UH to hire Kevin Sumlin

Dave Maggard is hiring the right guy.

I understand that there is concern that Sumlin will bolt for the first "big College" job that comes his way and Houston is just setting itself up for failure in the future. I understand that there was a strong emotional attachment to Pardee. I understand that Haywood was "highly recommended" by Mack Brown and Vince Young. I know all of this, and I still say Sumlin was the right man for the job.

Will Sumlin bolt for a B(C)S job? Yes, he probably will. Such is the life of all of the Non-B(C)S Colleges in the modern football environment. Utah had Urban Meyer, and he left for Florida. Boise State had Colorado coach Dan Hawkins before current coach Chris Peterson took the reins. Eventually Peterson will move on to greener pastures. To combat this Boise State is grooming Brent Pease to take control of the program. What separaetes Sumlin from Briles is that he will bring in a competent group of assistants, including (probably) one that can take the reins after he moves on. One thing Cougar fans need to keep in mind: IF Sumlin moves on then that means he was a winner at UH. This is a good thing.

Aside from that the guy can recruit, he comes from a program that has success year after year, and gets rid of the gimmickry and high-school atmosphere that has overwhelmed the UH football program since Briles was hired.


You really wanted Pardee you say?

I'm guessing if you wanted ol' Jack back it was not because of Pardee, but because he promised to bring Klingler in as the OC. I don't know if its the water or exposure to cougar dander, but there's a strong affinity to bring back the past that pervades UH fans to the point of distraction. While the successful programs are looking forward, UH fan is too busy reminiscing about the skinny logo, a 1/4 full Astrodome and aTm and Miami figuring out the Run n' Shoot. (something that the diehards ignore)

I enjoyed the R&S days as much as the next guy but those days, that era, are gone. Trying to revive past glories by returning to past almost-successes makes very little sense in football. Football as moved forward from the days when UH was putting up gaudy numbers against an all Freshman walk-on SMU team. My favorite Cougar of all-time was Wilson Whitley, I also liked Andre Ware (as a College Football player, not as a talk radio host). Those are great memories that I will always cherish.

I'm ready for UH football to move forward from them however. I want to see tight ends in the offense and I want to see a defense that can get a stop on third down.

If Sumlin being hired means that he's on the sideline for four to five years providing this. Great.

Then UH can reload again.


It's what ALL of the top-teir non-B(C)S programs are learning to do.


OTHER EYES:

PubliusTX: Twists and turns in UH Coaching search.
Greg's Opinion: One, Two.
Greg was strongly in the Pro Pardee camp