I think every coach, successful or otherwise, has some fork in the road type moments in their career. A job opportunity, a recruit, a game - a moment when that coach's career can go one of two ways. It won't be a single fork that determines the entirety of their career, but it can have profound effects and sends the career on an up or down trajectory.
Kevin Sumlin, now in his 50's, has obviously had a few of these fork in the road moments. Like moving from an assistant at lowly Oklahoma to a head coaching job in the state of Texas. A fork was presented, he had an opportunity and chose a path. Then to move to a&m and the SEC, a large fork. He's mostly hit the side of the fork that continues him up the mountain, heading to the top. It continued with that first year at A&M - chose the right QB, won some big fork games, he was almost to the tree line on the career mountain.
Then some forks led him down the wrong path. Some recruiting/character errors, some assistant errors, and then perhaps a fork that threatened to send him tumbling end over end down the mountain into a crevasse: 59-0. That's a big hit.
Fortunately for coach the road continues and you still get presented more forks and an opportunity to start heading back up that mountain. May be a rougher road for a while, but it's driveable.
A couple forks started sending him back up that career mountain - chavis, Kyler, Mack, ASU. He's headed back up hill. He's already hit the right side of the fork enough times in his career to be remember as a solid coach. But now forks give him the opportunity to drive back above that tree line to rarified air, maybe hit the mountain's peak with some wisdom and breaks.
Well here we are October 17th, 2015 and no bigger fork has ever been put in front of Kevin Sumlin. A fork that can't be looked at as a single game or moment, but one that might send him on a trajectory with enough momentum that it might carry him to the peak. Sure, a loss might not send him down the mountain too far, but it might signify how high his road can ever go - maybe he's just circling the mountain for the rest of his career, and it's already a nice view from where he's at. But a win, a win may send him on a near vertical path where the attainable heights for his team this year are off the charts. Special things could happen for Sumlim and cement his legacy with a win.
So he's staring at this fork, the biggest fork he's ever been presented in his career, and you wonder which way Kevin Sumlin will turn.
Kevin Sumlin, now in his 50's, has obviously had a few of these fork in the road moments. Like moving from an assistant at lowly Oklahoma to a head coaching job in the state of Texas. A fork was presented, he had an opportunity and chose a path. Then to move to a&m and the SEC, a large fork. He's mostly hit the side of the fork that continues him up the mountain, heading to the top. It continued with that first year at A&M - chose the right QB, won some big fork games, he was almost to the tree line on the career mountain.
Then some forks led him down the wrong path. Some recruiting/character errors, some assistant errors, and then perhaps a fork that threatened to send him tumbling end over end down the mountain into a crevasse: 59-0. That's a big hit.
Fortunately for coach the road continues and you still get presented more forks and an opportunity to start heading back up that mountain. May be a rougher road for a while, but it's driveable.
A couple forks started sending him back up that career mountain - chavis, Kyler, Mack, ASU. He's headed back up hill. He's already hit the right side of the fork enough times in his career to be remember as a solid coach. But now forks give him the opportunity to drive back above that tree line to rarified air, maybe hit the mountain's peak with some wisdom and breaks.
Well here we are October 17th, 2015 and no bigger fork has ever been put in front of Kevin Sumlin. A fork that can't be looked at as a single game or moment, but one that might send him on a trajectory with enough momentum that it might carry him to the peak. Sure, a loss might not send him down the mountain too far, but it might signify how high his road can ever go - maybe he's just circling the mountain for the rest of his career, and it's already a nice view from where he's at. But a win, a win may send him on a near vertical path where the attainable heights for his team this year are off the charts. Special things could happen for Sumlim and cement his legacy with a win.
So he's staring at this fork, the biggest fork he's ever been presented in his career, and you wonder which way Kevin Sumlin will turn.
