Sumlin was an assistant at Minnesota in the 1990s, working for Jim Wacker and later Glen Mason. After that he was Bob Stoops’ offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. In three plus seasons at Houston his teams have made a national reputation for scoring points, quickly and often while compiling a 23-13 record. The Cougars rank 10th in the country in points per game, 40.67. Rumors persist that Sumlin is of interest to Minnesota officials.
We see a red flag with Sumlin’s work, though. Defense was been an ongoing problem during his two-plus seasons at Houston. The Cougars now rank 82nd in the country in scoring defense, giving up 29.33 points per game.
Despite having almost three years to get the defense stout, despite playing in a mediocre conference, and despite being located in a wonderful recruiting area, the Cougars’ defensive performances are unsettling. The 5-4 Cougars of 2010 have given up 30 points or more in four games. In 2009 Houston yielded 35 points or more in eight of 13 games. During 2008 the Cougars gave up 35 or more five times.
An intriguing potential candidate for the Gophers job is Ken Niumatalolo, the 45-year-old Navy coach with a 24-13 record. He’s of Polynesian descent and in his third season as head coach of the Midshipmen. His record this season is 6-3 including a second straight win over Notre Dame.
Niumatalolo didn’t resurrect an awful Navy program but he’s kept it winning. He was an assistant on coach Paul Johnson’s staff before Johnson left for Georgia Tech. Since then Niumatalolo has kept the Navy offense ground oriented running the triple-option. That’s an unorthodox offense which could be troublesome for Gophers opponents if Niumatalolo used it here.
Navy is not an easy place to win, and neither is Minnesota. A coach who has proven he can win without the best of resources needs to be a must in the Gophers’ hiring criteria.
What University officials are hoping for is the largest pool of qualified candidates possible, black, brown or white. Right now they pretty much have the hiring landscape to themselves but jobs might open up at attractive programs like Arizona State, Georgia, Michigan, Penn State, Texas A&M and Washington State.
The Gophers’ monopoly on their coaching opening won’t continue. Colorado fired coach Dan Hawkins earlier this week.