Texas A&M Fires Coach Kevin Sumlin After 7-5 Season

COLLEGE STATION, TX — The honeymoon phase looked fantastic when Texas A&M hired Kevin Sumlin to guide its football team into its Southeastern Conference in 2012. On Sunday the relationship officially ended. Texas A&M fired Sumlin after six seasons at the helm in Aggieland — albeit all six years of A&M's existence in the SEC.

Sumlin set the bar extraordinarily high in the school's SEC debut five years ago. They beat No. 1 Alabama on the road, they whooped Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, they finished with an 11-2 record and their redshirt freshman (Johnny Manziel) won the Heisman Trophy for college football's best player.

Sumlin posted 51 wins and 26 losses in the six seasons, ending his tenure with a 45-21 loss to LSU on Saturday night in Baton Rouge — making Sumlin 0-6 against the Tigers, and 16-20 against the SEC West, including 2-4 in each of the last four years.

"Kevin’s tenure included some remarkable achievements and he leaves our program as one of the winningest football coaches in our storied history," Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward said in a statement. "Kevin made us a better all-around football program and led our program with dignity and character. He’s a first-class person.

"Our expectations at A&M are very high. We believe that we should compete for SEC championships on an annual basis and, at times, national championships. I believe that we need a new coach to take us there. On behalf of Aggies everywhere, my thanks to Kevin and his family for his service to Texas A&M. I wish him the very best."

Sumlin has two years left on a six-year contract that pays $5 million annually.

The Aggies went 20-6 in Sumlin's first two seasons but sleepwalked to an 8-5 record in three-consecutive seasons — each with an epic November collapse. Sumlin was pretty much on the hot seat when the 2017 season began, and then Texas A&M blew a 34-point lead at UCLA in the season opener, which prompted Houston lawyer and A&M Board of Regent member Tony Buzbee to post on social media the next day Sumlin should be fired.

The seat got even hotter after the Aggies struggled the next week at home against Nicholls State from the FCS (formerly known as Division 1-AA), and then played a rather lackadaisical first half against a mediocre Louisiana-Lafayette team the next week. But a shootout win over Arkansas, a win over South Carolina and then a tight loss against No. 1 Alabama cooled the rumors a bit.

The Aggies went to Florida and beat the Gators, 19-17, but then got blasted at home in back-to-back weeks by Mississippi State (35-14) and Auburn (42-27), ratcheting up the "fire Sumlin" rumors again. Texas A&M destroyed New Mexico in the team's final home game and then beat Ole Miss, 31-24, on the road.

When asked last week at his press conference if he'd been treated fairly in his six seasons at A&M, he downplayed that question.

"I don't live my life in broad general statements," Sumlin said. "I came here to Texas A&M to win football games. What we do and how we've done it has been the right way, and it will continue to be the right way.

"I'm in the process right now on working on winning this week," Sumlin said. "And I think what this team has done is been able to focus on what's important in this building, and as a coach or as a player in this time, you can't worry about what people say. What you can worry about is the response of our team and the response of the people in this building and the trust level and how they perform, and that's where my focus is right now."

And after Saturday night, he faced the same questions after multiple outlets, including Patch, said he could be fired after the LSU game win or lose.

"It's just business as usual," he said.

Texas A&M has 16 verbal commitments from the Class of 2018 and has the 16th-ranked class by rivals.com.

Image: Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin watches his team against Florida during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)