded by Michigan to start the season. I just don’t think Sumlin can pull this one out after getting beat by Alabama but it’s entirely possible.

SOS: 4-3; WWT: 6-1

Mississippi State:

While MSU had our number last year I think we’ll take care of them this year at Kyle. This will likely be an 11:00 am game so we’ll return the favor they did to us last year. They have a great young quarterback but we’re still a more talented team and I think we’ll be looking for payback for what happened last year. I honestly think Mullen might be the second best coach in the SEC because what he does with MSU is remarkable. It really is. He’s as good as any coach in the SEC not named Nick Saban. He just doesn’t have the talent to compete with the other teams in conference. Aggies win this one no doubt.

SOS: 5-3; WWT: 7-1

Auburn:

I’m really torn on this game because I can’t figure out Gus Malzahn. At one point I thought he was a remarkable coach but I’m torn on him at the moment. They were 8-4 in the regular season last year but got pounded by OU in the Sugar Bowl. OU had a really good team but Auburn wasn’t even really competitive in that game. They’re not consistent at all. He didn’t have a quarterback last year but he had a pretty solid defense and they were kind of all over the place.

This year they have Jarrett Stidham under center which I think changes the dynamic of their team as Malzahn is at his best with an exceptional quarterback. I think Stidham is the difference in this game and Auburn beats A&M. This too is a winnable game for A&M with great coaching but I think the quarterback play will be the difference. It’ll be ironic as Sumlin has passed on recruiting Stidham twice. The first time he favored Kyler Murray over Sitdham and now there’s no Murray on the team. This last year he favored Kellen Mond over Stidham and Stidham went to Auburn. Might be kind of ironic if Stidham winds up being the reason Sumlin loses his job. This is a winnable game for the Aggies but Sumlin will find a way to blow it.

SOS: 5-4; WWT: 8-1

New Mexico:

This will likely be an 11:00 am game and will be the least attended game at Kyle Field all year. Maybe ever for the new Kyle. Ironically enough it’ll be Sumlin’s last game at Kyle and nobody will be there to see it. Sumlin will get the win but if there’s nobody there to watch it will it really matter?

SOS: 6-4; WWT: 9-1

Ole Miss:

I have no clue what to think on this one. This is the 11^th game of the year for Ole Miss and their season could go in two COMPLETELY different directions. Obviously Hugh Freeze is a moron off the field but I’ve always thought he was a moron on the field as well. Twice he let Johnny Football come back on him at home and then twice he won two games in which A&M completely vapor locked from a coaching standpoint. At Ole Miss two years ago Jake Spavital made a fool of himself and his precious note cards. The Aggie defense played well enough to win that game but Spav couldn’t get the offense to do anything. Last season Ole Miss scored 23 unanswered points in the 4^th quarter to beat A&M. It’s not anything Freeze did but the A&M coaching staff collapsed in those games.

Enter Matt Luke who was the offensive line coach for Ole Miss. I know nothing about this man but I do know he could be better than Hugh Freeze as a coach. He has an outstanding young quarterback in Shea Patterson. Luke is coaching for his life and has a decently talented team. Can he rally an Ole Miss team by coaching better than Freeze? I think it’s possible as Freeze’s bar wasn’t really high in my mind. Or is Luke a failure of a coach and by this game the whole Ole Miss team has quit making this an easy for win for the Aggies? I honestly have no clue because I don’t know anything about Luke as a head coach. A&M could be falling apart at this point as well with the team knowing Sumlin is gone.

Right now I’ll give Sumlin the benefit of the doubt in this game because interim coaches tend to be worse than the previous coach. At best I think Luke is Coach O at LSU last year but I think that’s a stretch. It’s entirely possible A&M loses this game but at this point I’ll give Sumlin the win.

SOS: 7-4; WWT: 10-1

LSU:

I promise I went through the list of games above independently not looking at the season as a whole. As it stands with my prediction Kevin Sumlin walks into Baton Rouge with his job on the line needing to get to 8 to have any chance of keeping his job. I didn’t do that by design but it could absolutely play out like that. If he goes 7-5 with a loss in Baton Rouge for his 6^th straight loss to LSU then he’s done. I don’t think there’s anything that will save him in the scenario. However, if he can pull off win 8 against LSU and especially with Mond as his quarterback he has a puncher’s chance of holding his job. I think he would hold it if that happens because his buyout is so much and he seems to be recruiting decently enough.

I’m not sure what to make of Coach O as head coach at LSU. He’s working with one of the most talented teams in the country with two outstanding coordinators and a dynamic running back but they still don’t have a quarterback. I was never a fan of Les Miles as he reminded me of Mack Brown. He beat the teams he was supposed to be beat with the talent he had but he had problems against more capable coaches.

I don’t see any way A&M beats LSU in this game but I don’t know what Coach O looks like over the course of an entire season. A part of me thinks he’s a super conservative coach that doesn’t want to make mistakes. Those are the kinds of coaches you can beat with an aggressive game plan. That’s not Sumlin but depending on how the season goes with Coach O along with what’s on the line for Sumlin this could be a winnable game if Sumlin has his back against the wall. I think this LSU team is too talented for this A&M team so LSU wins even with great coaching but by game 12 you never know what could happen with a job on the line.

I’m chalking this up to a loss even if Sumlin’s job is on the line and A&M comes out with an aggressive game plan. It’ll be too little too late and Sumlin will get his $10 million check and be on his way.

SOS: 7-5; WWT:10-2

Summary:

So there you have it. Kevin Sumlin will go 7-5 and this will be his final season in Aggieland. It’s possible with this schedule and the talent on the team to go 10-2 so Sumlin can save his job if he’s really focused. I don’t think he cares though. I think in the back of his mind he knows he’s getting $10 million no matter this year’s record. He doesn’t have it in him to make the changes needed in how he handles game preparation and in game management. I think that’s why there’s so much talk about the new strength and conditioning coach. He’s deflecting his shortcomings. As I’ve said time and time again it wasn’t strength and conditioning that lost those final 4 games to close out last season. It was mostly lack of good decision making by the head coach. He couldn’t see things before they happened and prepare the team. Instead he just looked shell shocked at the result.

I hate saying this but I equate this year’s Aggie football season to last year’s Presidential election. Don’t get stirred up by what happens prior to November. None of it matters. Don’t get worked up over what’s in the press or what happens in games. I equate games to the debates as they won’t be pretty at times and you’ll wonder if this is the best we have to offer. There will be a change in November and there’s nothing you can do about it. I just hope those in the decision making process give us something better than Hillary or Trump. If not, we might be wishing for Same Ol’ Sumlin…

Gig’ Em!

2017 Aggie Football Season Prediction – Part 1

I have no clue how the 2017 Aggie Football season will go. I don’t think Kevin Sumlin will be the Aggie head coach come December but I’m not sure of our final record. I think Kevin Sumlin has to win 8 games to even have any consideration of keeping his job. If he wins nine then he’s fine but I don’t know if he’ll get there. Based on last season I think 7 wins is the ceiling for this team. There’s no kool-aid to be drank here as far as the team goes but there is optimism in the schedule. Coming into the season I thought the schedule worked against us and doomed Kevin Sumlin but I don’t think it’s as bad as we originally thought based on looking at it little more.

I’ll go through my game by game prediction with a record prediction next week but for now I want to talk about the team in general which is where I see the most concern. This 2017 team has to start where the 2016 team ended and that’s not good. For a brief re-cap the 2016 is the team that lost to Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU, and then lost to Kansas State in the bowl game for which they had a month to prepare. That’s a pathetic ending to the season. Simply pathetic.

Against Mississippi State the team was simply not mentally prepared riding their #4 ranking. Sure, the loss of Trevor Knight during the game didn’t help along with Myles’ injury but there’s more talent on the A&M team than Mississippi State team and A&M should have won. The team thought they could sleep walk to a win and was wrong. That was on coaching.

The Ole Miss game was a complete choke job AT Kyle Field. We blew a 21-6 halftime lead AT Kyle Field to lose 29-28 to a guy starting his first college game ever as a TRUE freshman. That’s right, a Kevin Sumlin lead time let a TRUE freshman start his first game AT Kyle Field and overcome a 21-6 halftime deficit. I’m not even sure that’s the worst loss of the season. It should be but to me it’s not. I don’t even want to get into the LSU game. That game was a 54-39 shootout. That still boggles my mind. How did their inept offense score 54 points and then our pop gun offense score 39 points on them is beyond comprehension. I would have to watch film of that game a dozen times to figure it out and I have don’t have the time or desire.

To me the worst loss of the season came in our bowl game against Kansas State. In Houston in a stadium full of Aggies we let an inferior team beat us 33-28. That’s an infuriating loss. How does Kevin Sumlin let that happen? The team was not prepared despite having a month to get ready for a Bill Snyder team that just doesn’t make mistakes. They don’t do anything flashy but they just don’t make mistakes. That was a crappy KSU team and they owned Kevin Sumlin and the Aggies. Sumlin should have been fired for that loss. He really should have. Instead Sumlin blames his strength and conditioning coach for the collapse down the stretch and fires him as he’s the last coach Sumlin hasn’t fired other than himself. Meanwhile nobody is wondering how with a month to get our legs and stamina back we lose to KSU in a home bowl game. That is maddening. It really is. Larry Jackson was not the problem last year. Kevin Sumlin was. For the last half of the season he didn’t have his team prepared to beat a Power 5 conference team. He lost all 5 of the final games against Power 5 conference teams. That’s a major collapse beyond strength and conditioning.

Yet, all you’ve heard this off season is how amazing our new strength and conditioning coach is. People are really buying into the fact that our team will be totally different because for 5 seasons we had a total sham of a strength and conditioning program. I just don’t get how people are drinking so much maroon kool-aid because of a different strength and conditioning program. I have no doubt Mark Hocke is an outstanding strength and conditioning coach but I also have no doubt the issues with this team extend beyond the team’s strength and conditioning. It starts at the top with Sumlin.

The 2017 season will go beyond the issues at head coach as this team just isn’t as talented as last year’s. There might be more depth and experience at needed positions like linebacker and offensive line so that’s good but I’m not convinced that’s actually the case. Either way, this team lost the three most important players from last year. Those players in order of importance are Trevor Knight, Myles Garrett, and Josh Reynolds. Yes, I put Trevor before Myles.

There is no doubt the most productive quarterback in the Kevin Sumlin era is Johnny Manziel. Believe it or not there is also no doubt that Trevor Knight is the second most productive quarterback of the Sumlin era when it comes to wins and losses. It sure as hell isn’t Kenny Hill, Kyler Murray, or Jake Hubenak. A case could be made for Kyle Allen but Trevor Knight was 7-3 in games he started including the Mississippi State game which I think we win if he plays the full game. Trevor Knight is the second best quarterback in the Sumlin regime and now he’s gone and people are expecting this team to be better. I think we’re a 6-6 team at best last year without Trevor Knight. That’s why he’s the most important guy from last year. We certainly lose to Arkansas without him and likely lose one of UCLA, Auburn, and Tennessee without him if not all three. We might have had a losing season without Trevor Knight last year.

We’re going to start a quarterback at UCLA that has either never taken a snap at the college level or never won a game against a Power 5 team. Nick Starkel is not Johnny Manziel. Kellen Mond is not Jalen Hurts. Jake Hubenak is Jake Hubenak. This is our quarterback situation for the 2017 team. Trevor Knight was a fifth year senior and even though he lost his job to Baker Mayfield he did win a Sugar Bowl against Alabama. With all of that Trevor was still 7-3 as a starter. He was a little erratic as a passer but he was perfect for Mazzone’s zone read offense. I’m just not sure we’re going to have someone as good as Trevor under center this season. Mond could get be all world but I don’t think it’s going to happen as a true freshman. We shall see.

The loss of Myles is obvious. He was the #1 pick in the NFL draft and he was a one man Wrecking Crew even while injured. Teams looked to double team him (aka hold) and rolled plays away from his side. He was the focus for opposing offenses and now he’s gone. I don’t see how the defense is better without him because he was that big of a factor for our defense. Our defense will still be loaded at defensive tackle, should have more depth at linebacker, and will have great safety play with Watts and Wilson but the loss of Myles is going to be like the 2013 defensive line losing Demontre Moore and Spencer Nealy rolled up in one person but even worse.

I know everybody loves Christian Kirk but all Josh Reynolds did last season was have 111 more receiving yards and 3 more touchdowns despite 22 fewer catches than Cristian. That’s not a knock on Christian at all as he’s an amazing talent but the coaching staff always wants to talk about Kirk while Reynolds was more productive and under-utilized in my mind. He was way more Mike Evans than we realize and he’s going to be missed. I know we get Kirk back and Ausborn looks legit but we lost our most productive receiver from last year and nobody is talking about this headed into the season. The drop off from Reynolds and Kirk to the other receivers last season is dramatic. There’s nobody close on the 2017 roster than can match what Reynolds did besides Christian. Nobody. Ausborn will be a true freshman so I don’t see how he replicates the production of a senior that got drafted in the NFL. Maybe he gets to 75% of Reynolds production but even that’s a decline. I just don’t see how the loss of Josh Reynolds isn’t a factor for the 2017 receiving corps being worse. I’m confused why everyone thinks our receiving corps is going to be so strong when Ricky Seals Jones and Speedy Noil did nothing from a production standpoint despite their natural talent. Josh Reynolds is easily a Top 10 all-time A&M receiver and nobody is talking about his departure like we’ll miss him. We’ll miss him in a bigger way than most people would imagine.

