I'm ready for the Jon Sumerall era

[truebluewildcat]

The math is a little different at Iowa.

From Hawkeyesports.com:

“The position of UI head football coach was endowed in 2021 by Will and Renee Moon. The Bettendorf, Iowa, couple are UI alumni and longtime Hawkeye supporters.”

I do not know the details, but this blunt statement indicates Iowa may have money to toss at assistants. And Marrow is a well respected recruiter in the mid-west.

Ferentz is 69 years old.

The three Stoops brothers are well respected at Iowa, Ferentz having scheduled games with Zona when a Stoops coached there.

Hawkeyes could run the table. Remaining schedule isn't tough. They play Nebraska final game of season, that's about it.

Ferentz is looking at consecutive 10-win heaters. Good shot at a playoff, maybe even win a game or two depending on draw.

Now, that's not to say that he wouldn't just go ahead and decide to drop the mic on a high note and leave whoever comes next with a great situation.

It is to say, or ask, is Mark Stoops your guy? Being a top 20ish program that's sniffing around 10 wins, playoffs, and money being no object.

Iowa is an attractive job and will have suitors, many with better resumes than Stoops.

Mark Stoops is struggling with Vandy and SC, hovering around 6ish wins for his career.

Not only will his resume not be the best, it'll be okay, but he's also way behind the times on offensive approach. Which is a key factor when hiring today, especially at that level. Can you keep up? What have your offenses done?

Forget Oregon, OSU, Penn St, USC, and Nebraska rising. Can you keep up with IU...hanging about 40 per?

 

[bthaunert]

While I think he can be solid here, I'm really hoping the next coach is an offensive guru. I'm tired of old school defensive philosophies. Offense wins titles these days.

I’m ok with either side of the ball as long as their offensive philosophy is good.

 

[jeffky]

Yeah that's realistic lol

Shoot for the stars

 

[MontyCats]

He won't win any more than Stoops.

To compete for the playoff and sec title, you have to get way better players than we have. Better staff, etc.

This is totally not true. You can beat Vandy and South Carolina with the top 15 roster Stoops has. Stoops has actually recruited extremely well. Even beyond that his best quality is retention, every team in the SEC loses 3-4 starters a year to the portal except UK.

 

[The-Hack]

I have no understanding of why people would not want Sumrall. He has PROVEN he can be a successful head coach.

I'm 61.

Hence, I have lived the oft-expressed regret of Kentucky fans missing out on a young Claiborne, who then guided Maryland to their greatest heights, a young "Chollie Mac," McClendon, who was successful at LSU, and a National Title winner/Howard Schnellenberger, all since 1970. All were UK Alum who were widely believed to want the job, Chollie Mac and Claiborne when young, and Schnellenberger when mature and proven.

Maybe a young guy winning at an 85% percent clip, who is a UK Alum, and who is a proven recruiter, with enormous ties to the Deep South would fail, here.

But I would have to see it to believe it.

I just don't want to miss out on a rising talent who actually wants to be here, and who will not (privately or publicly) cast aspersions on the program, the boosters, the program history, or fund raising, which were sins of Curry, Mumme and even Stoops. Sumrall's infectious emotional "buy-in" has been a major key in his success, and Pope is an excellent comparison. If Sumrall sees a shortcoming, he won't simply "curse the darkness, but will cast a light."

 

[MontyCats]

Pretty much. Doesn't mean we can't compete in individual games and pull the occasional upset. We aren't gonna ever go 10 and 2 to make the playoff. 9 and 3 may get a bama or UGA in but voters probably won't choose 9 and 3 UK over them.

Not sure we ever go 9 and 3 again due to NIL and expanded sec.

This is such a loser take. There's some kind of magical barrier that wont allow us to win that 1 extra game? We have gone 9-3 twice.

When people say we can never do any better than were doing now that means Stoops would have to be the greatest coach of all time. Now if he's not the Goat than a slightly better coach would put us in a spot to do slightly better than our best seasons which would be 10-2.


Its the same people who said UK could never recruit QBs. Then we made 1 good hire and 4 star QBs starting falling from the sky. Its that easy with the right coaches.

 

[runthedangball2]

The point is UK is going to win 6-8 games most years regardless of who the coach is unless they are terrible. UK has a choice: do they want to be in a bunch of close games and feel like they are competing each week or do they want to go big knowing more lopsided games are going to be the result. Do you want to lose 24-17 or 49-27?

