Three-time national coach of the year finalist Kevin Sumlin was named head football coach at Texas A&M on Dec. 10, 2011, and led the Aggies into their first season in the Southeastern Conference in 2012.
In his first year as the Aggies’ head coach, Sumlin led A&M to its first 11-win season since 1998 and shook up the SEC with his effective high-tempo offense. The Aggies went 6-2 in conference play, defeating No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa and going undefeated on the road. Sumlin’s last road loss was in 2010 when his University of Houston team fell to Texas Tech.
A successful first season in Aggieland saw Sumlin garner his third spot as a national coach of the year finalist and coach the first-ever freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in quarterback Johnny Manziel.
The 2012 Aggies lost by a total of just eight points in two games, against No. 24 Florida in the season opener and No. 6 LSU. They became the fourth Texas A&M team to win 11 games in a season with a 41-13 win over Big 12 Co-Champion Oklahoma in the AT&T Cotton Bowl.
Sumlin came to Texas A&M after a successful stint as head coach at the University of Houston, where he led the Cougars to a school-record 12 victories and the program’s highest finish in the Bowl Championship Series standings in 2011. Sumlin was named the Region 5 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association in 2011 and was one of five finalists for the AFCA’s National Coach of the Year award.
A four-year letterman as a linebacker at Purdue from 1983-86 , Sumlin finished his career as one of the top tacklers in Boilermaker history. He was named to Sports Illustrated’s All-America walk-on list as a freshman after leading Purdue with 91 tackles.
He earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors as a senior while ranking fifth in the league with 114 tackles, and helped lead Purdue to the Peach Bowl.
The Indianapolis native graduated from Purdue in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in both criminology and criminal justice. Sumlin and his wife Charlene have four children: daughters Courtney and Shelby, and sons Jackson and Joey.