While we’re talking about receivers, after this season Kevin Sumlin will have had 4 receivers drafted into the NFL in Ryan Swope, Mike Evans, Josh Reynolds, and Christian Kirk. Outside of those 4 guys I can’t think of a serviceable wide receiver in the Kevin Sumlin era besides Malcome Kennedy. Kennedy was a solid college player but he wasn’t great. Basically, if you don’t have NFL talent then Sumlin isn’t going to develop you to be a productive collegiate receiver.

With those three guys gone from last season I don’t know how this team is better. I just don’t. There’s still plenty of talent on this team so it won’t be terrible but the more I think about it, I think the 2016 Aggie Football team was a damn solid football team. The best since 2012 by far. That team still only got 8 wins and it wasn’t from lack of conditioning. It just got outcoached and that hasn’t changed for 2017 as the coaching staff remained in-tact except a couple of position coaches.

Let’s look at this team from unit standpoint:

OFFENSE

Coaching – Noel Mazzone is back calling plays for another year. While he’s not horrible he didn’t show in year 1 that he’s an exceptional play caller. He relied a lot on zone read and didn’t adjust for when Jake Hubenak took the reins when Trevor went down. That’s a concern he’s not adapting to his talent. He’s better than Spavital but I’m not sure by how much. He’s what I call a play picker and not a play caller. He’s okay at designing plays but from what I’ve seen he doesn’t really call plays in any kind of succession that sets plays up or calls them in some rhythm for what the defense is doing. He just looks at his play sheet and randomly calls plays based on theoretical execution. I don’t have a lot of faith in Mazzone but hopefully I’m wrong.

Quarterback – I covered this above but we’re going to start someone that’s never taken a collegiate snap or never won a game they started against a Power 5 conference team. Trevor Knight was a 5^th year senior that had played in some big games at OU. We don’t have that under center. You hear great things about Starkel and Mond but they have to produce in a game. Allen and Murray supposedly had all of the talent in the world and we saw how that turned out. I’m just real cautious at QB as this could be our worst season yet under center.

Running Back – Trayveon Williams and Keith Ford are back. Both of these guys are outstanding backs averaging over 5 yards a carry last year but they’re not exceptional. They wouldn’t start at Bama or LSU which are two teams we play every year. That’s not a knock on those guys but just more of a reality of the situation we’re in. Until you get guys that can start at LSU or Bama you’re always going to be looking up at them.

Wide Receiver – Covered this above as well but the loss of Reynolds is going to be huge in my mind. Ausborn sounds legit but he’s still a true freshman. Think back to Trayveon Williams and how he faded down the stretch. A 12 game SEC schedule is not a high school schedule. There’s going to be an adjustment period. I know there are some other talented freshmen but they’re still freshmen in the SEC and that’s tough. Some people are making this out to be a strength of the team because of talent and depth but we’ve had that before as Ricky Seals Jones and Speedy Noil were supposed to have NFL talent and we know how that turned out from a production standpoint. We’ll see but I think our passing attack takes a step back with the loss of Reynolds.

Offensive Line – The offensive line should be better this year as the interior of the line has one more year under its belt. Our tackles seem serviceable with Sutherland and Martin but let’s not kid ourselves this is not our usual offensive line where there’s NFL caliber talent anywhere on the line. It will be a decent offensive line but it won’t be anywhere near as dominant as we’ve seen in the past under Sumlin. Once again strength and conditioning are being blamed but maybe it’s just lack of talent that’s been recruited. Only so much a strength and conditioning coach can do if there’s no talent. I love Jim Turner and think he’ll get the most out of them but this isn’t a dominant offensive line that can overcome a bad game plan, play calls, or errors by the skill position.

DEFENSE

Coaching – It’s no secret I love John Chavis as a defensive coordinator. The dude looks and talks the part. Prior to the last half of last season he executed the part too. However, the last half of the season made me wonder if he’s like a pitcher that lost his fastball. Our defense got torched starting in the Mississippi State game. I was ready to crown this defense the Wrecking Crew again after the Auburn and Arkansas games but I think the Tennessee game took a toll on the defense. In that game they started holding guys up and trying to strip the ball which helped as we got 7 turnovers that game. However, I think the team lost the fundamental ability to tackle which I thought was Chavis’ real calling card as a DC. Up until that game it was the best tackling unit I’ve seen since way back when RC was head coach. Hopefully the second half was just a blip and Chief gets his defense back to fundamentals of assignment football and tackling. The jury is currently out on him though based on the second half of last season.

Defensive Tackle – We’re loaded here. We really are. This is definitely the strength of the defense which is good because you have to be loaded at defensive tackle if you want to compete in the SEC. I just hope Daylon Mack finally takes that next step as he seems to have first round NFL talent but hasn’t played up to it. This unit is the anchor of our defense and I feel good about them.

Defensive End – As talked about above the loss of Garrett is going to be massive as well as Hall although it seems he might have underachieved last season. His talent was still real. There’s actually some decent talent here but it hasn’t produced up until this point. Not the talent of Garrett and Hall but it’s not terrible talent. We just don’t have much depth here either. I think the defensive ends can be serviceable but serviceable defensive ends aren’t usually enough in the SEC.

Linebackers – I’m torn on the linebackers. It seems we finally have some depth here but I’m not sure as not sure if the true freshmen will be able to provide that depth. I like Anthony Hines and Marchiol but they’re still true freshmen entering the SEC. We heard all about how Tyrell Dodson was ready to crush heads in the SEC but the dude had problems executing his assignments last season. I think Dodson will be better this season but while we now apparently have depth at linebacker staying healthy and executing assignments are the next step. Neither of those have been a strength of our linebackers under Sumlin so not sure this is the season it becomes different.

Safety – We’re totally fine here with Watts and Wilson and Larry Pryor looks like he can fill some of the void left by Justin Evans. Much like defensive tackle this is a strength of our team. Watts is like a little Honey Badger as he just has a nose for getting the football when we need it most.

Cornerback – This is an area of concern for me. Nick Harvey was spotty as a coverage guy last season and he’s out for this season. Looks like Willis and Oliver will be the starters who are decent but I don’t think outstanding. My main concern at the corner back position is with no pass rush these guys are going to get exposed. Chavis likes to play aggressive with his corners and if there’s no pass rush these guys could get exposed big time. I think we could see some big passes against us this year if Chavis doesn’t back these guys off a tad unless we develop a pass rush.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Outside of Christian Kirk returning kicks I’ve never seen anything from the special teams under Kevin Sumlin and Jeff Banks. I mean nothing. We’ve had some decent punters but even then they weren’t Shane Lechler. Most elite teams have really good punters so it’s just more of the norm in college football these days. That should be our expectations.

Last year we had Justin Evans and Keith Ford returning kicks which still boggles my mind. Those guys are great athletes at their positions but they’re nowhere near the explosive return man you need for big returns. Evans was a freaking strong safety and he’s returning kickoffs. I never understood that. We couldn’t find a single receiver that was fast than Evans and Ford with hands we trust?

Other than Christian Kirk I’d love to know the number of touchdowns we’ve scored on kickoff or punt returns against Power 5 conference teams. I bet it’s not more than 5 during Sumlin’s 5 years here. Other than Myles Garrett how many field goals or punts have we blocked against Power 5 conference teams? I bet it’s not more than 5. I don’t know how 2017 will be any different for our special teams other than Kirk returning a couple punts for TDs. This unit has just been a non-factor under Sumlin unless there’s an extremely talented player. It’s certainly not well schemed and coached in my mind. It’s not even average.

If I were Sumlin I’d put a poster of Frank Beamer in my Special Teams coach’s office and limit his internet browser to YouTube and videos of Virginia Tech special teams under Frank Beamer. I’m not kidding. For some reason some people think Jeff Banks is a good special teams coach and I can’t think of why as there hasn’t been big plays out of our special teams since Sumlin has been here.

Summary

This team isn’t horrible by any stretch but I don’t see how it’s better than the 2016 team. This really reminds me of the 2013 season where everyone thought we’d be fine but no one truly analyzed the losses because we had Johnny Football back. That 2013 team lost a lot on defense and a few key spots on the offense like Luke Joeckel and Ryan Swope. That 2013 team lost two more games in the regular season than the 2012 but that 2012 team won 10 games so 8 wins wound up being respectable. Last year’s team only won 8 games so if the 2013 and 2017 teams parallel the previous season’s team we’re looking at 6 wins in 2017.

Next week I’ll take a game by game look at the schedule and make predictions. I honestly think there’s anywhere between 5 to 9 wins on the schedule. I think 9 wins is VERY extreme but I don’t think the schedule is quite as tough as we originally imagined so 9 wins is possible. It’s still daunting but there’s some factors about each game I’ll cover next week.

Analyzing the Chief

At the end of last season I was utterly confused on what to think about John Chavis. I’m the Chief’s biggest fan but I was questioning if I was fan because he fits the mold of defensive coordinator from Central Casting or if it was because he was an effective defensive coordinator. During the 2015 season I felt I saw a defense that was the best since 2012 and likely back to Von Miller’s senior season with Cody Hodges. I felt in the early part of the 2016 season we were seeing the return of the Wrecking Crew after great defensive efforts against Auburn and Arkansas. Tennessee was questionable with the 4^th quarter collapse but at the end of the season it was clear this defense was different than 2015 and the first half of 2016. This defense appeared to be a shell of what it had been since Chief started.

To help figure out what was real and wasn’t I went back and looked at every loss with Chavis as our DC. There were lots of games I felt our defense played well enough to win but our offense let us down. We’ve lost 10 games in the two years Chief has been handling our defense. I went and made a chart that showed the score of the game, how many points the defense gave up, second half points, total yards, and rushing yards. I then came up with a purely arbitrary grade called GETW which stands for Good Enough to Win. I wanted a feel for if the defense played well enough for us to win the game.

Here’s the chart and I’ll go down game by game analyzing each one.

Bama – 2015:

This is one of the most maddening games of the Sumlin era that nobody talks about. The final score wound up being 41-23 so it looks like a blowout but everyone forgets our offense threw THREE pick sixes in this game. That’s right, the offense gave up almost as many points as our defense. You just can’t remove those 21 points and say the Aggies win 23-20 as it doesn’t work that way. It is reasonable enough to think the defense did everything they could for the Aggies to win that day.

Derrick Henry gashed the Aggie defense in the first quarter and early in the second half but after that the Aggie defense shut him down along with the Bama offense. So much so that Bama only scored 2 field goals in the second half outside of the interception returns for touchdowns. I don’t care if Bama was in lead protection mode. To hold Bama’s offense to only field goals in the second half is impressive. The most impressive statistic of the day was that Bama was only 4 of 16 on third down conversions. 25 percent. That is DAMN impressive to have that Bama offense only convert 25% of their third down conversions. The defense was getting off the field when they had to. The defense definitely played good enough to win this game and the offense just pissed it away.

Ole Miss – 2015:

This game makes me want to pull my hair out because it was the most inept offensive performance I’ve ever seen. It was maddening being in the stands watching an offense just spit and sputter. The statistics make it look like the defense didn’t play well enough but they absolutely did. They gave up 23 overall but just 7 in the second half which shows John Chavis has the ability to make in game adjustments. In addition the defense got 4 turnovers while the offense had 3. The defense responded EVERY time the offense turned the ball and yet the offense did NOTHING with those gifts from the defense.

Statistically this game looks bad for the defense and it’s not great but they played their hearts out that night. Meanwhile Jake Spavital struggled just to keep his note cards in some order so he could get plays signaled in that wouldn’t amount to anything. I don’t even want to write anymore on this game because I want to go find Jake Spavital and choke him. He really should have been relieved of his duties after this game. He absolutely should have.

Auburn – 2015:

This is a very confusing game for me to analyze from a defensive standpoint. First off, our stupid offense only scored 10 points against a suspect Auburn defense. That 10 points was the lowest Auburn held an opponent to all season where the next lowest was 17 and every other game their opponent scored at least 20 points. Boy Wonder Spavital mustered 10 points against this defense at Kyle Field. Unreal.

Defensively we got gashed this game. Auburn ripped off 311 yards on the ground and just gashed us all night. We couldn’t slow them down at all on the ground. Malzahn is a run game genius but they were just running willy nilly against us. They were pretty balanced scoring 14 points in the first half and 12 points in the second half. This is a game that on the surface the defense didn’t play well enough to win but our offense was so anemic I think they could have played well enough to win with some kind of support from our offense. I don’t put this one solely on our defense.

LSU – 2015:

Another maddening game thanks to our offense. Even though this game was in Tiger Stadium and they scored 19 points there’s no doubt in my mind the defense played well enough to win this game. They gave up 14 points in the second half but our offense was doing nothing yet again as they only scored 7 total points. I know LSU has a damn good defense but there were holes the offense could have exploited to score 20 points but they didn’t.

Statistically the Aggie defense held the LSU offense to 327 yards which his amazing. They held the LSU offense in total yards to basically what Auburn did on the ground against us a few weeks before. I don’t like the 19 points but our offense turned the ball over 3 times to LSU’s once so once again our offense did nothing to help our defense. It’s a little questionable but I’d say our defense definitely played well enough to win this game as our offense was once again just putrid with Spav wearing the headset.

Louisville – 2015:

I’m torn on this game as well. My main issue here is we gave up too much too early to Lamar Jackson. This was his coming out party and we weren’t prepared. We gave up 537 total yards and 307 on the ground as Jackson just ran silly in the first half. In the second half our defense tightened up holding them to 7 points but once again our offense couldn’t muster anything at all this game. Despite scoring 21 points most of it was in the second half and it was too little too late.

