Lest his ego swell, new University of Houston football coach Kevin Sumlin got a lighthearted shot of humility during Thursday afternoon’s Touchdown Club of Houston luncheon.

Sumlin’s name was handwritten on a paper nameplate, and when he turned it inside out to write himself a few notes he saw another name typewritten.

“Touchdown Club of Houston, LSU Day with Coach Les Miles,” Sumlin read, referring to the organization’s 2008 Tiger Tour stop eight days earlier. “I’ve got a long way to go.”

That drew a good laugh from the 250 attendees at the JW Marriott in The Galleria, most of whom are as anxious as Sumlin for the Cougars to join the elite of both Conference USA and college football as a whole.

Sumlin, Oklahoma’s former offensive coordinator who succeeded Art Briles at UH in December 2007, practically oozed with excitement discussing his first Cougars team.

“I’m a lot more excited about getting to practice than doing this,” Sumlin cracked. “I got a call the other day (from a university athletic department worker) and he said ‘We sold out, we sold more seats than we had (for the season opener Aug. 30 against Southern).’ I told him that was a great, and it is – it’s a testament to our fans. But we have to get to the point where we expect that.

“We’re trying to get to the point where this should be the norm.”

The Cougars went 8-5 last year, 6-2 in C-USA, losing 20-13 to TCU in the Texas Bowl. After the season opener against Southern, they travel to Oklahoma State and host Air Force before beginning conference play.

C-USA coaches picked UH to finish second in the West Division at Media Day earlier this week in Memphis.

Fans may see a lot of passing this fall, especially based on the scheme of offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen, late of pass-happy Texas Tech.

“They (UH) have been pretty balanced the last couple years,” Sumlin said. “You go back and look at the last couple years … they’ve thrown it around some. They’ve been good on offense. Coach Briles did a great job and we have a direction we want to go. I would look to see a bunch of balls from us in the air.”

The defense will be led by defensive end Phillip Hall, a senior from Fort Worth who is on the watch lists for both the Lombardi and Bronco Nagurski awards. He led the Cougars in tackles for loss, solo tackles and pass breakups in 2007 and had at least one tackle for loss in 11 games.

“I was pleased with both fronts, the offensive line and defensive line,” Sumlin said. “We’ve got some real experienced guys back there at safety but again, on defense it’s gonna be how our linebackers come on and adjust from a 3-4 to a 4-3. How will our corners respond? That will determine our success.

“I’d be real worried on both offense and defense if we didn’t have any talent. But we’ve some talent, some young talent, who are gonna come in and help us. It’s gonna be how we coach them and how well they pick it up.”

Subscribe to this comment's feed