 

[PopesReignOverCardinals]

To all the people calling for Summerall, he died like 10+ years ago and didn't coach football.

Sumrall on the other hand...

 

[The-Hack]

To all the people calling for Summerall, he died like 10+ years ago and didn't coach football.

Sumrall on the other hand...

So, you think a dead Summerall could actually handle the final two minutes of a half better than Stoops?

Maybe.

 

[bigbluedon]

Will Stein. Trinity High School guy. His dad Matt played for UK. Pretty sure he would come.

Would love to have him

 

[BurgLife]

I think Sumrall would be a great choice if and when the time comes.... but I wouldn't mind kicking the tires on someone like Kliff Kingsbury.... currently offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders, reportedly making around 5-6 mill per year. He has had a lot of success at Texas Tech and and he definitely knows offense. Not sure if he would take a job here or not... or what his motives are concerning staying in the NFL.... but he is still young and I think he is doing a great job with Jayden Daniels in his rookie season.... Commanders might even be a playoff contender this year.... been a long time since they have made the playoffs. LOL!

 

[bthaunert]

I think Sumrall would be a great choice if and when the time comes.... but I wouldn't mind kicking the tires on someone like Kliff Kingsbury.... currently offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders, reportedly making around 5-6 mill per year. He has had a lot of success at Texas Tech and and he definitely knows offense. Not sure if he would take a job here or not... or what his motives are concerning staying in the NFL.... but he is still young and I think he is doing a great job with Jayden Daniels in his rookie season.... Commanders might even be a playoff contender this year.... been a long time since they have made the playoffs. LOL!

He had no success at Texas Tech:

8-5
4-8
7-6
5-7
6-7
5-7

35-40/19-35 (3-23 against the top 25). His back-to-back losing seasons were the first at TTU since the mid 80's.

 

[BurgLife]

He had no success at Texas Tech:

8-5
4-8
7-6
5-7
6-7
5-7

35-40/19-35 (3-23 against the top 25). His back-to-back losing seasons were the first at TTU since the mid 80's.

All true statements.... he also had a 37-48 record with Arizona Cardinals. Not exactly great numbers. Tech was his first gig and he was the youngest coach in football I think.

However, he does know what a forward pass is and I have no doubt he would get us more than 60 plays a game.

Appears to be an excellent QB coach (see below accomplishments).... not sure how well he recruits or how he did at TT... but I believe his numbers would be better here. Lexington>Lubbock and SEC>B12. I do think that those previous numbers matter and should be taken in consideration... but I also think most people grow throughout their professions and he appears to have had multiple options before picking to go to the Commanders this season.

Some of his other accomplishments taken from wiki:

Kingsbury has been cited for his work in developing quarterbacks Case Keenum, Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams, and Jayden Daniels.

Kingsbury was the offensive coordinator of the 2011 Houston Cougars that led the NCAA in nearly all offensive statistics that season, averaging 50 points and nearly 600 yards per game.

Kingsbury was named the offensive coordinator for the Texas A&M Aggies in 2012, coaching Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel.[20] The Aggies led the Southeastern Conference in rushing, passing, total and scoring offense, and were the nation's only offense ranked in the top 15 of the NCAA statistics in all four categories.[21] Kingsbury was named a finalist for the Broyles Award.[22]

Kingsbury made his head coaching debut August 30, 2013 with a 41–23 victory over the SMU Mustangs. Kingsbury chose walk-on true freshman quarterback Baker Mayfield for the starting role at the position, and Mayfield was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.

Kingsbury joined the USC Trojans as a senior offensive analyst under head coach Lincoln Riley in April 2023, where he worked with quarterback Caleb Williams.[49]

On February 5, 2024, Kingsbury was hired by the Washington Commanders as offensive coordinator under head coach Dan Quinn.[50] He had previously been negotiating for the same role with the Las Vegas Raiders before talks fell through.[51] Working with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, Washington's offense scored on 16 consecutive drives from Week 2 to 4, the longest streak in the NFL since 2000, and only punted four times in the first four games.[52][53] By the Week 5, the offense had scored the most points with a rookie quarterback in the NFL since 1970.[54]

 

[bthaunert]

All true statements.... he also had a 37-48 record with Arizona Cardinals. Not exactly great numbers. Tech was his first gig and he was the youngest coach in football I think.

