April 22, 2026, 5:05 a.m. ET
- Kevin Sumlin’s Houston Gamblers group within the UFL is off to a gradual begin, with accidents affecting it.
- Sumlin famously coached Texas A&M to a victory over Alabama in 2012 with Johnny Manziel at QB.
- Sumlin’s present focus helps his UFL gamers get an NFL alternative.
HOUSTON – Kevin Sumlin wears a black Houston Gamblers hoodie and a ballcap on a quiet afternoon contained in the foyer of a resort off I-610. Just 90 miles from right here, Sumlin as soon as coached Texas A&M to a No. 5 nationwide rating throughout a season wherein he beat Nick Saban.
Not that he expects the gamers on his United Football League group to do not forget that.
Led by a redshirt freshman quarterback turned Heisman Trophy winner who’d turn out to be referred to as Johnny Football, a participant as proficient as he was rebellious, Sumlin’s Texas A&M Aggies toppled mighty Alabama within the Aggies’ first season within the SEC.
Nowadays, Sumlin coaches a group crammed with gamers of their mid-20s who harbor NFL aspirations.
Do these gamers know their coach once beat Saban, in a sport performed in entrance of 101,821 followers at Bryant-Denny Stadium?
“No,” Sumlin responds. “No. No. No. No. No.”
And, do the Gamblers’ quarterbacks ask Sumlin about his expertise teaching Johnny Manziel?
“Not as much as (other) people” ask about it, Sumlin says good-naturedly.
As I be a part of the checklist of “other people” to ask Sumlin what it was like teaching Manziel, he needs to make one factor clear: Manziel was “a great teammate” at Texas A&M.
Coaching Manziel “was certainly different, but he’s a great talent,” Sumlin mentioned in an interview with USA TODAY Sports. “As much as people want to talk about his actions or anything else, he’s a great teammate. The players love to be around him on a practice field, because he loved to play football.
“When it came to football for him, he was as unselfish as there was, and the players respected that, and so did I.
“Now, the other part, you can’t deny that, but, as a teammate, we didn’t have any problems. Once he got on the field, he was great. Once he got in the building, great.”
Sumlin’s profession crescendo occurred whereas Manziel performed for him, greater than a decade in the past. After Texas A&M gained 20 video games in two seasons with Manziel on the set off, Fox Sports published a story below the headline, “It’s Kevin Sumlin’s World, Y’all.”
Sportswriter Clay Travis wrote of Sumlin reaching a “dynasty win” after the Aggies trounced a top-10 South Carolina group of their 2014 season opener, their first sport after Manziel departed for the NFL.
Turns out, it was the beginning of an 8-5 season. No dynasty.
Sumlin by no means had a shedding season at Texas A&M. He additionally by no means matched the comet trip of 2012, when his Aggies went 11-2 and Manziel gained the Heisman.
Eight years later, Arizona fired Sumlin after he went 0-5 within the 2020 season. He’s turn out to be one thing of a journeyman since then.
Sumlin, 61, doesn’t sound as if he’s itching to pivot again into faculty soccer.
“I don’t really like the direction” of faculty soccer, Sumlin says, though he provides he’s not closed that door totally.
For now, he’s targeted on serving to Gamblers gamers flip their UFL efficiency right into a spot on an NFL roster.
“It’s one of those deals where, you’re just trying to help these guys,” he mentioned.
Do Kevin Sumlin and Johnny Manziel keep in contact?
This marks Sumlin’s second stint with the Gamblers. He additionally coached them in 2022, after they performed within the USFL, earlier than the league merged with the XFL.
He’s obtained his work minimize out for him. Injuries catapulted third-string quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa into beginning obligation, and the Gamblers are 1-3.
Sumlin final labored in faculty in 2024 as a Maryland assistant. He, like many coaches, is weary of the state of faculty soccer.
“Players should be getting paid,” Sumlin mentioned. “Name, image and likeness is great, but what’s going on right now has nothing to do with that, and then the (roster) retention piece is even harder.
“The developmental player and the developmental program really doesn’t exist. You don’t have time to get a guy like an O-lineman who is 6-5 or 6-6, 240 pounds and wait on him. You’ve got to get a guy who’s 300 pounds right now or get him out of the portal, who’s played in Conference-USA or the Sun Belt. It’s a completely different game.”
“I enjoyed the recruiting piece,” Sumlin provides, “and the relationship piece.”
Speaking of relationships, how’s Sumlin’s relationship with Manziel?
Two years in the past, Manziel called his former coach a hypocrite throughout a podcast interview, and he questioned whether or not Sumlin retained a spark for teaching.
“We talk every now and then. Not as much as we used to,” Sumlin mentioned of Manziel, who performed two NFL seasons, crammed with drama, controversy, and likewise a misdemeanor assault charge that ended in a plea deal.
“Every now and then, he may say something that I don’t like, and then, every now and then, I may say something that he doesn’t like,” Sumlin added. “So, we go through that. But, we have a lot of mutual friends, and we have our conversations and check up on each other, … but we don’t talk as much as we used to.”
Why Kevin Sumlin as soon as requested for ‘eight good vehicles’ at Houston
Ask Sumlin the place he’s from, and he’d inform you L.A.
As in, Lower Alabama.
Brewton, Alabama, particularly.
But, Texas has been good to him all through his profession. It’s house to his skilled peaks.
Even earlier than he secured his first job in Texas, Sumlin knew firsthand the expertise the state produced. He can rattle off all the gamers from Texas excessive colleges who performed on the 2000 Purdue group that reached the Rose Bowl. Sumlin coached Purdue’s extensive receivers, below his mentor Joe Tiller.
When Sumlin interviewed to turn out to be the Houston Cougars’ coach practically 20 years in the past, he informed the brass all he wanted to succeed have been “eight good cars.”
His concept: Houston would construct its roster with recruits from excessive colleges inside a couple of hours of campus.
Houston put Sumlin in a Ford F-150 Platinum. That suited him high quality. He gained 35 video games in 4 seasons.
Kevin Sumlin’s activity with UFL’s Houston Gamblers: Build a following
Sumlin remembers Cougars crowds swelling to such dimension on the since-demolished Robertson Stadium, “the fire marshal had to show up to make sure the thing was going to stay up when we played Texas Tech” in 2009.
Sumlin’s expertise on this metropolis provides him hope the Gamblers can develop their following. Attendance for the UFL’s Houston and Dallas franchises lags behind the remainder of the league. Houston performed a Thursday night time house sport in opposition to Louisville on April 16 in entrance of 4,880 followers at Shell Energy Stadium.
“This city has shown, no matter what it is, the support is tremendous — when you win,” Sumlin mentioned.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior nationwide faculty soccer columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and observe him on X @btoppme