I think this was a winnable game but the defense game up too many yards and points to Lamar Jackson in the first half while the offense spit and sputtered yet again. By the time things got working for both the offense and defense in the second half it was too little, too late. This wasn’t a terrible showing by the defense as it was definitely a winnable game based on their effort but they’re not without faults this game.

Bama – 2016:

This is a semi-tough game to analyze because the defense played well enough to win during the first half and first series of the second half. The offense had opened up the second half scoring on it’s first drive to make it a 14-13 lead. On Bama’s first possession of the second half Shaan Washington shoved Jalen Hurts to the ground on the first 3^rd down. Bama was not converting on the play as Hurts basically threw it away. The defense had held on a 3^rd down but a stupid penalty gave Bama the first down. They then went on to score putting Bama back in a lead situation they would never relinquish. The defense would give up another score in the second half and the offense would also give up a score like the previous year.

Maybe if Shaan Washington doesn’t push Hurts the outcome of the game is different but in my mind this is equal parts offense and defense. The reality is the defense didn’t play well enough in the second half to win this game so I can’t give them a great grade here.

Mississippi St – 2016:

This is the ultimate tale of two halves for the Aggie defense. In the first half they gave up 28 points to a suspect Mississippi State offense and in the second half they only gave up 7 points but did get some key turnovers when it looked like Mississippi State would score in the second half. The defense held until Mississippi State’s final possession where they scored a touchdown to go up 35-21 and put the game out of reach. Credit to the defense for holding as long as they could to let the offense get back into it but they broke giving up that TD late in the 4^th quarter that put the game out of reach.

The most frustrating part about this game is Mississippi State had 574 yards of total offense and 365 rushing yards. I mean no dis-respect to the Bulldogs but that’s TERRIBLE for an Aggie defense to give up to a team like Mississippi State. I still don’t know how that happened. Still, the Aggie defense held for the second half except that final possession so I do have to give credit for trying to make up for an atrocious first half but they just couldn’t hold MSU out of the end zone in the second half and that caused the loss.

Ole Miss – 2016:

This game is a total head scratcher from a defensive standpoint because in this game our defense COMPLETELY fell apart in the fourth quarter. This defense gave up 23 points to a true freshman starting his first game ever. Now, he looks like a pretty special quarterback but you can’t give up 23 points at Kyle Field in the 4^th quarter.

Even if the offense had put up more points the Aggie defense giving up 23 points in the fourth quarter is unacceptable and not like a Chavis lead defense at all. So despite this being a 1 point game and the defense held Ole Miss to 6 points through 3 quarters you can’t collapse like that and expect anything positive. It’s like never cheating for 15 years of your marriage and then the last 5 you start cheating and when you get caught thinking you get some credit for the first 15. The first 15 years were wiped up by your failure in the last 5. Ironically enough does anybody know Hugh Freeze’s marriage stats? It might be similar.

LSU – 2016:

The worst game of Chavis’ time at A&M. There is not one redeeming quality of this game from a defensive standpoint. Not a single one. LSU was led by Danny Etlinger who hadn’t done much all season for LSU. Well, he walked into Kyle Field and lit us up. Our defense gave up 54 points and 622 total yards of offense with 298 on the ground so they basically equally shredded us on the ground and through the air.

This is the game that got me questioning everything I believed about Chief. I don’t even want to talk about it because it was so bad defensively.

KSU – 2016:

We “only” gave up 413 yards but we gave up 33 points to a VERY pedestrian KSU offense. This is another head scratcher. We gave up a 79 yard touchdown pass and a 52 yard touchdown run in the first half which is 131 yards and almost 33% of their total offense on two plays. If you take away those two plays this is a very respectable defensive effort and we likely win but in reality the defense gave up those two plays so they don’t get any credit.

This game is just the perfect capper for a defense that flat out fell apart in the second half of the season. They didn’t play well enough to win. No way should KSU have scored 33 points on us. I think most Aggie fans were numb for this loss because it’s part of yet another season collapse for a Sumlin lead team but this really is an EMBARASSING loss for the Aggie defense.

Summary:

In analyzing this I have no clue what to think. In 2015 our defense was EXTREMELY consistent in every game all season except maybe the Auburn and Louisville games. However, our offense did it no favors in those games. Despite losing, the defense played well enough to beat Bama, Ole Miss, and LSU so that’s damn impressive. The effort and results of the 2015 defense is very respectable.

However, 2016 was a total Jekyll and Hyde performance. Against UCLA and Tennessee the defense played damn good except for 5 minutes in the fourth quarter where they gave up 15 points both times but we still won in OT. Against Auburn and Arkansas they were flat out dominant.

For a half against Bama they played well enough to win but the wheels came off in the second half. Chavis never got them put back on or left them in Tuscaloosa. I can’t explain it. I really can’t. His first year he had a damn solid and consistent defense that was honestly good enough to win 10 games with a decent offense. The next year in 2016 the performances accurately reflect the scores. The defense didn’t play well enough to win any games that were lost. It’s odd. Two seasons and two totally different results.

I hate saying it because I love everything about the man from a coaching standpoint but Chief is in the same boat as Sumlin. Chief needs to prove he still knows how to coach a defense because the second half of 2016 puts it in major question. Sure, Sumlin’s fate will ultimately decide Chief’s fate but Chief has a lot of questions to answer himself. I like to think he’s an elite level defensive coordinator but the results from the second half of the 2016 season say that’s in question.

Only the 2017 season will tell.

Characteristics of the Great Active Coaches

As potential for a new head coach at A&M looms if Kevin Sumlin can’t win enough games this season I got to thinking about the traits that make a great head coach. I’m talking about truly great in these are active coaches that have at least five championships to their names. Unless I’m leaving someone out there’s only four active head coaches in major men’s sports that have five championships to their name. Those four are Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, Gregg Popovich, and Mike Krzyzewski. There’s some coaches in other sports that qualify like Pat Henry in collegiate track and Geno Auriemma in women’s collegiate basketball but I’m talking about major men’s team sports which is what Sumlin coaches. As we go through this piece you’ll see Henry and Auriemma exhibit the exact same traits as the other four mentioned based on what I know. I’m just not familiar enough with each to write about them. Even with Coach K I’m mostly familiar but not intimately familiar as I don’t follow men’s college basketball as closely as the other sports.

As I got to thinking about the traits of Belichick, Saban, Popovich, and Coach K I realized there are a LOT of similarities in their personalities and how they coach. I mean they are eerily similar and different from their counterparts. First off, there’s no doubt these are extremely intelligent people. They’re the kind of people that would be successful no matter their chosen career path. In coaching they’re different because they take a truly systematic approach to how they handle everything. And I do mean everything. I truly believe these 4 people live their life to win at their chosen sport and nothing else matters. Not a win at all cost mentality but a focus that’s unlike anyone else. Their raw intelligence is definitely a factor but the application of their systematic approach is what makes the difference.

I decided to list out what all these coaches do and came up with the following list. This doesn’t include everything but it’s pretty exhaustive and it really pertains to each coach.

What they do great:

Focused on winning. Nothing else matters.
Minimize distractions.
Don’t care about being popular.
Fundamentals matter. All aspects.
Game awareness. Continual adjustment and adapting.
Team plays as a unit. No malcontents.
Players police themselves.
Minimal trouble off the field/court if at all.
Second chances given but with a super short leash.
No individual stars above the team even if extremely talented.
Next man up drives starters to compete. No job security.
Game plans ALWAYS evolve based on opponent.
Identify situational players and utilize their strengths.
Objective analysis of team and players.
Practice has a specific purpose and not just a routine.
They are the main reason for success. Subordinates don’t find the same success.
Their approach is much more basic than most people realize.
Relate to players differently on the field/court and off.
Assistant coaches are hired to do their job. Always hire the best.
The media is a game.

That’s 20 characteristics and while there’s some overlap in some of them it’s a truly impressive list of what each one does. Each one of those coaches does this entire list for the most part. I thought of some other coaches this might apply to and I really don’t think they belong. The biggest name I tried to apply this to was Urban Meyer and while he’s an outstanding coach he doesn’t fit them all. My main issue with having Urban Meyer on this list is he handles his players differently than the four coaches I’m talking about. I think Urban Meyer is about himself and that resonates with his players in how they act. Really good coach but I don’t think he belongs with those four names. Apply these to any other active coach and I really don’t think they fit like they do Belichick, Saban, Pop, and Coach K.

There is truly a systematic approach these guys take when it comes to everything they do. How they handle the actual Xs and Os, the players, the games, their assistants, the press, the fans, and everything else they do that is eerily similar between the four. These guys have five championships to their name for a reason.

Let’s roll through the characteristics and how they pertain to how they coach:

Focused on winning. Nothing else matters.

I truly believe these guys live every second of their life thinking about winning at their respective sport. They’re not major personalities and actually very dry because all they thinking about is winning. They’re not horrible people by any stretch and actually probably really solid friends once you get to know them but they just have this aura about them. Maybe that aura is because of their championships but look at how they act compared to their counterparts and I really feel they have different personalities. It’s a focus of always thinking about how they can win their respective sport.

Minimize distractions.

Along with the one above not only are they focused but I think they purposefully minimize distractions to help that focus. If whatever it is doesn’t help them win then they don’t care about it. They really don’t. Belichick doesn’t care how he’s dressed and I’ve heard Nick Saban’s wife sets out his clothes every day so he doesn’t have to mess with it. Wasting time on something that doesn’t help them win their respective sports is eliminated. It’s a little different than always being focused as I really feel they’re active in eliminating distractions that don’t help them win. You can still be focused and ignore distractions but I think these guys purposefully eliminate distractions so they don’t even have to be ignored. They just don’t exist if they can help it.

Don’t care about being popular.

While I do think these guys are genuinely good people in their everyday life I don’t think they give a damn about being popular. If they weren’t winning I bet fans would run them out of town like any other coach that wasn’t winning. In fact they’d be working with a short leash because they’re not really endearing to their fans other than they’re winners. They don’t care what fans, boosters, media, or anybody else think about them because winning is all that matters to them. They know if they win they’ll be accepted and that’s good enough for them. Worrying about it otherwise is a distraction that loses focus.

Fundamentals matter. All aspects.

I’ve always said if I was a head coach I would have a coach on staff titled Coach Fundamentals and I’m dead serious. This person would constantly preach the fundamentals of the sport and chew ass whenever someone has a mental lapse. These coaches start with fundamentals which mean they rarely beat themselves. They might get beat by a better team or even out coached by another team but they’re not going to beat themselves by forgetting the fundamentals and basics for the sport. Watching these teams is usually like watching a clinic in fundamentals for their sport and it BOGGLES my mind how that seems so rare. I don’t get how other teams forget about fundamentals and wind up beating themselves. These great coaches live for teams that have lapses on fundamentals because they’ll take advantage of it.

Game awareness. Continual adjustment.

I always love watching these teams play because you can see the adjustments they’re making. They know a game plan can always blow up in a moment’s notice so they better be ready and anticipate that happening. The focus on fundamentals allow those adjustments and knowing what their team is capable of. They don’t focus on fundamentals during a game because they’re ingrained in their players so adjustments in strategy are easier to implement. They’re always looking for adjustments by the other team or weaknesses in their own team so they adjust the game plan accordingly. Very few times are these coaches just flat out throttled because they anticipate it before it happens. These coaches are working with their assistants rather than just letting their assistants run their component. These head coaches are watching every play of the game thinking about how it impacts the entire game plan and what’s worked and hasn’t worked up until that point. They’re not just a spectator as they’re thinking about every play and how it factors into the game plan as a whole.

Team plays as a unit. No malcontents.

They have total buy in from the team. They all understand they’re a cog in a machine and have jobs to do that affect other players on the team. Not doing a job will is letting a teammate down so they’re all focused on what they’re assigned to do or should be doing. It really is all players working together toward a goal for each other. It’s not individuals free lancing what’s best for them.

Players police themselves.

While the coaches are exceptional leaders because the team has bought in as a unit they police themselves. Not only on the field or court but in the locker room and in workouts. Even when the head coach isn’t around the players are always watching each other knowing their work and actions in the locker room, weight room, track, practice field or wherever else is part of their preparation to win. They don’t want to let one another down because they have total bought in to be champions.

Minimal trouble off the field/court if at all.

This kind of goes with the one above but you RARELY see off the field issues with the teams these people coach. If you think about these teams they seem to have less off the field issues compared to other teams. Sure there have been some arrests or suspensions for mis-conduct but I feel it’s REALLY rare compared to the other teams in their sport. I think it all goes back to the type of people these guys create. I think many of their players see their coach as a respected father figure and don’t want to let them down. I think they’re also aware any punishment will be swift and just and they don’t want to miss out on being part of something bigger than themselves. They really seem to have good players on and off the field compared to other teams.

Second chances given but with a super short leash.

These guys don’t just have saints on their team as they’ll give someone with a previous issue a second chance. The rules are clear and any mis-steps are dealt with swiftly which is usually dismissal. I can’t speak to Coach K but I can think of examples where Belichick, Saban, and Pop have brought on players that had some conduct issues elsewhere and given them a chance. Sometimes these guys stick with their second chance and sometimes they don’t but if they don’t they don’t hang around for a third chance. They’re gone.

No individual stars above the team even if extremely talented.

While there are certainly stars on these teams they don’t hold themselves out differently no matter the talent. Tom Brady is the perfect example for the Patriots. Alabama had Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Eddie Lacy, Amari Cooper, and a host of other guys who have been 1^st round picks but they never pretended to be bigger than the team. The Spurs had the ultimate super star in Tim Duncan but you never knew it. Duncan has as many rings as Kobe Bryant and one more MVP over basically the same period but Duncan never made the team about himself like Kobe did in L.A. The Big Fundamental. Duke is an interesting scenario as they seem to have players that other fans and the media hate like Christian Laettner and Grayson Allen but those guys appear to have been great teammates despite the attention they received.

