Breaking Down the Candidates: Kevin Sumlin & Charlie Strong

As the search continues for the next football coach at Louisville, there are several names that have jumped to the front of the pack. This week, I will take a look at each candidate and hopefully provide some insight into just how good their profile’s look.

Today, I will break down the two candidates who appear to have the highest stock of all the names mentioned, Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin and Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong.

I will take a look at each candidate from the standpoint of how they have performed in the field deemed their specialty and their recruiting efforts. For example, Kevin Sumlin is known for offense, therefore I will look at his offensive and recruiting numbers. Likewise with Strong, since he is a defensive coach, I will take a look at his defensive numbers, as well as recruiting.

I have my own opinions on the coaching search,  but this series of articles is not designed to show one candidate in a better light than another. These articles are simply designed to provide data on each candidate. The stats were gathered from the NCAA’s official website, as well as ESPN.com. Here we go:

Kevin Sumlin

The man looks cool, if nothing else

The current head coach at the University of Houston has seen his stock rise in the coaching community. He’s widely regarded as one of the top offensive minds in college football and a solid recruiter. He was co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma prior to becoming head coach at Houston.

With Sumlin at helm of the Oklahoma offense, at least in a ‘co’ capacity, here is what the Sooner offense looked like from a numbers perspective:

2006 – 17th in rushing offense at 177.1 ypg, 70th in passing offense at 191.6 ypg, 19th in scoring offense at 30.2 ppg
2007 – 30th in rushing offense at 190.7 ypg, 36th in passing offense at 258.2 ypg, 5th in scoring offense at 42.2 ppg

Sumlin then became the head coach at Houston prior to the 2008 season.

2008 – 2nd in passing offense at 416.2 ypg, 47th in rushing offense at 161.2 ypg, 10th in scoring offense at 40.6 ppg
2009 – 1st in passing offense at 452.2 ypg, 72nd in rushing offense 139.7 ypg, 1st in scoring offense at 44.9 ppg

During Sumlin’s two years as co-offensive coordinator, Oklahoma recorded the ninth best recruiting class in 2006 and the 14th best recruiting class in 2007. However, in the context of whether or not Sumlin will be a successful head coach, if named so at Louisville, it is probably best to focus on how his recruiting has gone at Houston.

Sumlin was named head coach of Houston in December of 2007, so 2008 was technically his first recruiting class as head coach of the Cougars. However, as we have seen with the Kragthorpe situation, when coaches are named somewhat late in the recruiting process, they mostly try to retain the commitments already made. Regardless, here is how Houston’s recruiting has gone under Kevin Sumlin (rankings courtesy of Rivals.com):

2008 – 100th ranked class, 20 total commitments, 3 3-star commitments
2009 – 61st ranked class, 25 total commitments, 1 4-star & 11 3-star commitments
2010 (still not completed) - 45th ranked class, 25 total commitments, 1 4-star & 14 3-star commitments 

Charlie Strong

I will not mess with this man, he's huge

Charlie Strong has been the defensive coordinator at the University of Florida since the 2003 season. He was initially named to that position under the legendary Ron Zook. When the Zooker was fired and Urban Meyer took over, Strong was retained as defensive coordinator. Here is what Charlie Strong’s defenses have done during his tenure:

2003 – 65th in rushing defense at 158.5 ypg, 44th in passing defense at 208.9 ypg, 28th in scoring defense at 20.5 ppg
2004 - 53rd in rushing defense at 141.9 ypg, 46th in passing defense at 203.6 ypg, 31st in scoring defense at 21.1 ppg
2005 – 10th in rushing defense at 94.9 ypg, 38th in passing defense at 204.9 ypg, 18th in scoring defense at 18.8 ppg
2006 – 5th in rushing defense at 72.5 ypg, 33rd in passing defense at 182.9 ypg, 6th in scoring defense at 13.5 ppg
2007 – 10th in rushing defense at 103.3 ypg, 98th in passing defense at 258.5 ypg, 46th in scoring defense at 25.5 ppg
2008 – 15th in rushing defense at 105.4 ypg, 20th in passing defense at 179.8 ypg, 4th in scoring defense at 12.9 ppg
2009 – 8th in rushing defense at 89.9 ypg, 1st in passing defense at 143.1 ypg, 1st in scoring defense at 9.83 ppg

Strong is well regarded for his ability to recruit. Granted, he’s recruiting to the University of Florida, in the talent rich state of Florida. My point being, take these upcoming numbers with a moderate grain of salt. However, there is no doubt he gets as many top rated kids as anyone. Here are the recruiting numbers for Florida during Strong’s tenure as defensive coordinator:

2003 – 2nd ranked class, 5 five-star, 9 four-star, and 10 three-star recruits 
2004 – 7th ranked class, 1 five-star, 11 four-star, 10 three -star recruits
2005 – 15th ranked class, 8 four-star, and 9 three-star recruits 
2006 – 2nd ranked class, 4 five-star, 17 four-star, and 5 three-star recruits
2007 – top ranked class, 4 five-star, 16 four-star, and 7 three-star recruits
2008 – 3rd ranked class, 4 five-star, 12 four-star, and 4 three-star recruits 
2009 – 11th ranked class, 3 five-star, 9 four-star, and 4 three-star recruits 
2010 – 5th ranked class, 1 five-star, 12 four-star, and 5 three-star recruits

There are the numbers, do with them what you will. Tomorrow, I will take a look at Boise State head coach Chris Petersen and Central Michigan head coach Butch Jones.