TCU’s Sonny Cumbie is Texas Tech’s new offensive coordinator
TCU offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie has been hired as Texas Tech’s next offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Tech announced late Monday night.
Cumbie will not stick around to coach TCU in its upcoming game against Arkansas in the Texas Bowl on New Year’s Eve, a TCU source said. He is leaving the program immediately.
Cumbie moving on makes sense as he was in the final year of his contract and had play-calling duties stripped away by coach Gary Patterson before the season. TCU did not match Tech’s offer, a source said, letting Cumbie walk instead.
Cumbie ranked among the highest-paid assistants in the country, earning more than $1 million annually, according to USA Today’s assistant coaches database. It’s unknown how much Tech will pay him.
Cumbie, a West Texas native, has plenty of ties to Texas Tech. He was a quarterback for the school from 2001-04 under Mike Leach and then served as an inside receivers coach from 2010-12 under Tommy Tuberville and as co-offensive coordinator/ outside receivers coach in 2013 under Kliff Kingsbury.
Cumbie will now join Matt Wells’ staff, replacing David Yost who was let go last week.
Cumbie joined TCU in 2014 as co-offensive coordinator/ quarterbacks coach. He and fellow co-OC Doug Meacham were wildly successful early on with Meacham serving as the primary play caller.
TCU was the nation’s most improved offense that 2014 season. The Horned Frogs increased total yards per game by 188.2 and points per game by 21.4. The points per game improvement was the most since Northwestern went up 24.0 points between 1999-2000.
The Horned Frogs continued that trend in 2015, setting multiple single-season school records. They ranked third nationally in total offense (562.8 yards per game) and seventh in scoring (42.1 points per game).
Cumbie took over play-calling duties in 2017, helping TCU to the Big 12 championship game his first year. But the offense regressed in 2018-19 and he was stripped of play-calling duties once Patterson brought back Meacham this season.
Cumbie is known as a top quarterback developer. Among those he helped at TCU include Trevone Boykin, Kenny Hill and Max Duggan.
It’s unclear how Patterson will go about filling Cumbie’s position, whether he fills the void internally or brings in an outside voice.
Patterson hired Jerry Kill last offseason as a special assistant who oversees the offense. As stated, Meacham has served as the primary play caller as the inside receivers/ tight ends coach. Meacham does not have an “OC” title, but lists “passing game coordinator” on his social media bio.
Hill, who is now an offensive analyst on the staff, is expected to work with the quarterbacks through the bowl game.
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 9:44 PM.
