It’s been a wild couple of days on the 40 acres following the pursuit of TCU Co-Offensive Coordinator Sonny Cumbie. A brief recap, Cumbie was interviewed by Charlie Strong on Sunday night and traveled to Austin with his wife yesterday to survey the campus and facilities. Since then, the Longhorn world has been in a holding pattern waiting for Cumbie to make his decision. After a busy day yesterday, news was very slow today. 247 reported Cumbie met with Patterson today but no decision had been reached yet. They also reported Cumbie was out recruiting for TCU. Our own Will Baizer confirmed this with sources at Cedar Hill earlier today. So where do we stand?
1) Cumbie is the top target. He’s been offered a lot of money (Somewhere north of 1M per year on a 3 year deal according to reports) and total control of the offense. Chip Brown of HornsDigest also reported Texas was willing to make concessions for Cumbie including changes in practice to maximize an up tempo offense, and a different schedule on Sunday so Cumbie could attend church with his family.
2) Cumbie is very comfortable at TCU and is in line to slide into the sole OC position if Doug Meacham takes a job this year or next. Part of that has to be weighing on him along with the decision to uproot his family and move them to the capital city.
3) Cumbie recruiting could be something but it also could be nothing. Many coaches (see Will Muschamp) have been out recruiting for their current schools while negotiating a deal for a new job. The big news for Texas fans is that no decision has been made, and while Cumbie was indeed recruiting for TCU today, you would think if it was a no there would be movement on someone else. I never would have guessed this would drag into three days but it’s starting to look that way according to a report from the Austin American Statesman.
4) Texas is scheduled to meet with Shane Buechele tomorrow night and it could be very bad to show up without a plan at offensive coordinator. The good news is Buechele is slated to take his official visit this weekend, so if Texas can get a guy in place by then they should be able to calm the waters there.
5) By all reports, Cumbie is a good man of tremendous faith and I don’t think he’s dragging this out for any nefarious purpose. It’s a huge decision for him muddied by the situation surrounding Charlie Strong’s job security and the black hole at the quarterback position currently on campus at Texas. If I’m Charlie Strong I wait the night out, and if I don’t have an answer in the morning I move on to plan B for the time being.
So what is Plan B?
By all reports it would be Tulsa Co-OC Sterlin Gilbert. We told you about Gilbert in a November edition of Burnt Ends where we previewed candidates for the upcoming job. Here’s a refresher from that article.
Sterlin Gilbert – Co-offensive Coordinator/WR and QB coach – Tulsa
Bio: Gilbert is a former star quarterback at San Angelo State who cut his teeth in the Texas high school ranks at Abilene Cooper and Temple High School. Gilbert helped install offenses at Houston, Eastern Illinois, and Bowling Green. Gilbert developed Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo into a pro prospect and Harlon Hill (FCS Heisman) winner at Eastern Illinois. A student of the Art Briles offense, Gilbert was hired by Phil Montgomery when he took the job at Tulsa. Gilbert has great ties to the state with experience installing offense from his time under Briles, Montgomery, and Dino Babers. He also has playcalling experience at both Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green.
Obstacles: This might not be a big enough name for some people, and Gilbert hasn’t had a big time coordinator job.
Advantages: He’d be a fool to say no, and it wouldn’t cost nearly as much as the others.
Gilbert’s offense might even fit the Texas personnel a little better since it employs more of a power run look to compliment the spacing and wide open passing game. If I’m Charlie Strong, I’m headed for Tulsa tomorrow to see Gilbert. If Cumbie is still taking his time, you can tell him that you have to interview candidates in the case that they miss on him. While Gilbert doesn’t give you instant recruiting cred like Cumbie, he is well known in the state and should have some good ties.
We will keep you updated if anything breaks so stay with us as we dance dangerously close to day 3 of Coordinator Watch 2015.
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