Below is a chart of offense, defense and total production of the Texas A&M Aggies football program during Sumlin's tenure as head football coach, along with who would be the lowest ranked team during this time period (in purple) and the average team (sky blue). As you may notice, the first season saw a program that was a top ten FBS program and the last three of the four seasons were just average. All rankings in this blog come from my Complex Invasion College Football Production Model. More details about the program under Sumlin are after the chart below, including a link to his employment contract are below.
Kevin Sumlin [2012 - 2017]
2012
The Aggies were 10-2 (bowl eligible) during coach Sumlin's first season at Texas A&M and defeated #23 ranked Oklahoma (41-13) to finish at 11-2 overall. The Aggies played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that their SOS was plus or minus standard deviation of the "league" average SOS. The Aggies best game again was their victory over #1 ranked Alabama (29-24) and their worst loss was to #14 ranked LSU (19-24). Texas A&M had the #7 ranked team in total production with the #2 ranked offense and the #47 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2013
The Aggies finished the regular season at 8-4 and were bowl eligible where they defeated #63 ranked Duke (52-48) to finish overall at 9-4. The Aggies played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Aggies best game again was their victory over #45 ranked Mississippi (41-38) and their worst loss was to #30 ranked Auburn (41-45). Texas A&M had the #32 ranked team in total production with the #5 ranked offense and the #112 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2014
Texas A&M finished the regular season at 7-5 and were bowl eligible and defeated #67 ranked West Virginia (45-37) in their post-season bowl game to finish 8-5 overall. Texas A&M played against a "tougher" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that their SOS was between one and two standard deviations below the "league" average SOS. The Aggies best game again was their victory over #22 ranked Arkansas (35-28) and their worst loss was to #31 ranked LSU (17-23). Texas A&M had the #65 ranked team in total production with the #35 ranked offense and the #96 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2015
The Aggies finished the regular season at 8-4 and were bowl eligible, where they lost to #39 ranked Louisville (21-27) to finish 8-5 overall. Texas A&M again played against a "tougher" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Aggies best game was their victory over #17 ranked Arkansas (34-27) and their worst loss was to #57 ranked Auburn (10-26). Texas A&M had the #69 ranked team in total production with the #78 ranked offense and the #57 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2016
Texas A&M finished the regular season at 8-4 and were bowl eligible and lost to #54 ranked Kansas State (28-33). The Aggies played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Aggies best game again was their victory over #14 ranked Auburn (29-16) and their worst loss was again to #83 ranked Mississippi (28-29). Texas A&M had the #47 ranked team in total production with the #26 ranked offense and the #75 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2017
Coach Sumlin was fired at the end of the regular season, where the Aggies finished 6-6 while playing against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Aggies best win was against #58 currently ranked South Carolina by a score of (24-17) and their worst loss was to #99 currently ranked Arkansas by a score of (43-50). At the time of Sumlin's firing, Texas A&M had the #63 ranked team in total production, with the #43 ranked offense and the #77 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
2017 NCAA FBS Head Coach Changes
Minnesota and Tracy Claeys
California and Sonny Dykes
Oklahoma and Bob Stoops
Mississippi (Ole Miss) and Hugh Freeze
UTEP and Sean Kugler
Oregon State and Gary Andersen
Georgia Southern and Tyson Summers
Florida and Jim McElwain
Tennessee and Butch Jones
UCLA and Jim Mora
South Alabama and Joey Jones
Arkansas and Bret Bielema
Nebraska and Mike Riley
Arizona State and Todd Graham
Kent State and Paul Haynes