Kevin Sumlin is back on the sideline, and the Dallas Renegades are the ones handing him the whistle.
The UFL club announced Wednesday that it has hired Sumlin as its new head coach, bringing in a veteran with a long college résumé and a previous stop in the league. The 62-year-old spent the 2025 season away from football after serving two seasons as the University of Maryland’s associate head coach.
Sumlin’s coaching path has included some big highs. He compiled a 95-63 record as a college head coach from 2008 through 2020 and guided Texas A&M to a Cotton Bowl win over Oklahoma in 2013. He also took Houston to a 35-17 mark after starting his head coaching career there in 2008, and helped develop Case Keenum, who became the NCAA’s all-time leading passer during his Cougar years.
At Texas A&M, Sumlin’s first season was his best. He brought Johnny Manziel to College Station in year one and led the Aggies to an 11-2 record in their first SEC season.
The results after that were more uneven. Texas A&M finished 9-5 or 8-5 in each of the next four seasons, and Sumlin was dismissed in 2017 after a 7-5 campaign.
His record in College Station ended at 51-26.
His next head coaching stop came at Arizona, where he went 9-20. His most recent head coaching job was in the UFL with the Houston Gamblers in 2022, when the team finished 3-7.
The Renegades introduced the hire with a social media post that read: "Kevin Sumlin named Head Coach of the Dallas Renegades.
Welcome home, Coach! pic.twitter.com/C3j6k0Hmym"
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Mike Elko Has One Urgent Fix Before Texas A&M Slips Further
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For Mike Elko, the fix is as basic as it is urgent: get the Aggies back to playing a more physical brand of football. That identity has to show up quickly if Texas A&M wants to steady itself against the rest of the schedule, whether the next opponent carries a ranking or not. Without that edge in the trenches, the slide can get a lot worse in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]