Next man up drives starters to compete. No job security.

The mantra of their teams appear to be that no job is ever guaranteed. If you ever slip in your preparation or performance there’s someone else behind you ready to take your job. It’s why when someone goes down with an injury the team just soldiers on. Even without Tom Brady the Pats still showed up expecting to win. Without Tim Duncan the Spurs expected to win. Bama and Duke don’t worry about losing a player to eligibility or draft because someone else is behind them. Every starter knows there’s a guy behind him ready to take his job and every second teamer knows with hard work or an injury they’ll be on the field with the same expectations of the person that previously started before them. Some of it is because they have talented depth but most of it is attitude your job is never safe if you don’t work or execute.

Game plans ALWAYS evolve based on opponent.

These coaches don’t have “systems” they trot out for every game. They have basic platforms they prepare their team with but they adjust for every opponent better than any coach in their sport. Even Alabama that usually has more talent than the other team takes a different approach to each team they play. They really do. I feel Bill Belichick is the king of this as he’s said time and time again he adjusts his offense to attack a weakness of the opponent’s defense and his defense focuses on taking away the strength of the opponent’s offense. Pop and Coach K are no different.

Identify situational players and utilize their strengths.

This is more pointed to Belichick and Pop because they have roster limitations based on draft and salary cap limitations. Saban and Coach K can go out and recruit the best but even then they identify specific players for their team. Its uncanny how there’s no dead space on their rosters. EVERY player on their roster has an identified strength and there are no roster fillers or hope that someone is a development in the works. If you can’t contribute to winning you’re just not on the roster. A player knows their strength and role and executes it. They’re like CEOs that can ride the elevator with anyone in their company and not only know their name but know how they contribute to the company.

Objective analysis of team and players.

Coupled with the above I think they objectively analyze all of their players and how they factor into the team as a whole. There’s no emotion with their players when it comes to evaluating their performance. They don’t hope a player will come through as they know what their player is capable of and how they’ll contribute to the team as a whole. They know when their team is overmatched and adjust accordingly or when their team is the superior team to make sure their team doesn’t take another team lightly. They know every player and opponent is different so they’re objective in their assessment of every component.

Practice has a specific purpose and not just a routine.

Practice isn’t something that you have to do. It’s an opportunity to become a better player and prepare for an opponent by installing a specific plan. These coaches instill that practice is THE key ingredient to winning championships. There’s no wasted effort in practice just doing things to do things. Everything done in practice is specific to make better players and the team to win championships.

They are the main reason for success. Subordinates don’t find the same success.

This is kind of a weird one but I can’t think of one of the subordinates that have even come close to their success. Maybe Jimbo Fisher under Saban but I can’ think of anyone else for these other coaches that have even won a championship. There have been some coaches that have left and made the playoffs but I think Jimbo Fisher is the only subordinate for any of these guys with a championship to their name. I’m not sure why that is because I think what they do is able to be replicated but I don’t think the people under them have the raw intelligence and discipline these guys have. I really think that’s the secret sauce.

Their approach is much more basic than most people realize.

As just mentioned I really think what these coaches do can be copied pretty easily. The problem is it takes a LOT of discipline and focus. It’s truly about fundamentals, preparation, and managing players like a good parent not letting anyone get away with too much. While I think these coaches have a high level of intelligence what they do day to day really isn’t all that complicated other than they can manage so many things at once. But still it’s very basic what they do. You don’t ever hear them talking about a schematic advantage or something like that. Other people talk about “the process” these coaches have but you don’t ever hear them talking about them. I really think to these coaches what they do is common sense and they don’t think it’s all that complicated. There’s a lot complexity managing everything but they’re not overcomplicating any specific thing so it’s easier to execute everything.

Relate to players differently on the field/court and off.

I talked about it briefly earlier but I really think these coaches are seen as respected father figures on and off the field/court. They’re able to switch in and out of mentor and coach mode depending on the situation. They know when to coach to a game plan and when to mentor to be a better person and player. Their players truly respect them as more than just their coach. They see each of these coaches as being a mentor for their life beyond the sport they play. They give respect where respect is given. They don’t really abuse their players and the players don’t feel abused/used.

Assistant coaches are hired to do their job. Always hire the best.

Assistant coaches are hired to do a specific job and nothing else and they hire the best. This goes back to being objective in their evaluation of everything they do as they don’t hire their buddies or “yes men.” They’ll hire someone they’re not familiar with if they believe that assistant’s body of work is the best hire they can make for the team. Much like the players, the assistants know they have a specific role and don’t deviate from it and know lack of preparation will let down the other coaches and the team. They won’ t have as much fun as other assistant coaches on other teams but they’re hired to win championships and winning championships is pretty damn fun.

The media is a game.

Coach K is kind of an exception to this but even he’s not a great sound bite. He sees the media as something that’s necessary related to the sport but he’s not super jovial like a Les Miles or Mack Brown. Belichick, Saban, and Pop are DEFINITELY in the same boat when it comes to the media. They don’t hate the media but they see it as wasted effort so I think they see it as a game to annoy reporters like they annoy them. I think they respect some media people but if you’re a stupid reporter they going to make sure it’s pointed out.

I don’t think any of this is earth shattering by any stretch but I do think it’s interesting to look at this entire list and realize it really only applies to the best of the best. These people are the truly great active coaches in their respective sport. It’s like what I remember the first semester of business school being like. We weren’t launching rockets or curing cancer so anybody with basic aptitude could do it. It took a basic level of intelligence, extreme focus, and minimizing distractions while not overthinking what you were working on. It really was about managing so many things to be so successful.

So how was I in business school? I’d like to think of myself as a step better than Sumlin. I was better than average but I let distractions like they serve beer on campus get in the way of truly being great. I was definitely not the Belichick, Saban, Pop, or Coach K of my class. However, knowing what I know now I truly think I could go back and be a great of my class. Eh, who am I kidding? I like beer too much to be great in business school. I’m fine being the Kevin Sumlin of business school. I just wish I got paid $5 million a year to be a touch above average.

Is Kevin Sumlin an Offensive Mastermind?

Since Kevin Sumlin’s original time at A&M he’s always been credited with being an outstanding offensive coach. It makes sense in a way because since taking over the play calling duties at A&M he seems to have been part of very productive offenses. Last week when speculation of Chip Kelly being a candidate at A&M got tossed out there I heard many Aggies say they’re opposed to Chip Kelly because the Aggies already have an offensive mastermind in Kevin Sumlin. Do the Aggies have an offensive mastermind like his reputation presents itself? Let’s take a look.

I went back and charted some variables with Kevin Sumlin’s career since taking over the play calling duties after A&Ms third game in 2002. Prior to that Kevin Sumlin had only ever been a normal position coach with no play calling duties or any responsibilities to play calling. I charted Sumlin’s position, if he had play calling duties, the related offensive coordinator, and quarterback. I also looked at season record, the average total yards per game that season, average passing yards per game that season, touchdown to interception ratio totals for that season, and finally where that team’s offense ranked in all of college football for points scored.

So let’s take a look:

(You can click on the image to see larger and then backspace to return from image)

First off, let’s start with his year as offensive coordinator at A&M. He took over after the third game when A&M had a totally miserable offensive showing against Virginia Tech. That’s the game where R.C. Slocum famously said, “It always puzzles me that I’m the one that gets the blame for being conservative. If I were calling the plays, I’d throw that sucker 40 times if you played me like that.” I guess R.C. wasn’t involved in watching game film and seeing the offensive game plan each week in addition to having a head set where he can hear the play calls while knowing he had the authority to actually throw that sucker 40 times if they’re stacking the box. I mean he IS the head coach and his staff reports to him. That’s probably my favorite R.C. quote of all time even above the famous half the teams lose every week quote.

Back to Sumlin – when he took over that A&M offense it did get much better. He did go to a much more balanced offense increasing the pass. Those teams never scored less than 20 points which was actually a rarity for Aggie offenses under Slocum. Sumlin’s offenses had the following scoring outputs of 31, 47, 41, 47, 31, 23, 30, 27, and 20. Despite the 4-5 record with Sumlin as OC that’s actually a pretty solid output. That Aggie offense still only ranked 49^th in points scored that year so it wasn’t a true juggernaut. Needless to say 2002 was the year the Wrecking Crew officially died as those scores would have won 10 games with the real Wrecking Crew. Sadly we haven’t seen it since other than a few glimpses in 2016. With the death of the Wrecking Crew R.C. Slocum got fired and Sumlin went looking for work.

He wound up in Oklahoma based on the fact he had beat Stoops that season as offensive coordinator. Sumlin spent three seasons just as the wide receivers coach where OU had Chuck Long and Kevin Wilson as co-offensive coordinators. Sumlin didn’t have anything to do with calling plays during those three years at Oklahoma. After the 2005 season Chuck Long took the head coaching job at San Diego State and Kevin Wilson was promoted to sole Offensive Coordinator while Sumlin got the “Co-Offensive Coordinator” position. That’s right, Wilson had the title of Offensive Coordinator and Sumlin got the Co-Offensive Coordinator title. I think this is where people get confused on Sumlin being part of an offensive juggernaut that was the Oklahoma offense during his time there. Based on everything I’ve read Sumlin was just the “passing game coordinator” and nothing more. Kevin Wilson called the plays. It’s weird Sumlin was a “co” coach with nobody else. I think they do that for titles related to pay. Either way I don’t think Sumlin had any major inputs on those offenses as it was Chuck Long and Kevin Wilson clearly calling the plays while Sumlin was on staff. He really can’t get credit for those Oklahoma offenses in my mind.

In the 2008 season Kevin Sumlin headed to Houston to be the head coach based on his time at Oklahoma. He inherited a great team from Art Briles including Case Keenum. Sumlin made a really great hire in getting Dana Holgorsen from Tech to run his offense. If you know anything about Holgorsen you know he’s an offensive mastermind that learned under Leach. With Holgorsen and Keenum those Houston offenses for Sumlin’s first two seasons were flat out potent. Sure, they were playing in a weak conference but they averaged 563 yards per game and put up 70 TDs a season. The 2008 offense ranked 10^th in total points scored and the 2009 offense ranked 2^nd in total points scored. Impressive no doubt.

Holgorsen left after the 2009 season to go run the offense at Oklahoma State. Jason Phillips was promoted to OC and there was this guy named Kliff Kingsbury who was also promoted to quarterbacks coach. Case Keenum went down in Houston’s third game which was against UCLA. Prior to that they lit it up in their first two games. After Keenum went down true freshman David Piland (who ironically enough I’ve played golf with) took over the reins as quarterback. The offense took a step back but it didn’t truly struggle. The 2010 UH team struggled to a 5-7 record but the UH offense still averaged 480 yards per game and scored 54 touchdowns which was still good enough or 13^th in points scored that season. The offense definitely took a step back with a true freshman under center but it wasn’t horrible. The worst part about that season was the number of interceptions which is expected with a true freshman under center.

In 2011 Keenum came back and Kingsbury was promoted to co-offensive coordinator and that UH offense hit on all cylinders. It averaged almost 600 yards per game that season and scored 88 touchdowns. That was good enough to be the top ranked scoring offense in college football that year. I don’t know how much input Sumlin had into that offense but it sure seems like it was all Keenum, Phillips, and Kingsbury. I’m guessing Sumlin just sat there with the headset on and watched the magic happen all season. I don’t blame him.

Sumlin got the A&M job for the 2012 season and we know how that turned out. Manziel and Kingsbury rocked that Aggie offense to average 558 yards per game even in a tough SEC West. That offense scored 74 touchdowns which was good enough for 5^th in the nation for points scored. Once again I think Sumlin stood there with the headset on watching the magic happen and once again I don’t blame him. Meanwhile Kingsbury cashed in that season for the head coaching gig at Tech where he hasn’t had much success in the terms of wins and losses but he puts points up. The last two seasons he’s been ranked in the Top 5 of scoring offenses thanks to Pat Mahomes. Outside of Mahomes under center he’s been 24^th and 54^th ranked while letting Baker Mayfield go to Oklahoma. Just some nuggets of info there.

In 2013 Sumlin promoted running backs coach Clarence McKinney to offensive coordinator and the reins to Johnny Football. That offense barely took a step back as it still averaged 538 yards per game but it was really just Johnny and Mike Evans playing backyard ball. That offense still scored 73 TDs which was basically the same as the previous season and once again it ranked 5^th in points scored that season. At the end of the season Sumlin demoted Clarence McKinney as offensive coordinator. I always thought it was because the offense seemed to slip. However the more I see Sumlin’s tenure I wonder if it was because McKinney didn’t want to call plays anymore. I mean this is the same head coach that kept Spavital way longer than he should have but yet he didn’t even let McKinney call the plays in the bowl game. That was his only season as offensive coordinator when he really wasn’t horrible even if he did have Johnny Manziel. When Sumlin made that move I thought he was a stone cold head coach and expected excellence from his offensive coordinator. His next hire would prove that theory wrong.

For the 2014 season Sumlin promoted Jake Spavital from quarterbacks coach to replace McKinney. You now my thoughts on Spav so I don’t need to go in depth on his time but statistically that Aggie offense dropped off dramatically by almost 100 yards per game to 455.4 yards per game. In addition it scored 15 fewer touchdowns to drop to 28^th in points scored. Kenny Hill regressed to the point he didn’t see a snap after the Alabama game and left A&M. Some of that’s on Hill but I don’t think Spav should be off the hook for the lack of his development during the season. What started with a major show against South Carolina wound being a dud by the time it was all said and done.

