Written by Dennis Dodd at CBS Sports.com
Kevin Sumlin deserves an apology.
Tony Buzbee deserves to be censured.
Neither, of course, will happen.
It’s not so much a season now for Texas A&M’s coach, it’s a forced march. It’s clear that his existence as the Aggies’ sixth-year coach is a week-to-week proposition.
Blow a game like Sunday’s at UCLA and every bit of criticism is deserved. But aside from slowing down to see an actual wreck on the highway, there is nothing blood-thirsty college football voyeurs enjoy more than watching a coach’s career bleed out.
That doesn’t mean it’s right. A certain amount of professionalism — even decency — has been lost.
You know by now that Sumlin was called out by his athletic director in May. I was subsequently told by a source that, after three consecutive 8-5 seasons, Sumlin would have to win 10 this season to save his job.
Buzbee — an A&M regent — lashed out on Facebook late Sunday after the Aggies allowed the second-biggest comeback in FBS history.
Impulse won out over introspection.
Sumlin’s future has become very cloudy and very public. A&M wouldn’t be the first school to damage its brand while firing its coach. That sort of nonsense may have run off Nick Saban when his reported interest in Texas became public a few years ago.
What sort of message does that send to any coach worth his whistle who is interested in the Aggies’ job? At any point, trial by social media may await you.
Sumlin also wouldn’t be the first coach to be fired in September. Since 2013 alone, Lane Kiffin and Les Miles were fired early in the season. Each situation was handled awkwardly by their superiors.
It has become tiresome how easily these superiors are so easily cowed depending on which way the wind blows. Woodward didn’t have to light a fire under his coach on national television.
Buzbee’s criticism is almost comical. The Houston attorney’s only qualification to lob such critiques is his political appointment from former Texas governor Rick Perry. That and being a fan boy.
In 2015, Buzbee ran his mouth saying the Aggies needed to schedule Texas because A&M needed some “cupcake games.”
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