And let the Will Muschamp Watch in College Station commence in earnest.
Less than 24 hours after Texas A&M closed out the regular season with a 23-17 loss to LSU, head coach Kevin Sumlin announced that the football program has, ahem, “parted ways” with defensive coordinator Mark Snyder. Linebackers coach Mark Hagan will serve as the interim coordinator for the Aggies’ bowl appearance.
Snyder, who just completed his third season with the Aggies, will be due $700,000 in salary through March of 2016.
“Mark is an outstanding coach and an even better person, but he understands the production needed to be better on the defensive side of the football,” Sumlin said in a statement. “We wish he and his family all of the best moving forward.”
The fact that Snyder was jettisoned is far from surprising. This season, A&M’s defense was 11th or worse among the 14 teams in the SEC in nearly every major statistical category. Entering Week 14, the Aggies were 77th nationally and 11th in the conference — ahead of only Kentucky (30.1), Vanderbilt (32.4) and South Carolina (32.7) — in points allowed per game (27.7). When it comes to yards allowed, they were even worse: at 445.2 yards per game, the Aggies were dead last in the conference and 100th in the country.
“I appreciate the opportunity Kevin Sumlin gave me to come to Texas A&M and to work on his staff,” Snyder said in his statement. “I have been in the business a while now and understand it is a production-based business.”
As to where Sumlin will, or should, begin his search, look no further than the deposed Florida Gators head coach. While his time in the Swamp was far from a success, Will Muschamp is still widely viewed as one of the top defensive coordinators in the country. Until there’s a resolution one way or the other, it will be Muschamp’s name that’s first off the tongue of an Aggie fan -- and should be first on Sumlin’s coordinator to-do list.
(Photo credit: Texas A&M athletics)