The 2015 season is EASILY the worst offense of Sumlin’s tenure. The offense averaged 427.5 yards per game and only 36 touchdowns to rank 71^st in points scored. How that team went 8-4 in the regular season is actually a big surprise when you look at how anemic that offense was when it came to scoring. Maybe John Chavis needs a lot more credit for the defense in 2015 as opposed to what he really got credit for. A lot of people were down on that defense but they really bailed out that anemic offense a lot more than people realize. Spavital got to coach the bowl game which boggles my mind but he was let go shortly after that. I think he even got to stay through signing day which is borderline criminal in my mind as everyone knew he was going to be gone so why deceive recruits.

Noel Mazzone was hired as the offensive coordinator for the 2016 season and Trevor Knight transferred in from Oklahoma. Together they improved the offense from 2015 as last year’s offense averaged 467 yards per game and scored 53 touchdowns which ranked it 34^th in points scored. Still not a juggernaut and I shudder to think what would have happened without Trevor Knight. We saw it in the Mississippi St, Ole Miss, and LSU when Jake Hubenak started QB. Outside of the Alabama game those games against Mississippi schools were the lowest offensive output totaling 382 and 342 yards per game and scoring 28 points. That’s basically 100 yards a game off the average. Somehow against LSU we totaled 472 yards and scored 39 points with Hubenak under center. I still haven’t the foggiest how that happened along with everyone in Vegas who had to pay out the people that wagered on the over. Either way that 2016 offense would hardly be considered a juggernaut.

Considering what’s happened the last 3 seasons without Johnny Manziel under center I think it’s safe to say Sumlin is no offensive mastermind. I mean it’s pretty clear Sumlin is only as good as his offensive coordinator and quarterback. His one season at UH without Keenum is actually pretty impressive considering he started a true freshman QB that never did anything beyond that season but I can’t help but think his success at UH was centered around Keenum, Holgorsen, and Kingsbury. This is classic Mack Brown and Les Miles where you’re only as good as the talent on your staff and on the field. He’s just the puppet master with no real clue how the strings move everything. He’s not a horrible coach because he can recruit but he’s no offensive mastermind for sure. If he was the last three seasons wouldn’t have dropped off without Johnny and we wouldn’t have so many questions headed into the 2017 season from an offensive standpoint. Maybe the offense finds it’s magic in 2017 but I just don’t see it happening.

As for Chip Kelly when he was the offensive coordinator for two seasons at Oregon they ranked 12^th and 7^th in points scored. In his four seasons as head coach they ranked 8^th, 1^st, 3^rd, and 2^nd in points scored while winning 3 conference titles. He also did that in those six seasons with 4 different quarterbacks with only one of those getting a shot in the NFL in Marcus Mariota. Now that’s an offensive mastermind.

PS – I work with some Tech guys and they said the shine is off Kingsbury and he could be out at the end of this year. Amazing to think if Sumlin and Kingsbury are out their jobs and Johnny is still looking to get back to the NFL. The magicians of the 2012 season will all be looking for work at the same time. Meanwhile they each banked at least 30 million dollars over the last 5 years for that season. Kingsbury is probably too expensive to buy out so I doubt he’s out but would be ironic if he, Sumlin, and Johnny are looking for work based on that 2012.

When Aggie Football Was Great

As the Founder, President, and main client of the Make Aggie Football Great Again Movement I often get asked when Aggie Football was ever great. Obviously it was great in 1939 when the Aggies won their only official National Championship. In addition there was the 1956 team that went 9-0-1 and finished 5^th in the AP poll, the 1976 team that went 10-2 and finished 7^th in the AP poll, and of course in recent memory the 2012 team that went 11-2 finishing 5^th in the AP poll. Those are four isolated seasons where one was definitely great and three others that were really good bordering on great.

For me there was a decade of Aggie Football in recent memory that was borderline great that I think Aggie Football can get back to with the right head coach. College football is cyclical but there’s a decade of Aggie Football that should the standard by which Aggie Football is judged. That decade is from 1985 to 1995. 20-30 years ago seems like a distant memory now but it should be a reminder of what’s possible.

In those 11 seasons Aggie Football finished outside of the Top 20 only once. They finished in the Top 10 in five of those seasons. They finished with 10 wins in six of those seasons in a period when only 11 games where the norm as opposed to the 12 games that are played now. There were some 12 game seasons back then but the majority of those seasons were 11 game seasons so 10 wins is a big milestone. There were three 9 win seasons and only one season of 8 wins and one season of 7 wins. That’s pretty damn impressive from a win standpoint. That’s a combined record of 104-27-2 for those 11 seasons for a winning percentage of .782. That is an outstanding winning percentage over a decade.

Here’s a chart that summarizes each season:

There’s a lot to digest but there’s no doubt that’s a decade of REALLY good football bordering on great. Win one national championship in there and that’s absolutely a great decade of football. There were legitimate chances to win it all in 1985, 1992, and 1994.

1985 was a lot like the 2012 season where they opened up with a tough loss to a ranked Alabama team on the road, lost to a ranked Baylor team in the middle of the season, and then got hot and just rolled everyone they played absolutely thrashing their final three opponents in TCU, Texas, and Auburn that included Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson in the Cotton Bowl. Had they not lost one of those early season losses they might have had an outside chance to get Penn St to the Cotton Bowl instead of OU getting them in the Orange Bowl which is how OU won the national championship that year. Early season losses set this team back just like in 2012. There’s no doubt though at the end of the season this was one of the best teams in the country.

1992 was an undefeated regular season but like the modern day Big 12, Texas A&M was playing in a wretched Southwest Conference. So wretched there wasn’t one team in the Southwest Conference that was ranked when they played. A&M’s only win over a ranked opponent was to open the season against Stanford who was ranked 20^th at the time. At the same time both Alabama and Miami went undefeated beating more ranked opponents than A&M so Miami went to the Sugar Bowl instead of the Cotton Bowl. Had Bama lost a game that season there’s an outside chance Miami and A&M would have matched up in the Cotton Bowl for the national championship but that’s still a stretch as Miami might have played Florida State in a re-match. The Southwest Conference did A&M no favors that season because the teams were crap much like what top Big 12 teams face today. Of course A&M losing to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl makes talk of a national championship that season moot but that was a damn good Notre Dame team. However, A&M didn’t help itself for that game having to suspend Greg Hill for receiving improper benefits. As it was A&M belonged in the conversation of Alabama, Miami, Florida State, and Notre Dame teams that were just loaded with talent. That was a great team. Probably the greatest of that decade for Aggie Football.

The 1994 team technically went undefeated but thanks to Greg Hill not going to his cush job for Warren Gilbert at a Dallas apartment complex they were on NCAA probation. A&M was banned both from the post season and television that year. A&M had no chance to win a national championship that season but if Greg Hill goes to his job or doesn’t take the money this potentially could have been a championship team. The reality is this team wasn’t really all that close as even if they weren’t on probation and hadn’t tied SMU in one of the worst games I’ve ever witnessed as an Aggie fan, an undefeated Texas A&M likely wouldn’t have climbed over undefeated Nebraska and Penn St who had better regular season opponents and impressive bowl victories to remain undefeated. Playing in the Southwest Conference was just not going to position a team for a National Championship unless a bunch of other teams lost in their better conferences. That didn’t happen in 1994 but if A&M goes undefeated in 1992 and isn’t on probation it’s not a total stretch to think this team is playing for a national championship assuming they beat SMU that season.

While the Southwest Conference was pretty bad for the most part the statistic that stands out to me during that decade is the record at Kyle Field. 63-5-1 is just flat out amazing. That’s partially where the mystique of Kyle Field came from in recent memory. In 11 seasons Texas A&M only lost FIVE games at Kyle Field. FIVE games in 11 seasons. That’s unreal. In 7 seasons Texas A&M never lost a game at home. There was one tie which is kind of losing but it’s not a loss so we won’t count it that way. Only one season did A&M lose 2 games and that was easily the worst team of that decade. A&M never lost more than 1 game at Kyle in any other season and had a five year run where a fan at Kyle Field never saw a loss with just one tie. That is flat out amazing at defending Kyle Field. That my friends is absolutely great Aggie Football at home. I don’t care how bad the Southwest Conference was as there were some big wins over non conference opponents and some solid Southwest Conference teams along the way. Five losses in 11 seasons. That’s amazing.

I won’t classify that entire decade as truly great because of the struggle in bowl games and key road losses but it’s not far from it and it’s what Aggie Football expectations should be. With A&M’s resources there’s no reason why we can’t return to a decade of Aggie football like this and make it even better. Make the right hire and we can get back there.

The most interesting part of this decade is a conversation I had with Dr. Loftin in 2010 after Nebraska and Colorado announced they were leaving for the Pac 12 and we had flirted with the SEC but didn’t pull the trigger. This was prior to the Longhorn Network being announced. Dr. Loftin told me the support for going to the SEC wasn’t as large as it seemed. He said it was actually divided more to staying as there was a silent majority that was fearful of the SEC. He told me he had basically divided support for the SEC between two major groups. One was the recent graduates who were enamored with the SEC because of all the publicity it was getting at the time and the other was those Aggies that had graduated during this decade of Aggie Football and more specifically those that had been in school when Jackie was coach. Those Aggies didn’t fear the SEC like those that didn’t attend school during that decade.

Dr. Loftin didn’t say this but there’s no doubt those Aggies during that period remember dominating football teams and most importantly dominating Kyle Field. They weren’t scared at all of the SEC as they know Aggie football can compete at the highest level with the right coach. This decade of Aggie Football should be the minimum standard of expectations going forward. If those results aren’t being achieved then we need to be doing a serious study of what’s going wrong and what change is needed. Shift the mindset that this decade is what Aggie Football should be. We’re not there from a mental standpoint. We really aren’t.

If you didn’t experience that decade as a student or fan you don’t know what you’re missing out on. Kyle Field rocked every game and the biggest reason was the Wrecking Crew. Defense was the staple of that decade and a coach needs to focus on bringing the Wrecking Crew mentality back. It won’t be easy in this new era of high powered offenses but A&M needs a head coach that makes recruiting and preparing defensive players to thrash opponents a top priority. Easier said than done but offense just wins games and the Wrecking Crew can win championships. If a coach doesn’t understand the importance of bringing the Wrecking Crew back then we stand no chance of ever being great again.

There is no doubt with the right mindset a head coach can absolutely Make Aggie Football Great Again. There’s a decade that says it’s possible.

#MAFGA

The Curious Case of Lane Kiffin

I actually planned on writing this blog entry for a while and decided last week to write it. In researching this blog I learned the day I’d post the link would be Lane Kiffin’s 42^nd birthday. Happy birthday, Coach Kiffin. I hope you’re on a Florida beach with a beer bottle in hand soaking in your 42 years. I’d be disappointed if you weren’t.

Everything about Lane Kiffin intrigues me. The dude has a genius football mind but he can’t seem to keep focus or have any kind of drive to want to be great. Something I talk about all the time in what I think drives people to be great is channeling losing to get better but losing doesn’t seem to bother him. He just seems like a frat guy that doesn’t take anything too serious. He’s extremely gifted for his profession but he doesn’t seem to really care. He was definitely too young to be named head coach of the Raiders at 31 but in a decade of having major responsibilities as a coach he hasn’t appeared to have grown up or developed any kind of drive to be great. He’s just living life.

On his 42^nd birthday Lane Kiffin will have had the following titles:

Head Coach of the Oakland Raiders
Head Coach of the Tennessee Volunteers
Head Coach of the USC Trojans
Offensive Coordinator at Alabama with three straight berths in the College Football Playoffs winning one national championship.
Head Coach of Florida Atlantic University

There are coaches in their 60s that would die to have just one of those titles. Lane Kiffin has done this by his 42^nd birthday. It’s remarkable. And he hasn’t been terrible at each stop other than Oakland but who hasn’t been terrible in Oakland. His main issue is he never lived up to the expectations put on him at USC but he was working with a stacked deck against him with postseason bans and scholarship restrictions.

I really didn’t watch much of Lane Kiffin while he was at Tennessee or USC to know what kind of coach he truly was when it came to games. I remember the remarks he made at Tennessee that pissed off Urban Meyer and some of the shenanigans he had at USC like claiming he didn’t know the ball boy was deflating footballs or whatever it was. There was some other stuff at USC that I remember thinking he wasn’t taking things seriously as a head coach.

Where I really started paying attention to Lane Kiffin was as OC at Bama. With A&M playing Bama every year and Bama being the bell cow of college football I started watching a lot of their games. To me Kiffin has hands down been the best play caller in the country over the last three years. Sure, he’s working with a ton of talent but the reality is he jump started a Bama offensive that was pretty bland and vanilla before he got there. Bama started putting a lot more points on the board. I don’t think Kiffin gets enough credit for it because everyone just points to Bama’s talent and thinks anyone could have done it.

For people that make that argument let me make a counter argument in that Kiffin won the SEC three years in a row with Blake Sims, Jake Coker, and true freshman Jalen Hurts as his QB. Look at that list again. I don’t think there’s another OC in the country that even with Bama’s other offensive talent would have won the SEC and been to the College Football Playoff three years in a row with that string of quarterbacks. The only consistent in Bama’s offensive output in those three seasons is Lane Kiffin. The dude has been a magnificent play caller in his three seasons as Bama’s OC.

