Sumlin Joins OU Football Staff

Feb. 13, 2003

Norman, Okla. - Kevin Sumlin, formerly the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, has been named an assistant coach on the University of Oklahoma's football staff. He will coach the Sooner tight ends.

Sumlin, 38, replaces Jonathan Hayes, who resigned in January to become an assistant coach with the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League.

Following a coaching change at A&M, Sumlin spent the last month on the staff at Colorado. Prior to that, he spent two years as the Aggies' assistant head coach and receivers coach. He also served as offensive coordinator for the last nine games of the 2002 season.

"Kevin has a great coaching background," said OU head coach Bob Stoops, who will assume the special teams duties previously performed by Hayes. "He has experienced success everywhere he's been and was particularly effective as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. He did an exceptional job last season and made quite an impact on the Big 12 Conference. We're happy that we can add his expertise to our program."

Sumlin was named assistant head coach and receivers at Texas A&M in 2001. When former coach R.C. Slocum made staff reassignments after the third game last fall, Sumlin moved into the offensive coordinator role. Prior to the switch, the Aggies had scored just 48 points in three games (16.0 per game), but afterwards, A&M put 297 points on the board, or 33.0 per contest. The offense averaged 419 yards per game after averaging 286 in the first three contests. The new OU assistant said he admires the Sooner program.

"It's a privilege and honor to join a program that is competing for the Big 12 and national championships and a program that is led by a head coach and staff with great integrity," Sumlin said. "As an observer in recent years, I was impressed with how well OU was coached and how hard the team played. Those are the greatest compliments you can give another team and those are the traits of Oklahoma football and Coach Stoops. Any time you have those two things involved, you've got a chance to be very successful."

As tight ends coach, Sumlin will be looking to fill a void after the graduation of Trent Smith, the No. 2 receiver in Oklahoma history.

"We lost a real good one, but the beauty of spring ball is that it gives you a chance to evaluate," Sumlin said. "I know we have a number of talented players ready to step forward and that door is open for the next guy. I'm anxious to work with them this spring."

Sumlin lettered four years as a linebacker at Purdue from 1983-86, ending his career ranked in the top 10 all-time in tackles by a Boilermaker. He walked on as a freshman, made 91 tackles and earned mention on Sports Illustrated's All-America walk-on list. He earned honorable mention All-Big 10 honors as a sophomore (109 tackles) and as a senior (114, which ranked fifth in the league). He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in criminology and criminal justice from Purdue in 1988.

He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Washington State in 1989, helping on defense with the linebackers, and coached the junior varsity team his second season with the Cougars. His first full-time position was as wide receivers coach with Wyoming in 1991-92, moving on to a similar position with Minnesota, where he spent four seasons (1993-96) coaching the receivers. In 1997, he became the quarterbacks coach at UM. He returned to his alma mater in 1998, coaching receivers at Purdue for three years (1998-2000). His 1998 group set school records with 377 receptions, 4,208 yards and 43 touchdowns.

Sumlin is a native of Brewton, Ala. He is married to the former Charlene Sirois, and the couple has three small children, two girls and a boy.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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