After an extensive and varied career as an assistant, Sumlin is finally getting his first chance as a head coach at the University of Houston. His career might not have started with a football challenge at the beginning, but he's glad that he was eventually directed that way.
His success with the Cougars will depend on Sumlin's doing something that Houston hasn't been able to accomplish consistently since its first days in the Southwest Conference in the 1970s. Sumlin must make the Cougars a contender rather than an afterthought in local recruiting and convince his share of top Houston-area recruits to stay at home.
"We only need 24 or 25 guys a year, it's not like we need 100," Sumlin said. "And there's way more than that in this state. It's a great opportunity. Like I've said a bunch of times, it's a gold mine."