The only game I can recall where I thought Kiffin was questionable was the 2014 CFP Semi Final against Ohio State. Ohio State took the lead in the third quarter and then Sims threw a pick six which put Ohio State up by two scores. Bama was able to score and get the game within six and then both teams punted back and forth a little. On one particular punt the Bama defense pushed Ohio St back to the goal line and Ohio St botched the punt giving it to Bama at the 23 yard line. That is opportunity pounding on the door if I ever saw it.

Considering Sims had thrown the pick six three series ago I felt Bama should have pounded it down Ohio State’s throat with Derrick Henry. Lean on their defense and at worst get three points out of the deal while giving the defense some rest. What does Kiffin do? On the very first play of getting the ball on the Ohio State 23 he calls a pass play to the goal line. Ohio State picks it off at the one yard line and returns it to the 8. Bama had a chance to gain all the momentum back but Kiffin gave it right back to Ohio State. He trusted his play calling over Sims ability. Kiffin got greedy instead of being smart and it cost Bama the national championship with that playcall because to me Bama never recovered from that call. There’s little doubt in my mind they would have beaten Oregon just like Ohio State did had they beat Ohio State that game. Had Kiffin made a different set of play calls there and then coached the national championship game this year there’s a good chance Nick Saban has three national championships in a row. I’m dead serious. If that’s Kiffin’s only blemish that’s still REALLY damn good for his three years at Bama.

Midway through last season Kiffin started getting mentioned as a head coaching candidate again. Had we fired Sumlin last season I thought the combination of Kiffin running the offense and John Chavis running the defense would be a pretty salty staff. Kiffin’s actions at the end of the season have given me major pause that he’s matured and is driven to be a great head coach.

Kiffin wasn’t in line for any major coaching jobs it seemed. I think the best opportunity he had was for the UH job and the rumor is he turned that down because of the restrictions and buyout they wanted to prevent him from leaving after a year or two. I get him not wanting the restrictions but UH is a good program where he could have spent 3-4 years and then stepped up. They were going to pay pretty well but instead he took the Florida Atlantic coaching job for less money than he was making as OC at Bama.

There’s no doubt his time at Bama had run its course and he had to move on. I just don’t understand why he took the FAU job for less money than he made at Bama and much less money than he would have made at UH. FAU is a crappy job. They haven’t won a damn thing and as great as I think Kiffin is as an OC he’s not going to turn FAU around overnight. He’ll need to spend 4-5 years there I believe. He would have been better off going to UH for more money even with the restrictions. If he won at UH like Briles, Sumlin, and Herman before him there’s no doubt he’d be set up for a solid head coaching gig in a Power 5 conference. I don’t know that there’s anything more he could accomplish at FAU over UH and he’s taking probably 1/3 of the money to do it with more risk. It makes no sense if he’s matured and truly driven to be a national championship winning head coach. The FAU job is a real head scratcher from a coaching standpoint.

In addition to the UH job there’s another clear better option than FAU. Kiffin could have gone to LSU to be OC for his buddy Ed Ogeron. LSU would have likely paid Kiffin $2 million a year to run their offense and there’s enough talent at LSU to beat Bama and win a national championship. If Kiffin had at minimum beaten Bama just once in two years then SEC schools would have backed up dump truck piles of cash to give him their head coaching job. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. I actually think taking the LSU OC job would have been his best move as he would have made twice the money he’s making at FAU and he could have beaten Bama with LSU’s talent. LSU has every bit of talent as Bama but just doesn’t have the coaching. With a Bama win under his belt at LSU he could have the pick of SEC jobs. SEC schools would have fired their coach not named Saban or Coach O to hire Kiffin. Hell, LSU might have fired or demoted Coach O if Kiffin actually beat Saban. I’m dead serious.

What I really think happened is he took the FAU gig solely to chase women. He got divorced a year or two ago and outside of coeds on the Bama campus I can’t imagine there were any single women in Tuscaloosa up to his standards. He knew Bama coeds were off limits or Saban would actually castrate him. He thought with the wrong head and headed to Boca Raton where the women for his standards are plentiful and nobody cares about the social life of Lane Kiffin because he’s basically a nobody in South Florida. I really think that was the main factor for his taking the FAU job.

At USC he made $3.4 million in his last year which was 2013 and he had two years left on his deal so he also made $3.4 million in 2014 and 2015 between USC and Bama. In 2016 he made $1.4 million which is $2 million less a year from his previous salary. Then he took a gig for $1 million a year while turning down better opportunities for at least twice the money. Plus, he’s paying child support and alimony to his ex wife so it’s not like that money is going directly to him so he’s taking a SIGNIFICANT pay cut to coach at FAU. I really think he just moved to Boca Rotan for the women because he doesn’t care about coaching all that much. There’s no doubt money isn’t everything but I just wonder if he’s driven to be great. It doesn’t seem like it’s a driver for him right now.

The other thing that makes me pause for his true drive to be great is how things went down at Bama. When he accepted the FAU job it was stated he would finish with Bama including the national championship game if they got there. After beating Washington to get in the national championship game two to three days later it’s announced Kiffin would not be coaching in the national championship game. That was out of the blue and my guess is Saban told him to pack his stuff because he wasn’t focused anymore. A guy driven for success would have been so focused to win that game knowing it would help his recruiting at FAU even more by being able to show off back to back championship rings. If he’s suffering burnout at 41 for being just the OC at Bama it gets much worse trying to be a national championship head coach.

Maybe I’m wrong about Kiffin. Maybe he has a plan in place for achieving greatness which to me is winning national championships. Maybe he doesn’t care and just wants to live an easy life away from the stresses of big time college football. If he truly wants to be great there are better paths to take than the one he’s taking now. He just turned 42 today so maybe there’s time for him to mature but I believe this is about the time he should really mature and change his focus. Based on his actions in the last 6-9 months he’s definitely not ready to be head coach at an SEC program competing for national championships in my mind.

Either way he’s accomplished more than most head coaches at the age of 42 so maybe he’s just on the beach with a cold beer in his hand smiling that he figured out the world before it figured him out.

Happy Birthday Coach Kiffin.

Was Colin Cowherd Right about Aggie Football?

If you’re offended by what Colin Cowherd said about A&M underachieving then you’re part of the problem. He nailed it. He absolutely nailed it. I believe Texas A&M is a Top 10 program to win a National Championship. I’m not talking a coaching job, history, tradition, or anything else that most people look at. I’m talking in its current state the ability to win a national championship and nothing more. In the current climate of college football I strongly believe Texas A&M is a Top 10 program to win a national championship.

To put it in perspective I think LSU is the top program in the country to win a national championship. Nobody has the resources of athletes and attitude to win like LSU. I firmly believe that. Nobody has the quality of athletes in one state all to themselves and LSU has the attitude to win. I think Les Miles definitely under achieved if you’re wondering. When I measure a school right now I’m simply looking at winning a national championship as that’s all that matters to me. What you did in the past doesn’t matter to me. Region, conference, facilities, and support are really all that matter to win a national championship in this day and age. Just look at Notre Dame and Nebraska to what tradition and history get you in this modern age.

There aren’t more than 10 schools that have Texas A&M’s resources for athletes and facilities to win a national championship. There is no reason we can’t do what Florida State does on the field. We’re just missing the attitude. This attitude has caused us to hire and hang on too long to the wrong coach time and time again. RC Slocum failed to see the recruiting game changing when OU hired Bob Stoops, LSU hired Nick Saban, and Texas hired Mack Brown. Blame facilities all you want as RC did but the reality is RC now had competition in recruiting and he struggled. He was not on the level of Stoops, Saban, or Brown when it came to recruiting. The attitude of RC being defeated along with administrators being asleep at the wheel for the changing landscape in college football ended the dominant decade from 1985 to 1995. We were actually dominant for a decade in the last 35 years but so many people forget. I’ll write about that decade in a later blog.

We replaced RC with Fran which wound up being the greatest criminal act in Aggie football history. Fran set this program on a downward spiral that we’ve yet to recover from. In Fran we hired a guy that had already won a national championship in his mind. This is a guy that honestly already hired a biographer who followed him around and had already selected the title of his autobiography. Seriously. I wish I could remember the title as it was clear Fran was always about himself and nothing more. He didn’t know how to get it done on the field though. It seemed like a slam dunk hire but it wound up being criminal as Fran cashed big checks producing nothing.

After Fran came a fine man in Mike Sherman but he wasn’t cut out to be a college football head coach. The man loved Aggieland and was a solid offensive coach but as a head coach he failed. Mike Sherman was built to be an NFL offensive coordinator. He was never built to be a college head coach. He didn’t get recruiting and he didn’t totally get how the college game works. That hire always boggled my mind because on the Friday night of the announcement of Fran being let go Bill Byrne said we would begin an immediate national search. Byrne wound up in a hotel room in Hempstead that weekend talking to Sherman and announced his hiring on Monday. We rushed a hiring on Mike Sherman and then allowed him to finish his coordinating job for the Texans. While that’s an admirable thing for Sherman to do that wasn’t a winning attitude by A&M. The whole timing of that hire still boggles my mind. It wasn’t the attitude to win a national championship.

After Sherman was let go we hired Kevin Sumlin. This hire kind of made sense as Sumlin had done a fine job at Houston and got Texas A&M as a former assistant under Slocum. He seemed dynamic and knew the state. I didn’t mind the hire and when he caught lightening in a bottle in 2012 I thought we were on our way to dominance. That glory would be short lived as Sumlin wasn’t the secret sauce to that 2012 season. It was senior leadership on defense, a dominant offensive line thanks to Sherman, a good receiving corps with Evans and Swope, and obviously Johnny Football. Sumlin just happened to have the headset when lightening was caught in that bottle.

I don’t think Sumlin is a horrible head coach and would actually list him as the top coach of Slocum, Fran, Sherman, and himself. He recruits well, has a decent staff, and has won a reasonable amount of games. The problem is his attitude. He doesn’t hate losing enough. He has thin skin and wants to be liked. Losing doesn’t drive him. It frustrates him because it means a decline in popularity. He doesn’t consume himself in the game and the game plan all week leading up to the game. He doesn’t read the flow of the game at all. His clock management has gotten worse. He hasn’t changed his approach in 5 years. Just his staff. I hope Sumlin wins 9 games this season and proves me wrong. I want Kevin Sumlin to be coach that Makes Aggie Football Great Again. I just don’t think he has it in him.

Going back to Cowherd he’s dead on. Since 1998 we haven’t even played for a conference championship much less won one. That’s almost 20 years y’all. 20 years since we even played for a conference championship. I won’t list the schools that have played for a conference championship much less won one in the last 20 years. The biggest bowl win was the 2012/2013 Cotton Bowl. We haven’t even sniffed a bowl of that caliber outside of the 2012 season since 1998. The Cotton Bowl in 2004/2005 doesn’t count as it was a second tier bowl back then. Plus, Tennessee kicked our ass. Since that Big XII Championship in 1998 other than 2012 we really haven’t done a damn thing in football. We really haven’t. I think it’s all in our attitude. We don’t hate losing like other schools. We want to win but if we don’t then it’s no big deal. We’re just happy being Aggies which is a great thing but those at the top need to develop a killer instinct.

I assume Sumlin is replaced this season because his 5 years indicates he won’t win 9 games to save his job. If that happens we have to have a killer instinct when it comes to hiring the next coach. We have to nail this next hire because the college football landscape is changing again as the decline in cable will change things in the next 10 years. History and tradition don’t matter to recruits as much as it has in the past. I firmly believe conference, facilities, and most importantly winning are the three factors that matter the most for getting recruits. We are the ONLY Texas school in the premier football conference in college. Sure, the ACC has made up major ground but it’s still the SEC and everyone else. Look at the recent draft. Until the SEC stops dominating the NFL draft it’s the premiere conference. Recruits want the dream to play in the NFL and the SEC can sell that dream better than anyone. You have to sell that and A&M can being in the SEC. It’s the ONLY school in the state of Texas that can. It’s huge. However, like anything it’s not likely to last forever. There could be a window we’re looking at and we need to take advantage of it while we can before it’s gone. We need to become at minimum what Florida State is and pronto.

As for facilities we have the largest stadium in the premiere conference. Facilities aren’t our problem. We can’t rest on our facilities and not keep updating them but the RC Slocum issue of having facilities that are lagging behind is not even close. We have the facilities to sell recruits. We’re in one of the best hot beds of talent anywhere in the country. Conference and region are major strengths for us. It puts us above traditional powers.

What we really can’t sell right now is winning. We’re not losing big time but we’re missing that killer instinct to close out a season. It’s all about attitude. With the exception of 2012, Kevin Sumlin’s time has resulted in failing down the stretch. We’ve seen plenty of Top 10 rankings in under Sumlin but the minute it happens we tend to immediately fall. It’s all attitude in my mind. Those in charge don’t get pissed off about underachieving. At least if they get pissed off they don’t channel it in the right way. Cowherd is totally right about culture.

I believe this next coaching hire is likely to be the most important hire in Aggie football history. Maybe more than when we hired Jackie Sherrill and put Texas A&M on a track to dominate for a decade. We’re sitting in the SEC and not doing anything with it. We are completely set up to be the Western outpost for the premier conference in college football. If you’re west of the Mississippi and want to play in the SEC there’s only one school you should consider and that’s Texas A&M. Technically Arkansas and Missouri are west of the Mississippi but we shouldn’t be competing with them for recruits on a national level west of the Mississippi. That should be our recruiting pitch – The destination SEC school for any recruit west of the Mississippi. But I don’t think that’s our attitude. We’re just happy being Aggies in the SEC.

