Cleaning house? Maybe, but one change for Aggies’ Sumlin must happen now
(credit: Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
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The recruiting trail is quite the perilous road: Big-time programs simply cannot win without successfully navigating it.
It truly is the road to glory. Without big-time players, there can be no sustained success.
But the only thing worse than losing out on the recruiting trail? As both Aggies coordinators may soon find out, it’s winning those four- and five-star players … and still managing to be overwhelmed by Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Then when Kevin Sumlin announces tougher practices and more accountability? You promptly get impaled by Alabama 59-0.
Major football power schools like Texas A&M simply never should lose 59-0, no matter the opponent. When I say never, I mean never. Ever.
With so many resources, so much infrastructure, fan support, facilities and built-in advantages like conference affiliation and a legacy of being one of the two biggest institutions in this football-crazy state, a 59-0 loss is grounds for firing everyone.
But don’t be so hasty. As much as the Aggie program needs much more than a tweak, the last thing it needs is a house-cleaning. Seriously.
Rest assured, offensive coordinator Jake Spavital and defensive coordinator Mark Snyder probably will be fired. If head coach Kevin Sumlin does not recognize that 59-0 reflects a deep disconnect between players and coaches, then the problem is Kevin Sumlin.
And Sumlin is not the problem — not yet, anyway.
The Aggies have issues everywhere, sure, which means there is a culture of entitlement, under achieving talent and perhaps even discord within the program. For that, Sumlin is responsible. That means it’s his job to fix it and just three years into his tenure after back-to-back double-digit win seasons, he deserves that chance.
After all, without Sumlin closing the deal on three consecutive elite recruiting classes, the pain of 59-0 wouldn’t be nearly so harsh for Aggies everywhere.
Where to start?
Spavital might be the tip of the sword on which this Aggies season has fallen. In fact, compared to the awful job Spavital has done calling plays and developing talent, Snyder comes off looking like a defensive guru.
After all, even though he likely will lose his job — and few Aggies would shed a tear — it can be argued Snyder has done more with much less on that side of the ball. The best linebacker, A.J. Hilliard, was lost to injury the first game if the year. The rest of the linebacking corps is rife with freshmen and players simply not suited to play in the SEC. The defensive front is undersized and led by a true freshman, Myles Garrett, who now is getting double-teamed every snap. There is a lack of depth everywhere and the secondary is slow at the corners and sub-par at safety, outside of another true freshman, Armani Watts. The Aggie defense also has shown flashes of holding it’s own against quality opponents – notably the second half against Arkansas and for spells elsewhere.
If Sumlin decided to keep Snyder another year, it would not be a popular decision, but could be argued as an understandable one on some levels.
There is no such argument for Spavital or anywhere on the offensive staff, however. The Aggie offense is an utter embarrassment.
This is where the Aggies entered the season with maybe the most talented offensive line in the country, a four-deep set of receivers as good as any, and three tailbacks considered NFL caliber.
Of course there was no Johnny Manziel, a huge presence and talent to replace. But with so much talent and experience everywhere else and a pair of young quarterbacks who topped their respective recruiting classes, points were never going to be a problem.
Instead, the Aggies offense went a 39-minute stretch without a TD against Mississippi State, a 34-minute stretch without a point against Ole Miss and the full 60-minutes against Alabama.
Kevin Sumlin has a lot to clean up and refurbish in the Aggie program. He has a lot of tough decisions to make. A culture change and sense of responsibility needs to happen. Maybe a lot of heads will roll.
But one decision is easy: Fire Spavital. That’s where you start … And you do it now, if only because if Spav has shown anything, it’s that things can in fact get worse.
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