First-year head coach Kevin Sumlin arrived at Houston knowing exactly what he wanted to run — a 4-3 defense and a wide-open passing attack. His first step to installing his system: “Hire the best coaches we could.” By that answer, you can probably tell that this isn’t Sumlin’s first time installing a new system. He left Washington State with Joe Tiller in 1991 and helped install Wyoming’s high-octane attack. Sumlin re-joined Tiller at Purdue and arrived at Houston after five ultra-successful seasons at Oklahoma. With his Cougars in thick of the Conference USA title hunt, Sumlin visited with Gridiron Strategies to share his philosophy on installing a system at a new program.
Q: You had a system in mind when you arrived, but didn’t have a lot of time to evaluate Houston’s personnel. How did you make the personnel fit your system now and in the future?
A: We are going to recruit to it. Recruiting the greater Houston area and really Texas for the last 14 years, there are a lot of tremendous athletes and a lot of speed. And I thought we could best utilize our recruiting base with a wide-open type spread offense to give guys some space.
Houston has a tremendous track program also. We should be able to attract some faster guys. And that can help us when we get the ball in there hands and give them some space that is really where the philosophy came from.
Q: Did you have a month-to-month progress plan for installing your system?
A: It’s hard to do that in college football because of the 20-hour rule. And being out of season, it’s virtually impossible to. When you install new systems on offense, defense and special teams it kind of moves at a snails pace. Which is a pace I really don’t like. Spring ball was a little bit longer. We took more time with it and had more meeting time in between practices instead of cramming the practices the together. We installed all new systems in all three fazes of the game.
Q: With spring practice being so crucial for you, what were some of the ways you made the most out of your limited time with your team?
A: Stretching spring ball out really allowed us to implement the system. I think there’s a critical balance in coaching during the time period when you’re installing things and also trying to teach individual technique. We lost some of the physical part of football by teaching a lot of the fundamental. But that’s because we spent a lot of time during spring ball not only on fundamentals, but also in teaching and really slowing things down, really looking at route structure.
Q: How did you begin to evaluate your personnel to see how they were going to fit into your system?
A: You start with the quarterback. I thought we had a couple of guys that were capable of being pretty good. Little did I know, at this point that [Case Keenum] would be leading the country in total offense.
Q: Did you make any position changes before seeing the players live during spring practice?
A: No. We moved some guys around a little on defense, but that was only because we were moving from a 3-4 to 4-3. On offense, most of the moves were done during spring football. We have nine freshmen that are playing right now. Some of those were switched during two-a-days. We’re just trying to get our best players on the field.
Q: Was terminology the most difficult part of the installation process?
A: Terminology was tough, but all of it was a challenge. Coaches getting to know players; and players getting to know coaches … It’s particularly hard for the seniors, who have gotten used to a certain coaching style and system for the last three or four years. The transition, not only schematically, but also from a personality standpoint is difficult for a first-year coach.
Q: If you could go back, would you have done anything differently?
A: Time will tell for sure. I would have liked to been able to work more on the team game [in spring practice] and get the big picture for our quarterbacks and for our defense. But it’s hard to do all that without teaching technique. That’s where the challenge comes from.
Q: Do you have any advice for any coaches that are entering their first year as a head coach at new program?
A: Know your philosophy and then put together a team that knows your philosophy. Hire a quality staff of guys that know what they’re doing. If you’re a blitz-oriented guy make sure that is what you get. If you’re a 4-3 guy make sure that’s what you get. Then, give them the leverage and the resources to coach, teach and evaluate personnel constantly.