We need to have an attitude to do better than obvious hires. Fran, Sherman, and Sumlin were all obvious and easy hires. They all had ties to either Texas or Texas A&M and were safe and obvious hires. No dice was rolled when the hire was made. For this hire Texas A&M needs to either hire a big time guy like James Franklin or a very calculated roll of the dice for someone different than what we’ve hired in the past. No more obvious hires. I don’t think there’s a slam dunk obvious hire sitting out there for us like Tom Herman and Texas so we need to do something different. I think the floor for us should be Chad Morris as that’s an obvious hire but even then we need to look deeper into whom the next coach should be. Channel the disappointment in losing and make a hire that’s been different than in the past.

Cowherd was 100% spot on. Even his comment about not being better than Arkansas. That seems to annoy Aggies the most but he’s right. The era of Bobby Petrino was on par with any era at A&M since 1998. They too just hired the wrong coach after Petrino went for that Sunday ride on his motorcycle. We’re really no better than Arkansas for the most part despite being 5-0 against them in the last 5 years. Do we really need to remember the 3 games prior to that when Arkansas beat us? So we’re 5-3 since playing them again. They ain’t far off.

So it’s all about attitude with Texas A&M Football. No more hires of guys who are just happy about getting the head coaching job at Texas A&M. No more making the easy and obvious hire. It’s all about hiring someone that wants to establish Texas A&M as a Top 10 program for winning the national championship and being the Western outpost for football in the SEC. Finding someone that hates losing more than they love winning. Someone that is willing to hire someone they’re not familiar with simply because they realize that hire makes them greater. Someone with a real winning attitude and willing to put in the work.

Attitude. Cowherd nailed. The culture is off. Until the attitude changes and everyone realizes it’s more than just facilities and conference and it’s about not accepting losing nothing will change at Texas A&M. I’m not talking about getting angry and throwing chairs or breaking stuff. That’s channeling losing the wrong way. I’m talking about using losing as a driver to become a better program. The hate of losing needs to identify the mistakes that were made, admitting to those mistakes, and not making those mistakes again. That’s how the attitude changes. And it needs to be changed. If Kevin Sumlin doesn’t do it to win 9 games this season those in charge of the next hire need to do it in hiring the next coach.

#MAFGA

Random notes:

Did you know Bill Byrne was the AD when Fran, Sherman, and Sumlin were hired? He’s the sole person of leadership that has a common tie to all of those hires. He has the sole hand in the almost two decades of under achieving.

Here are the Top 10 programs I consider having the best capability of winning a national championship in current day college football due to location, conference, facilities, and attitude. This is in no order other than LSU at the top because I genuinely feel they have the most talented team top to bottom every year.

LSU
Bama
Florida
Georgia
Florida State
Ohio State
Michigan
Texas
Texas A&M
USC

I really feel that A&M is above programs like Oklahoma, Miami, Tennessee, Auburn, Penn St, Notre Dame, Clemson, and others. Being the only SEC school in Texas is a MAJOR advantage but we’re squandering it right now because of our attitude. If we had a coach like Jimbo Fisher we’d be there. There is NO reason we can’t have the success of Florida State because we can get the athletes if we win. We have to nail this next hire and start winning.

2017 Aggie Spring Practice Review

Before I get going on my “analysis” of A&M’s Spring Practice I want to be clear that I will never cheer against Texas A&M and I’m not rooting for Kevin Sumlin to fail. Not at all. I hope Sumlin proves me wrong in what I’m about to write but I’m trying to look at this objectively. We’ve had 5 years of Kevin Sumlin and nothing that I’ve seen says this is the year he finally flips the switch. I’m just being realistic here.

There’s nothing that can come out of Spring Practice/Games that should get anyone excited. Its practice and nothing more. Every program in the country does it. All it’s really good for is getting the younger guys some reps and for a coaching staff to maybe determine who might start where heading into the summer. It’s a practice where players are going up against each other and not real competition. It’s good to get those reps but nothing at all matters until real bullets start flying on Labor Day weekend in California. That game is the only thing that matters so until that happens there’s no need to get worked up over practice reports. Practice matters and means a ton but the ultimate evaluation comes in the form of wins and losses. Until live bullets start flying in September there’s no reason to get worked up over anything you see or read related to spring practice.

The absolute best thing that can come out of a spring practice is naming your starting quarterback if there’s any question. That’s what happened last year with Trevor Knight but Sumlin didn’t name a starting quarterback this year. That’s not a good thing because it means the trio of Hubenak, Starkel, and Mond didn’t separate themselves. In the Sumlin era Trevor Knight is the unquestionable #2 quarterback when judged solely by wins and losses behind Johnny Manziel. It’s not even close. No other quarterback even comes close to a season of work when it comes to wins and losses to be the #2 quarterback behind Johnny. I say that because I think we’re really going to miss Trevor. As wildly inconsistent as he was as a passer, he was a consistent winner. He had control of the team and ran Mazzone’s offense pretty damn well. If he didn’t transfer in from OU last season would have been a DISASTER and Sumlin wouldn’t be our coach.

Quarterback:

So here we sit with a trio of quarterbacks that no one can figure out who’s going to start including the coaching staff. There’s no Trevor Knight here. Let’s not forget we’re headed into Year 6 of Sumlin’s tenure and have no clear quarterback. We could be in Kyle Allen’s senior season, Kyler Murray’s third season, or something else but we sit here wondering who is going to be taking snaps. Sumlin has botched his handling of quarterbacks since Johnny. He flat out has. This is all on him.

Under center against UCLA we will have a quarterback who’s never won a start and some that haven’t even taken a snap. Hubenak started in some big games against Louisville, Ole Miss, and LSU and didn’t win any of them. I think Jake Hubenak is a fine Aggie but when it comes to production measured by wins his body of work doesn’t look good. He couldn’t bring A&M back against Mississippi State either. If it’s not Hubenak then it’s going to be a guy who’s never taken a snap in a college game in redshirt freshman Nick Starkel or true freshman Kellen Mond. We’re going to have a guy under center who has NEVER won a game at the college level against another Power 5 conference team. None of these guys are Johnny Manziel so get that out of your head.

I think it’s either going to be Mond or Starkel but what bothers me about those two is they’re both completely different quarterbacks. Starkel is a classic pocket guy and Mond is a dual threat guy. I kind of wish Sumlin had named Starkel the starter coming out of spring practice as it would give the players and staff some idea of what type of offense they’ll be running. As it stands we’ll go into summer camp with no clue if we’re going to have a pocket or running quarterback. A redshirt freshman or a true freshman. I would have given the nod to Starkel and told him it was his job to loose. It doesn’t mean you hurt Mond’s development as you can have some plays for him but I think the sooner you establish your starting quarterback the better off your team is. Just like Trevor Knight last year.

I just don’t know how this team does better than last year from a record standpoint when Trevor Knight is clear head and shoulders above any QB on the roster. I think Mond could be really solid at some point down the road but Kevin Sumlin should only be looking at 2017 right now and what’s best to get more than 8 wins. He might survive an 8 win season depending on how it goes but there’s no way in hell he survives a 7 win season. No way at all. He’ll only survive an 8 win season if we beat LSU with Mond under center showing there’s some progress but good luck doing that in Baton Rouge this season.

Pass Rush:

In addition to not having a quarterback we also don’t have a pass rush. I mean none. We lost our two best defensive ends to the draft and the guys we have behind them showed virtually no promise last season. We had a massive drop off in defensive end play when Myles Garrett wasn’t on the field. So much so that South Carolina and Mississippi State ran their QBs at Garret’s replacement on their first offensive play of the game and ripped off 75 yard touchdown runs. We’re not going to have any pass rush to speak off and that’s going to stress our already weak cornerback situation I believe. I really think our defense is going to fall off big time next season with the loss of Garrett and Hall.

We finally get some depth and talent in our linebacking corps but there’s no Von Miller to bring pressure off the edge. Speaking of Von Miller let’s think back to the season after we lost Von and what happened. We went from 9-3 to 6-6 and Mike Sherman got fired. Our defense couldn’t hold a lead at all partially because we lost our ability to bring a pass rush. I just don’t know how a defense that’s not already loaded with talent gets better when you lose a guy that is the #1 or #2 pick in the draft. I just don’t know how that’s possible. I hope I’m wrong but the talent and depth of the defense isn’t there to be better than last year’s defense with the loss of a guy like Garrett as well as Hall. A lot like in 2013 when the defense lost all its upperclassmen leaders.

We lost our two best players from last year’s team in Trevor Knight and Myles Garrett and we’re supposed to be better when their replacements appear to be significant drop offs? Remember when people were saying Caleb Russell was going to be a fine replacement for Von Miller? How did that turn out? Kevin Sumlin is going to have to flat out pull a rabbit out of his hat to equal the 8 wins from last season. I don’t know how 8 wins is possible much less 9 or more. I really don’t. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t know how we’re better.

Receiving Corps:

While it’s easy to point out the likely drop in production of our quarterback and defensive ends there’s another group that I think could suffer but hardly ever gets talked about. That group is our wide receiving corps. Most people seem to think we have the talent to re-load and go but I’m not totally sold on that. I don’t think we fully understand what the loss of Josh Reynolds will mean to our passing game. While he’s not exactly Mike Evans he’s not too far from him in terms of production. Christian Kirk is an outstanding receiver but outside of Kirk I don’t see one guy on this roster that will come close to matching Josh Reynold’s production. Jhamon Ausbon appears to have the talent and supposedly had an excellent spring but he’ll still be a true freshman and they tend to hit a wall. I don’t think he’ll be good enough to replace Reynolds for 12 games this season. Reynolds is kind of like Knight in that he’s CLEARLY the second best receiver as far as production in the Sumlin era. Kirk is good but Reynolds got the job done better. Now he’s gone and nobody is talking about his loss because there’s this weird assumption he’s easily replaced and I just don’t see it.

I know everyone seems to be glad RSJ moved on as he was wildly inconsistent and never lived up to his talent but he wasn’t terrible. He was a defensive mis-match and along the way he made some solid catches. He dropped some balls he should have caught and he’s replaceable but I’m not sure there’s anyone on the roster that’s a sure upgrade. There’s talk of Damion Ratley starting at receiver. If you think RSJ dropped passes, Ratley makes RSJ look like he’s got glue for hands. If Damion Ratley starts for us it’s not a good sign for our receiving corps at all. I can’t believe Ratley is even in the running to start at receiver but he is. I’m not talking about Kirk Merritt until his “jock itch” situation gets taken care of because I’m not sure he should be practicing with the team right now. It’s a little Baylor esque in my mind and I don’t like that at all.

There’s some talent and depth on the roster at the receiving position but it just seems odd everybody assumes the receiving corps won’t miss a beat with the loss of Reynolds for sure and even RSJ. Christian Kirk while extremely talented has not shown he can carry a team and some of that might be on Noel Mazzone. However, in the receiving game I think defenses will make sure to take away any threat from Christian Kirk and see if the other receivers can beat them. In my mind this unit is going to be worse than last year.

Strength and Conditioning:

Now to my favorite move ever by Kevin Sumlin. The firing of Larry Jackson aka Black Death. I have no allegiance to Larry Jackson but I giggle every time I hear the late season collapses being blamed at the hands of our strength and conditioning coach. Four flipping seasons in a row we failed to win games in November and Kevin Sumlin decides his strength and conditioning coach was to blame. Get out of here. I don’t mind a change to the staff to shake things up but to blame FOUR SEASONS of losing November games on the strength and conditioning coach is maddening.

Our guys weren’t gassed to the point they couldn’t get off the ground and they weren’t suffering from muscle atrophy where they were just weaker and got pushed around. That wasn’t the case at all. In fact I remember reading things last season of how Coach Jackson had changed things to be more “SEC Like”. Coaching lost to Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and LSU last season. It wasn’t ANYTHING related to strength and conditioning. Blaming those losses on lack of strength and conditioning is some Coach Fran bullshit right there.

The reality of in season football is strength and conditioning isn’t all that important beyond a maintain level. Any strength and conditioning coach can do that as it’s mainly just making sure guys are doing some running post practice and doing some lifting to maintain what they have. You’re not building strength and conditioning during the season. As long as Larry Jackson didn’t cut gassers and lifting during the season he ain’t to blame. And if Larry Jackson did cut gassers and lifting then Kevin Sumlin should have fired him on the spot and told his squad to line up for gassers and get their ass in the weight room and do some lifting. It really is that simple.

All of this talk of how different the players look this spring cracks me up. Our new strength and conditioning coach hasn’t been on the job for even 4 months. If he’s really having an effect where already elite level athletes look totally different then he needs to get an infomercial or a website because he’s found the secret to working out. He could make a shit load more money selling his system to the general public than wasting it on 100 players at Texas A&M. Seriously. If it’s true this guy has changed the physique and lungs of our athletes in four months then Sumlin should be fired right now for keeping Larry Jackson around as long as he did.

It’s all a big ruse by Sumlin to deflect more blame from himself while he pretends to be an elite level coach by being condescending to anyone that questions the reality of where this program is. At the end of the day it’s about football coaching and technique. If you have superior coaching and athletes your strength and conditioning program could consist solely of gassers, running stands, swinging sledgehammers, and flipping tires. I’m dead serious. Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney didn’t get to the National Championship the last two years because they have superior strength and conditioning coaches. In fact I bet Nick Saban would still beat Sumlin if Saban hired Larry Jackson as his strength and conditioning coach. Just Sumlin re-arranging his staff and blaming someone else because he can’t re-arrange or blame himself thanks to his big contract. Classic clueless management.

