Kevin Sumlin has agreed to terms of a new contract as head football coach of the Houston Cougars, a person familiar with the negotiations said Thursday.
The next step in the process would be to present the agreement to the UH board of regents, which would have to approve the terms before Sumlin can sign a new contract.
It is not certain when the regents will meet to review the agreement reached between UH athletic director Mack Rhoades and Sumlin. Rhoades was not available for comment Thursday. Sumlin, who was honored Thursday night as one of the seven finalists for the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award, declined comment on his contract status.
“I said what I had to say a long time ago,” said Sumlin, who is 18-9 in two seasons with the Cougars.
During the middle of a 2009 season in which UH climbed to as high as No. 12 in the national rankings, Rhoades approached Sumlin about a new contract. Last month, Sumlin characterized the negotiations as “getting close to where we need to be.” Rhoades said at that time, “In principle, we’ve agreed to terms probably 99 percent.”
Sumlin, 45, has four years left on a contract that has an annual salary of $700,000. He entered this past season ranked seventh on the Conference USA pay scale, behind the likes of SMU’s June Jones ($2 million), East Carolina’s Skip Holtz ($1.16 million), Central Florida’s George O’Leary ($1.15 million) and Tulsa’s Todd Graham ($1.1 million). Holtz took the South Florida job on Thursday.
Though Sumlin’s name has surfaced in numerous job openings since December, his actions have been those of somebody committed to UH for the foreseeable future. He dismissed defensive coordinator John Skladany, who on Thursday landed a job as a linebacker/special teams coach at UCF, last week and has been interviewing potential replacements.
Sumlin confirmed Thursday that Pittsburgh Steelers defensive backs coach Ray Horton is among the list of candidates that reportedly includes former Marshall head coach Mark Snyder and recently dismissed Texas Tech defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeil. Horton has not yet interviewed for the job.
“There’s a mutual interest between the two of us,” Sumlin said.
Though Sumlin wouldn’t discuss his contract situation Thursday, he couldn’t help but reflect on his two-year journey from new head coach to Bryant Award finalist. He attended last year’s Bryant dinner as a guest of his former boss, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops.
“All individual awards are group awards,” Sumlin said. “You don’t get anywhere yourself. Everything that happens is a team award. Our coaching staff and players have bought into what we’re trying to do, and we’ve had some success. We haven’t reached where we need to be, but we’re on the way. Hopefully, we can get to those goals.
“We’re on the right track. I think our program is headed in the right direction. Hopefully, based on not accomplishing everything we wanted to accomplish this year, we can draw from those experiences and be a better team next year.”
