Sumlin introduced as Houston coach after agreeing to 5-year deal

HOUSTON -- Kevin Sumlin wants to turn Houston into Conference USA's version of Oklahoma.

Sumlin, an assistant under Bob Stoops for the past five seasons, was introduced as the Cougars' new coach Friday after agreeing to a five-year deal.

"If there's someone you want to model yourself after that's a pretty good model," Sumlin said of his former boss. "It's hard to argue with the way he's done things. I was looking in my office the other day -- I've been there five years and played in four Big 12 championships. Pretty good model."

Sumlin was an assistant at Washington State, Wyoming, Minnesota, Purdue and Texas A&M before Stoops hired him before the 2003 season. He was the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach before he was promoted to co-offensive coordinator, passing game coordinator and receivers coach in 2006.

Sumlin helped OU rank third nationally in scoring offense at 44 points a game. Houston routinely had one of the nation's top offenses under coach Art Briles, who left Nov. 28 to become the coach at Baylor. But the Cougars always struggled on defense, something Sumlin plans to handle the way Stoops did.

"Bob's built that program on defense," Sumlin said. "We're going to probably utilize the same philosophy -- not probably -- we will utilize the same philosophy: be aggressive. It starts with defense."

Sumlin becomes the first black head coach in the 60-year history of the UH program. Questions about race didn't come up until late in Sumlin's introductory news conference, something he says shows the progress being made in minority hiring.

"Obviously, it is an issue," he said. "It's credit to where we are right now, that of all the things that have come up today, this is one of the last."

Houston gave quite a welcome to the 43-year-old Sumlin. The band struck up the fight song, cheerleaders danced, and players past and present applauded before Sumlin stepped to a podium.

"I've always seen the University of Houston as a gold mine," said Sumlin, Houston's 11th coach. "It's the largest city in a great football-playing state. There is a wealth of talent. Any time you have a university with that many players around it, you're going to have a great chance to win."

Players such as Vince Young, Thurman Thomas and Cougars Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware are from the Houston area.

"It's totally obvious that you don't have to go very far here," he said. "I don't see why there's any reason we can't get those players."

Houston athletics director Dave Maggard declined to say how much the five-year deal was worth for Sumlin, who's taking his first head coaching job.