However, he does know what a forward pass is and I have no doubt he would get us more than 60 plays a game.

Appears to be an excellent QB coach (see below accomplishments).... not sure how well he recruits or how he did at TT... but I believe his numbers would be better here. Lexington>Lubbock and SEC>B12. I do think that those previous numbers matter and should be taken in consideration... but I also think most people grow throughout their professions and he appears to have had multiple options before picking to go to the Commanders this season.

Some of his other accomplishments taken from wiki:

Kingsbury has been cited for his work in developing quarterbacks Case Keenum, Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams, and Jayden Daniels.

Kingsbury was the offensive coordinator of the 2011 Houston Cougars that led the NCAA in nearly all offensive statistics that season, averaging 50 points and nearly 600 yards per game.

Kingsbury was named the offensive coordinator for the Texas A&M Aggies in 2012, coaching Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel.[20] The Aggies led the Southeastern Conference in rushing, passing, total and scoring offense, and were the nation's only offense ranked in the top 15 of the NCAA statistics in all four categories.[21] Kingsbury was named a finalist for the Broyles Award.[22]

Kingsbury made his head coaching debut August 30, 2013 with a 41–23 victory over the SMU Mustangs. Kingsbury chose walk-on true freshman quarterback Baker Mayfield for the starting role at the position, and Mayfield was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.

Kingsbury joined the USC Trojans as a senior offensive analyst under head coach Lincoln Riley in April 2023, where he worked with quarterback Caleb Williams.[49]

On February 5, 2024, Kingsbury was hired by the Washington Commanders as offensive coordinator under head coach Dan Quinn.[50] He had previously been negotiating for the same role with the Las Vegas Raiders before talks fell through.[51] Working with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, Washington's offense scored on 16 consecutive drives from Week 2 to 4, the longest streak in the NFL since 2000, and only punted four times in the first four games.[52][53] By the Week 5, the offense had scored the most points with a rookie quarterback in the NFL since 1970.[54]

He’s proven to be a very good coordinator and developer of QB’s at both levels. He’s also proven to not be a successful head coach at both levels.

Some guys are good coordinators but just not cut out to be HC’s for whatever reason. Will Muschamp was that way. Brent Venables is proving that at Oklahoma.

I just don’t think you take a flyer on a guy who has 10 years as a head coach between 2013-2022 and has 3 winning seasons in those 10 years.

 

[BurgLife]

He’s proven to be a very good coordinator and developer of QB’s at both levels. He’s also proven to not be a successful head coach at both levels.

Some guys are good coordinators but just not cut out to be HC’s for whatever reason. Will Muschamp was that way. Brent Venables is proving that at Oklahoma.

I just don’t think you take a flyer on a guy who has 10 years as a head coach between 2013-2022 and has 3 winning seasons in those 10 years.

Great points.... and I do like Sumrall a lot.... but I hope others will be given consideration when the time comes. If it were me that had to make the decision LOL... I would lean toward an offensive guru.... mainly because I think the game (to include the rule changes these days) is becoming more of an offensive game overall. Sumrall... I do like because i think he's a great leader, great recruiter and would be hungry and motivated... like Stoops was when he got here.... except our base is much better now than when stoops got here.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

This is such a loser take. There's some kind of magical barrier that wont allow us to win that 1 extra game? We have gone 9-3 twice.

When people say we can never do any better than were doing now that means Stoops would have to be the greatest coach of all time. Now if he's not the Goat than a slightly better coach would put us in a spot to do slightly better than our best seasons which would be 10-2.


Its the same people who said UK could never recruit QBs. Then we made 1 good hire and 4 star QBs starting falling from the sky. Its that easy with the right coaches.

No, it's a realistic take. Keep on dreaming buddy.

 

[Cat_Man_Blue]

The point is UK is going to win 6-8 games most years regardless of who the coach is unless they are terrible. UK has a choice: do they want to be in a bunch of close games and feel like they are competing each week or do they want to go big knowing more lopsided games are going to be the result. Do you want to lose 24-17 or 49-27?

I personally don't care for an exciting offense that gets destroyed in the SEC, see Mummy ball. UT just gutted out a low scoring game over UF. At the end of the day a win is a win. We absolutely need a coch that can put a better offense on the field. However, Mummy ball is not the answer.