Did Texas A&M Football Trade One Mediocre Coach for Another?

Is Texas A&M Football’s Current Coach Any Better Than Their Last One?

Texas A&M football has lost back to back games, and as seems a yearly tradition by now, that means that Barrett Sallee has trotted out a talking point older than the Dead Sea Scrolls—comparing the win/loss records of Jimbo Fisher and Kevin Sumlin. For a while, this didn’t really work. After two years of Jimbo, Texas A&M football had a record of 17-9; after two years of Sumlin, they had a record of 20-6. The obvious difference was that one had a Heisman-winning quarterback on his team, and the other was coming off a season wherein three different teams ranked number one in the AP poll and two other teams that finished in the SP+ top 10. Oh, and decidedly without a Heisman-winning quarterback (no offense, Kellen).

The 2020 season saw the Aggies go 9-1 during the COVID year, bringing Jimbo’s record to 26-10; Sumlin’s record over the same stretch was 28-11. Moreover, the direction of the program seemed very different under each man after year 3 of their respective tenures; Jimbo had just won an Orange Bowl, while Sumlin was coming off a season where they lost 59-0 to Alabama and eked out a win over West Virginia in the Orange Bowl.

Years 4 and on for each Texas A&M football coach

Year 4 for each coach brought opportunity: for the first time, Jimbo had a QB he had recruited in Haynes King. For Sumlin, a sophomore Myles Garrett was rounding into form to pair nicely with an offense that boasted a deep corps of receivers (including Josh Reynolds and Christian Kirk) and two five-star quarterbacks in Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray. Neither team reached the goal of which they had a notion—namely, an SEC West championship—but it’s tough to say that they had similar seasons. Jimbo’s team disappointed early, but were the talk of the nation after upsetting Alabama and smothering a top-15 Auburn team at home. Of course, they faltered late against Ole Miss and LSU, and were unable to play in their bowl game due to a COVID outbreak, but this season laid the foundation for the record-breaking 2022 class. A disappointing loss to a down LSU on the last play aside (which should have never happened), the attitude around the program was mostly positive at year’s end.

Year 4 for Sumlin was entirely different. Though his team got off to a signature fast start, winning each of their first five games, things began to go poorly once they lost their home game against Alabama behind 3 pick-sixes from Kyle Allen. Young Kyler Murray began to grow impatient, but wasn’t ready for the spotlight himself. Sumlin’s team faltered late as well, notching their own losses in Oxford and Baton Rouge, and mismanagement of the talented QB room led both Allen and Murray to announce their intention to transfer before the Aggies had even played their bowl game (a Jake Hubenak-led loss to Lamar Jackson and Louisville). The program was headed the wrong way fast.