Former Oklahoma Assistant Kevin Sumlin Named USFL Head Coach

Sumlin will be the head coach of the Houston Gamblers as part of the USFL's return to action this spring.

A former Oklahoma assistant is getting back into the head coaching game.

Former Sooners co-offensive coordinator and Texas A&M and Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin was named the new head coach of the USFL’s Houston Gamblers on Thursday afternoon.

RT to welcome @coachsumlin back to Houston! pic.twitter.com/zOtIUoZ4UX

— Houston Gamblers (@USFLGamblers) January 6, 2022

"A new league like the USFL provides opportunities for coaches as well as players," Sumlin said in a statement, "and I'm very excited to have this opportunity to be a head coach at the professional level. I love coaching football players, it's in my blood, and there are many, many athletes who are hungry to play high-quality football. I can't wait to build my team and work with them this spring."

Sumlin, a college linebacker at Purdue, was with OU from 2003-07, first serving as the tight ends/special teams coach before transitioning to co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach.

He then left Norman for his first head coaching job at Houston in 2008 where he would be until taking over at Texas A&M in 2012.

After some large success and producing a Heisman-winning quarterback in Johnny Manziel, he was let go by the Aggies shortly after the end of the 2017 season.

Sumlin then took over at Arizona in 2018 but was let go there at the conclusion of the 2020 season.

Now, he gets another chance at a different level of football entirely in the upstart USFL, which is making its return to action this spring as an entirely new venture after more than three decades since the original USFL folded in the late 1980s.

Rosters for the teams have yet to be revealed but other notable coaches to be named so far include Mike Riley with the New Jersey Generals and Todd Haley with the Tampa Bay Bandits.

The USFL begin play in April.