When former Houston football head coach Art Briles left to take over the Baylor program on Nov. 28, the initial reaction from fans was one of shock, which quickly turned into anger and intense hatred of Briles.
Fans felt betrayed by the man who once said that he would "always be loyal to the University of Houston." It’s likely that sentiment won’t fade away any time soon.
The fans’ displeasure over Briles’ abrupt departure is, however, the least important aspect of this situation. As a matter of fact, it, and Briles’ tenure with the Cougars, is yesterday’s news.
What matters most is that the program has moved on to a coach who is anticipated to take the team to a much higher level than Briles or any coach before him could.
Yeah, Kevin Sumlin, that means you’ve already been proclaimed a savior before you’ve coached your first game at Houston. Brace yourself for the wave of lofty expectations that comes next.
Sumlin, who spent the last five seasons as an assistant on Bob Stoop’s staff at Oklahoma, was introduced as the Cougars’ 11th head coach Friday in a rousing ceremony at the Athletic/Alumni Center that included fans, students and alumni, among others. And with the Cougar band, cheerleaders and the crowd nearly tearing the roof off the building with all the noise they made, you would have thought the event was a warm-up for some future celebration of a more significant achievement.
But if you paid close attention to the words of Houston athletic director Dave Maggard, then you know Friday’s ceremony was intended to be just that.
You see, Maggard is more than ready to see the Cougars’ program rise above lackluster seven and eight-win seasons, and an occasional Conference USA championship. He wants to see Houston become a perennial C-USA champion, Top 25 team and contender for at-large bids to BCS games.
He wants the program to have a reincarnation of its glory days of the 1970s and 1980s.
He wants, and expects, Sumlin, who becomes the Cougars’ first black head coach, to lead the return to national prominence.
"The only goal and the only vision that we can have for this football program is to be back in the national picture," Maggard said Friday. "It is not to be in the middle of Conference USA. The goal for us is to achieve at a very, very high level. We had to find someone who had experience in the coaching world, and someone who understands the athletes of today. Someone who sets expectations, has high standards, who expects discipline, who gives respect to the athletes and that they in turn respect him. And we have this person."
Sumlin, a first-time head coach, certainly fits the bill. He served as Oklahoma’s co-offensive coordinator, passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach for the last two seasons, and is highly regarded as an up-and-coming coach. He comes to Houston with lofty recommendations from Stoops, a great coach in his own right.
And one thing’s for certain: Sumlin won’t settle for mediocrity.
"I’m coming here to win championships," Sumlin said.
At Oklahoma, winning championships wasn’t a hope, but an expectation every season. During Sumlin’s tenure there, the Sooners played in four Big 12 championship games, winning three. They earned berths to four BCS bowl games, including this season’s Fiesta Bowl, but they have yet to win any.
Sumlin knows what it takes to win. He’s learned from some of the best – Stoops, former Texas A’M coach R.C. Slocum, and former Washington State coaches Mike Price and Dennis Erickson. All of these men are highly regarded coaches in the college business.
Sumlin certainly won’t have much trouble winning in C-USA, where it’s anybody’s game. Of course, that wasn’t much help for Briles, whose teams usually never finished higher than third, with the exception of last season’s first-place finish and this season’s second-place finish in the C-USA West Division.
Go ahead and admit it: the Cougars were never going to be more than a perennial seven or eight-win squad under Briles. The Cougars were never going to field a championship-caliber defense, and they certainly were never going to finish undefeated and contend for an at-large bid to a BCS bowl.
The Cougars won only five games in the two seasons preceding Briles’ arrival, but he led them to four bowls and a C-USA title in five seasons. He should be commended for turning the program around.
Unfortunately, many of those teams were mediocre at best and Briles never won any of those bowl games. His teams hardly ever looked disciplined, his defenses usually ranked among the worst in the nation, and his special teams were far from special. To make matters worse, the Cougars usually lost at least one game they weren’t supposed to every season (see Southern Methodist in 2005 and Louisiana-Lafayette in 2006).
And we all know Briles wasn’t the greatest recruiter of the Houston area, which we also know is loaded with some of the nation’s top football talent. But that’s a column for another day.
With Sumlin, the Cougars should get the complete package – a smart coach, a great recruiter, and a go-getter.
And he believes he can snag some more of that prime Houston talent.
"With that many players this close to the campus," Sumlin said, "there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to keep some of those players here, let their moms and daddies see them play and win a whole bunch of games."
Yeah, fans anticipate a whole bunch of wins, which they expected from Briles after last season’s breakout 10-4 campaign. But Briles, could take them no further than that.
Now, it’s Sumlin’s turn at bat.
"I can’t wait to get to work," Sumlin said. "And I can’t wait to get that first championship."
