The spring semester is over.
Coaches in the Southeastern Conference have done their experimenting. Getting players in top physical and mental condition is the focus, as we transition to summer workouts.
A new race to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game will start in August but for three coaches in particular, next season serves as a chance to emerge from a situation known as the “hot seat.”
In football terms, the hot seat represents a coach or authority figure that has not lived up to or performed the expectations set upon it when be hired to a respective program or school.
Les Miles, Kevin Sumlin and Gus Malzahn all have work to do.
This trio has a lot of talented pieces on their rosters, yet they find themselves in must win situations. Yours truly of Touchdown Alabama Magazine breaks down all three coaches.
Les Miles, 2005—present, LSU Tigers
The “mad hatter” will enter his 16th season at Louisiana State University in the fall, a career that has seen his Tigers beat Nick Saban’s Alabama teams just two times (2007, 2011).
Regardless of a 112-32 record, Miles has lost to Saban seven times on the field (2008-10, 2012-15) as well as in recruiting.
A 21-0 defeat in the 2012 BCS national title game still haunts the man who arrived at Baton Rouge, La. (Tiger Stadium) in 2005. Miles has one national championship to his name. It came in 2007, the year LSU won it all as a two-loss team.
The Tigers seem to recruit well at every position, but quarterback. Former standout JaMarcus Russell was the last marquee name to come from the Bayou in a while.
Matt Flynn, Jordan Jefferson, Jarrett Lee and Zach Mettenberger were all decent; however, none of them gave defensive coordinators a reason to have sleepless nights.
Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris have had their moments in the last two seasons, but Harris now has a chance to be special with Jennings gone. He threw for 2,158 passing yards with 13 touchdowns to six interceptions in 2015, nevertheless, the mind bottling question is when will Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron stop handicapping him?
Fear of making a mistake caused LSU to put much of the offense on the shoulders of its running back, Leonard Fournette. Despite the physical specimen and talented runner he is, the Tigers are stagnant offensively without a competent signal-caller that complement him. Evidence of this came full circle when it dropped three straight games to Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss. All three teams limited Fournette, forcing LSU’s passing game to make plays downfield.
Prior to its win over Texas A&M, rumors started that LSU’s athletic director Joe Alleva was heading in another direction with the program. The Tigers made an offer to Florida State’s head coach Jimbo Fisher, but ended up retaining Miles due to Fisher not taking the bait.
Miles guided the team to a 9-3 finish last season, capping it off with a 56-27 win over Texas Tech in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl. LSU’s schedule sets up with Alabama and Ole Miss at home, while it faces Texas A&M, Arkansas, Florida and Auburn on the road. Quarterback play and sustaining success throughout the season will be crucial for Miles in 2016.
Kevin Sumlin, 2012—present, Texas A&M Aggies
The success he had at Houston was the reason Texas A&M hired Kevin Sumlin to College Station in 2012.
He guided the Cougars to 500-plus yards offensively in three of four (2008, 2009, 2011) seasons. Sumlin compiled a 36-17 record at Houston, with his finest work coming in 2011.
It finished 13-1 and Case Keenum benefited greatly.
He completed 71 percent of his throws for 5,631 yards with 48 touchdowns to five picks. Houston capped off the year with a 30-14 victory over Penn State in the Ticket City Bowl.
Aggie fans were on their feet in Sumlin’s first season, as it witnessed the team average 44.5 points and 558.5 yards per game. Texas A&M ripped through the SEC in its first season with 11 wins, including a shocking 29-24 victory over Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2012.
Johnny Manziel, who was a redshirt freshman then, was a superstar. He accounted for 3,706 passing yards, 1,410 rushing yards and 47 total touchdowns, en route to winning the Heisman Trophy. Sumlin would drop four games in the following season (9-4), including a 49-42 shootout to Alabama but Texas A&M still managed to be a high-flying offense.
It totaled 44.2 points and 538.4 yards, while Manziel put in 4,114 passing yards, 759 rushing yards and 46 total scores.
Cracks started to form at Kyle Field in Sumlin’s third season. The Aggies dropped in scoring (35.2 ppg) and yards (455.4 ypg), falling to an 8-5 campaign. A debate between Kenny Hill and Kyle Allen was main problem. After tossing for 511 yards and three touchdowns in its season opener against South Carolina, Hill would struggle with inconsistency for the remainder of the year. Allen saw action in nine games, earning starts against Louisiana-Monroe, Auburn and West Virginia.
He guided the Aggies to wins in all three match-ups and was the most valuable player against the Mountaineers in the 2014 AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Allen would throw for four scores and run for another one in Texas A&M’s 45-37 victory.
Sumlin lost Hill to a transfer prior to the 2015 season.
The return of Kyle Allen made a lot of fans excited, yet the addition of Kyler Murray drew more attention. Like the previous season, Allen showed command of the offense and Texas A&M won its first five games.
A horrific outing against Alabama started the trouble for Allen.
He was picked off three times, with all three mistakes resulting in touchdowns. The Crimson Tide ran Texas A&M out of its newly-renovated Kyle Field, 41-23. Murray played in eight games as a freshman, but the friction between going with him or Allen sent thoughts of concern through the locker room.
Aggie fans saw an offense that once put up 44.5 points and 558.5 yards, limp to just 27.8 points and 424.7 yards last season. Convincing every freshman that it would his starting quarterback did a number on Sumlin, as he lost both Allen and Murray to transfers earlier this year.
Former Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight figures to be answer for the Aggies, but Sumlin faces a season in which must secure double-digit wins and have Texas A&M in conference championship contention.
Gus Malzahn, 2013—present, Auburn Tigers
All of his head coaching experience came at high schools in Arkansas, prior to arriving at Auburn as an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2008.
Gus Malzahn’s impact on the plains was instantly felt in 2009, when he coached Auburn’s offense to 33.3 points and 431.8 yards per game. The Tigers finished the year 8-5, a vast improvement from its 5-7 campaign in 2008. Whether Cecil Newton shopped his son around or the Tigers fell into God’s good graces, Cameron Newton enrolled at Auburn in 2010.
It had a magical season (14-0), which resulted in a conference and national championship. Newton totaled 4,327 yards offensively and 50 touchdowns, to secure the Heisman Trophy.
Auburn would fall back to earth in the following year (8-5), accounting for 25.7 points and 337.8 yards.
Malzahn would spend a year at Arkansas State before coming back to Auburn as head coach in 2013. The same magic he had as an offensive coordinator proved accurate in his first year coaching. Tiger fans saw a team average 39.5 points and 501.3 yards a contest.
The most memorable moments occurred against Georgia and Alabama. An unbelievable 73-yard touchdown pass and 109-yard missed field goal return for a touchdown stunned the college football world and pushed Auburn into the national championship game.
Despite a tough loss to Florida State, the Tigers thought it had a solid team coming back in 2014. An 8-5 run that season and mediocre play at quarterback last year has people thinking on whether Malzhan’s system is still legit. Ironically, his number of wins as coach and offensive coordinator are the same (27).
Defensive coordinators have figured out the key to Auburn’s offense. It is a bunch of eye candy movements that result in runs from the quarterback and running back, with an occasional pass lumped in.
Malzahn has lost to Alabama in the last two seasons.
He will need a sound quarterback and some athletic wide receivers, if he and the Auburn faithful expect to compete in the SEC next season.
Stephen M. Smith is a senior analyst and columnist for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @ESPN_Future.
