Kevin Sumlin emerging as Minnesota frontrunner?

[smupony94]

http://college-football-blog.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/24156338/25512133

Posted by Chip Patterson

While Minnesota interim head coach Jeff Horton has his hands full this week preparing the Golden Gophers for their conference matchup with Ohio State, athletic director Joe Maturi and the rest of the Minnesota administration are busy trying to narrow the list of coaching candidates. Several high profile names were tossed around initially (Dungy, Leach), but the one that is gaining steam is current Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin.

Marcus R. Fuller of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported early Wednesday morning that there was "lots of love being thrown Kevin Sumlin's way all of the sudden." Of all the active coaches on the Golden Gophers' radar, Sumlin is one of their most high profile options. He has only in his third season as a head coach, but his Division I coaching career goes back almost two decades.

There are several factors that make Sumlin seem like a great fit at Minnesota. Maturi has already stated that the next Golden Gophers head coach needed to "get Minnesota," and Sumlin served as an assistant at Minnesota from 1993-1997. Sumlin's staff at Houston also has Minnesota connections, with assistant head coach Tony Levine a former Gophers WR and Minnesota native. He is already getting endorsements from the Gophers football community, most recently from former offensive line coach Gordy Shaw.

Sumlin appears to be a great fit for Minnesota, and a much more favorable option to throwing a ton of money at an inactive coach. At 46, Sumlin still has a lengthy career ahead and with all of the personal connections to the area (his wife is a native as well), could be interested in setting up shop for the long term.

[Nacho]

if uoh is going to the be why would he take the minnesota job?
would the be take uofh without him?

[ponyinNC]

Big 10 > Big east, so he would bolt to the gophers in a heartbeat, especially with the Minnesota connections.

UH was good before Sumlin got there, so I imagine the BE would still take the Coogs without Sumlin. They don't take a team for a coach, they want to get into the Houston market, they want to increase their fb profile with a team that has had sustained success (albeit in C-USA).

[fivemon]

why would he want this job? he wont be able to recruit any midwestern kids and kids from Texas wont want to go way up to minnesota

[RGV Pony]

why would he want this job? he wont be able to recruit any midwestern kids and kids from Texas wont want to go way up to minnesota

Minnesota's current roster has 11 players from Texas, 8 from Florida and 5 from California. Those kids didnt have a problem going way up to Minnesota.

We lost a couple of kids/commits/something a few years ago to Minnesota as well

[MustangIcon]

No way Sumlin leaves UH for Minn. He is positioned to move into an elite job after UH. This would not be a wise move on his part.

[Big Hoss]

No way Sumlin leaves UH for Minn. He is positioned to move into an elite job after UH. This would not be a wise move on his part.

Maybe, but he may not be either patient enough or he might view a jump to the Big 10 as too good to pass up. Personally, I hope he leaves just so we can watch the UH fans squirm for a while, just like they did after Briles went to Baylor.

[Water Pony]

As a Big 10/11/12 Fan, Minnesota is a great opporunity in a financially strong conference. U. of Minnesota in the Twin Cities is a great market (despite the winters, which Minnesotans embrace by loving the outdoors, BTW). Little known fact, U of Minn. has won six National Championships in FB, though none since 1960.

For me, it's a great job in a great conference.