Texas A&M fires Kevin Sumlin

After they lost to UCLA, Kevin Sumlin was apparently out at Texas A&M. After they played pretty well down the stretch, it looked as though his job was safe.

After the Aggies were worked by Auburn, Mississippi State and LSU at the end of the season, Sumlin was unceremoniously fired by Texas A&M on Sunday after the 42-21 loss in Tiger Stadium after six seasons in the job.

Under Sumlin, Texas A&M never had a losing season, finishing 51-26. He also helped to create a legend in Johnny Manziel, who won the Aggies their first Heisman Trophy since John David Crow celebrated victory in 1957.

The problem for Sumlin was his in-state record, which wasn’t the best. He went 4-4 four times in the SEC after his first season (with Manziel) which had a 6-2 record. His worst year was when the Aggies finished 3-5. But five out of six surely isn’t that bad.

As they did on the SEC Football Blog’s Twitter feed when we remarked that we didn’t like the Aggies’ move of firing Sumlin, Aggies fans argued vehemently that because of the massive investment the Aggies had thrown into the program, they should expect more – especially beating Auburn and LSU. During Sumlin’s time they never beat LSU and went 3-3 against Auburn and 1-5 against Alabama. They were 6-0 against Arkansas, 3-3 against Ole Miss and 3-3 against Mississippi State.

It can’t be said that Sumlin never created stars. Also Manziel wasn’t a star in the NFL, he was a star at the Aggies, as we’ve mentioned before. Myles Garrett and Mike Evans also became SEC golden boys under Sumlin’s watch. Christian Kirk – who is a sure-fire NFL star punt returner and WR, will be the next one.

One of the greatest highlights of Sumlin’s career wasn’t really about Sumlin himself, but more his race. Sumlin was the first African American head coach Texas A&M had ever hired. Soon after Charlie Strong became the first-ever African American head coach at Texas. Now they are both gone.

Anyway, good luck to Sumlin, and good luck to Texas A&M.