Units That Will Be Better:

Since I’m bagging on units that I think will be worse I do think there’s some units that will be better. I think it starts with our offensive line. We lose our tackles but I think we’ll be fine with their replacements. Neither of those guys are getting drafted super high and doesn’t look like they’re going to play tackle at the next level so I think they’re replaceable. It’s not like we‘re losing someone named Joeckel, Matthews, Ogbuehi, or even Ifedi. There will be some shuffling of positions along the line it seems but I think we’ll settle on 5 guys that will be better than last year mainly because we had a lot of youth along the interior and those guys should be better this season.

I think we’ll be better at the running back position as well. We were pretty good last year but I think Keith Ford and Tray Williams will be better just having a full season under their belt. Hopefully we rely more on the run this year as boring as it might be. This is where I wish we had our starting quarterback already named so we would have some idea of what kind of offense we’d be running. With Starkel we’d have a more pro style/pocket offense and with Mond it would be more zone read. At least that’s what I’d assume. It would be nice to spend the entire off season knowing which way we should be working. If Mazzone plans on running the same offense with either QB we’re hosed. For our running backs I’d love for them to be able to spend the off season knowing if they’re going to be used in more direct hand offs or part of a zone read type offense. It’s not that big of a deal but I think it would help.

I also think our linebacking corps will be better. Dodson should be better and the addition of Hines and Marchiol add some needed talent and depth. They’re likely too young to have a major impact this season but they’ll add some talent and depth that we haven’t had in a while which will be an improvement. Assuming this unit stays healthy and improves with time it’ll be much better than last year’s unit. We will desperately need an improved linebacking corps since we won’t have any pass rush to speak of.

I think our secondary will be about the same as last year. Losing Justin Evans will hurt but as long as we have Armani and Donovan Wilson we still have major talent. Hopefully cornerback will be better as it can’t get much worse even though there’s talk Nick Harvey might be out for the season. Either way I don’t see a major drop off or improvement for our secondary as it’ll be much like last year I believe.

Bottom Line for 2017 and Sumlin:

With all of that being said I don’t see how Sumlin wins 8 games next year. The schedule is less favorable than last season. We lose our best offensive player in Trevor Knight and defensive player in Myles Garrett. We won 8 games last year losing the last 4 against major conference opponents. We got beat by Kansas State in a bowl game. Kansas State in a bowl game in Houston. Think about that. Kevin Sumlin in his fifth year got beat by 115 year old Bill Snyder in a bowl game filled with Aggies everywhere when he had almost a month to prepare. You think a new strength and conditioning coach is going to cure that and win at least 8 games again? I hope Sumlin proves me wrong but his data set is way too big for me to think otherwise. Plain and simple this team will be worse from a roster standpoint coupled with a tougher schedule than last year. I don’t know how 8 wins is even possible looking at it objectively but we shall see. Sumlin has 12 games to prove everyone wrong that he’s figured it out.

I’ll do a season preview in the next couple of months along with a list of potential new coaches after that. I don’t see 2017 being a very good season for Aggie football and I hope the higher ups are already doing their due diligence for if/when a change at the top spot is needed. Sadly I think this is the season where all of the shine for Kevin Sumlin comes off and the 2012 season seems like a distant memory.

I’ll be in the stands for every Aggie home game along with UCLA and Florida wearing my “Make Aggie Football Great Again” hat hoping for the moment it comes to fruition.

#MAFGA

What to do with Kevin Sumlin

I hate saying this but I assumed we’d lose to LSU. They were a major match up problem and Kevin Sumlin has shown he’s not likely to adapt to teams that are a match up problem for us. He just runs the same thing out there in hopes there will be a different outcome. No wrinkles or anything new. We saw that in Tuscaloosa. Just the same thing that won’t appear to work in hopes it will. You know, the definition of insanity. I didn’t expect the LSU game to play out like it did but in most ways it was worse than what I expected. I thought both teams would score under 20 and LSU would win by fewer than 10 points. I had no clue an offensive shootout would break out. It only broke out because our defense got us behind so far that our offense had no choice but to finally go downfield and it worked for the most part. Still not enough though as our issues on defense continued to rear their ugly head as our offense finally found some momentum. The same defense that all but shut down Auburn and Arkansas for an entire game and Bama for almost 3 quarters just continued to leak like a sieve against a very suspect LSU offense. It just makes no sense how it happened but the coaching staff is to blame.

Leading into the LSU game expecting a loss and especially after the loss with how the game played out I’ve kicked around if Kevin Sumlin should be fired or not. The general consensus is that he’s going to get another season mainly because it would cost too much to let him and his staff go. So basically we’re in a marriage that isn’t working and doesn’t hold much promise of working but it costs too much to get out. We’re going to give the problem spouse one more year in hopes they can improve on the issues that have plagued them for 4 years. Sounds like insanity again but it’s because of money. Sure, we’re gonna be miserable for a year but it would cost a lot of money to have some kind of hope moving forward. Which means we’re gonna stick out being miserable for a year because we can’t afford the attorneys and need a little more equity in the house before we sell it. Sounds like a lovely 12 months in front of us.

We’re in this situation because of three things that we had in 2012:

Johnny Manziel – Seems like so long ago. Do you remember him?
An offensive line where all five starters took snaps in the NFL with three of the starters being first round draft picks.
Senior leaders that were pissed they were getting no respect heading into the SEC. I think this element of that team is very underrated and these are the guys that really made Sumlin a lot of money with that big contract after the season. Guys like Ryan Swope, Sean Porter, Jonathan Stewart, Spencer Nealy, Pat Lewis, and EZ Nwachukwu drove that team. They hated all the collapses from the previous season and then the dissing by the media they wouldn’t be able to compete and it put a solid chip on their shoulders that drove that team.

Kevin Sumlin just happened to wear a headset with the best collection of talent and leaders on an A&M roster since 1998 if not longer. We thought Sumlin had the secret sauce. Outside of picking Manziel to start which he deserves major credit for Sumlin just has regular old ketchup, mustard, and mayo. We gave him a contract though for those three things above because we thought he had the secret sauce. Turns out his sauce is the same as we can get anywhere.

Do I think Sumlin should be fired? I’ve thought about this since the Ole Miss game and yes I think he should be fired. The ONLY reason he should stay is he appears to have a pretty good recruiting class enrolling at the mid-term so if he can hold Kellen Mond along with adding Jarret Stidham and Anthony Hines at the mid-term then maybe he deserves another year. I say that because I don’t know who our leadership would get. Our school president and athletic director hired Chris Petersen at Washington from Boise St. so we have the two people that should have intimate knowledge if Petersen would ever come to Texas A&M. If he would you fire Sumlin tomorrow and bring in Petersen. I’m assuming that’s not possible so Petersen is not an option.

Outside of Petersen I’m kind of clueless on realistic candidates. I think there’s little doubt Chad Morris or Larry Fedora would take the job in a heartbeat. When you look at their careers objectively I’m not sure they’re really better than Sumlin long term but they’re probably just as good. Maybe 1-2 wins a season but I’m not sure they’re locks to be great coaches. I think Morris holds some upside but I honestly don’t know what he would do at A&M. He seems like the kind of recruiter that would have to sell winning above all else so if he doesn’t win he’s totally hosed. And let’s face it the college game is mostly about recruiting so that’s kind of chicken and egg taking a guy that needs wins to sell recruits when next year’s talent and schedule has questions.

There’s P.J. Fleck who’s like the Johnny Manziel of college coaching right now looking to take that leap to the next level. He’s pretty damn intense and seems to have a lot of motivational gimmicks but would it carry over to the SEC? I don’t know. Would I roll the dice on him? Yeah he’s the kind of guy I would roll the dice on assuming he had some kind of plan to recruit Texas and hire a staff that had big school experience. I just don’t know how that would work because of his intensity and gimmicks where he currently is. I honestly think he holds more promise than Tom Herman but he could also be a flaming disaster. With Nick Saban in the SEC West why not roll the dice on someone that’s so crazy it just might work.

I’m intrigued by Lane Kiffin mainly because he’s an outstanding offensive coach. He wasn’t the disaster he’s been made out to be as a head coach. He left Tennessee in a slightly bad way but he was offered the USC job after a year at Tennessee which happens in college football. Coaches leave for a perceived better opportunity at weird times. He wasn’t actually terrible at USC amongst a host of restrictions on scholarships and post season. I think there’s a strong chance he goes to LSU as offensive coordinator for next season so let’s see what he does there. If he has success beating Alabama next season then he’s going to be head coach of an SEC team if that’s what he wants.

I’m also intrigued by Dan Mullen at Miss. St. as I think he’s a really underrated coach. He’s a pretty damn good coach and I think his personality would actually work well at A&M and in Texas recruiting. Not sure he’d leave Miss St. for A&M but I think there’s a strong chance. He’d be a definite upgrade over Kevin Sumlin. I’d definitely put him on my radar.

Brent Venables comes to mind but then you look at the lack of success that Will Muschamp and Kirby Smart have had as head coaches you wonder if they’re too focused on defense. Venables is a heck of a defensive coordinator but I have no clue how he’d do as a head coach.

There’s not an obvious choice to replace Sumlin like Texas had with Herman. I do think we could hire someone as good as Sumlin pretty easily but how much better I’m not sure. I just don’t know if our leadership is equipped to hire that person.

If I were hiring I’d look for the following:

Extensive coordinating experience with a high level of success. I want to know they called plays on one side of the ball for an extended period and had a strong level of success. Let’s not forget that best I can tell based on research Kevin Sumlin only ever called plays by himself for half a season and his one claim to fame was beating #1 ranked OU but lost the next week to Mizzou and then Texas that season. He really doesn’t have the extensive coordinating experience he’s made out to be. He just happened to be associated with great coordinators and quarterbacks. I don’t think he actually knew what was going on with all those wins and players he’s associated with.
Head coaching experience that gives you some insight into how they actually operate as a head coach. I wouldn’t be so concerned with their actual wins and losses but did their teams compete, did they adjust in game along with week to week based on opponent, and how did the head coach handle in game situations. Where they a disaster with clock management, substitutions, recruiting, handling the media, and a lot of things coordinators don’t have to really deal with. In this day and age you need someone that can be part CEO but not forget how to scheme a gameplan and adapt or adjust during the game and for different opponents. I want someone that LOVES watching game film before and after games to dissect issues and opportunities. I think Sumlin would rather watch a concert or big sports event.
What is their recruiting plan for recruiting Texas players? Do they have relationships with Texas coaches? Will they go out and meet with coaches? Who will be their recruiting coordinator and what kind of staff is needed? Texas recruiting is the life blood of Texas A&M and if they can’t succeed at recruiting Texas they won’t be successful coaching at A&M.
Who will they target as their offensive and defensive coordinator along with the rest of their staff? Will they bring the majority of the coaches that have been with them or are they willing to leave most of their staff behind to hire a truly elite SEC level staff? In this day and age you need a head coach that has the ability and willingness to hire the best and brightest coaching staff with real SEC experience. Cronies and chums who got you where you are might not be the best to bring with you. You’re gonna be playing sold out arenas so your current fiddle player might not get the crowd cheering when they open up their case. If you’re gonna coach in Texas you got have a bad ass fiddle in the band. Your old fiddler may not do it so we’ll give you the money to get the best if you’re willing to get them. If not, keep playing the smaller venues with your Ford van and packed cargo trailer full of gear. I think this is the biggest thing that’s not really reviewed in the hiring process. An experienced and talented staff like in any organization is what will make it great. I want a coach that demands excellence and if someone won’t or isn’t cutting it then they need to hit the bricks. Being friends is fine but you have to be objective in your analysis.
Do you hate losing more or winning more? I want someone that really gets pissed off when they lose. I think the great ones are driven more by a fear of losing than the pursuit of winning. I think this is what drives the likes of Saban, Meyer, and Harbaugh. You don’t want a jerk but I want someone that’s a little surly after a loss and not just in front of the media. I want someone that tells their staff and players to go home because they want to be left alone to watch film. I think Sumlin goes home after every loss and fixes a glass of scotch while he lights up a stogie to take some pressure off. I think he copes with losing rather than letting it drive him. I think that’s why we’ve seen the late season collapses. He didn’t let losing drive him and his team to get better. He’d just fire up a stogie and pour some scotch until the pain went away hoping his players and staff could figure it out. He had no clue. There is an unhealthy level of hating losing but I want someone that vows to actually do things differently and try to dissect why they weren’t successful. I actually don’t think a lot of coaches do this.
Do you care more about being a football coach that wins games or being a celebrity? In this day and age big time college head coaches are celebrities. Some love the attention and some don’t care. It’s great to be seen as someone cool but at the end of the day you’re a head football coach that’s paid to win games. I want someone that is willing to embrace the celebrity but they really don’t like it and try to shy away from it because they’re more worried about wins and losses. I think we all know Sumlin loves being a celebrity and being adored by everyone. He cares more about his celebrity status than actual wins and losses.

So with all that would I still fire Kevin Sumlin? Yeah I think I would but I would have done it on Friday after the game. I kind of feel like we’re so far behind the eight ball because we’re focused on money and not winning I question who we’d get. We might as well be miserable for another year and get things in order to really be ready to make a great hire. I kind of feel like our administration is not equipped to make the move right now. Much like when we fired Mike Sherman and Kevin Sumlin. Those things kind of jumped up on us and we didn’t really know how to hire a big time coach for a big time program. Maybe we are best giving Sumlin one more year but that’s not because we should. It’s because our administration is not equipped to make the move when it needs to be done. Hopefully they spend the next 12 months preparing for the move and can strike it when it becomes obvious because I have a big feeling there’s going to be an obvious moment next year.

So have fun being miserable for another year as I don’t see how this time next year we’re wondering if Sumlin should be fired or not. It’ll be clear and he won’t be here. Who controls the heat on Sumlin’s seat? He does! He does!

R.C. Would Have Gone For 2

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