Sonny Cumbie

Sonny Jack Cumbie (born August 8, 1981) is an

Cumbie attended Snyder High School in Snyder, Texas, and was a three-sport letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. In football, as a senior, he won first team All-District honors, Honorable Mention All-South Plains honors, and was named the District MVP He was coached by David Baugh, the son of quarterback Sammy Baugh. In basketball, he won All-District honors and All-Big Country honors. In baseball, he was named the District MVP as a senior. Cumbie graduated from Snyder High School in 2000. He received scholarship offers from Tarleton State University and West Texas A&M University. Cumbie declined them both and enrolled at Texas Tech University, about 80 miles from Snyder, and decided to accept an invitation to walk on to the football team from head coach Mike Leach.

College career

2000–2003

Cumbie walked on at Texas Tech, where he had enrolled as a student. Cumbie was on the scout team during the 2000 season, and earned a scholarship to be on the team prior to the 2001 season. He served as third-string quarterback behind Kliff Kingsbury and B. J. Symons during the 2001 season. Cumbie saw his first action during a 2002 win over New Mexico. He completed his first pass against Baylor University. After Kingsbury graduated, Symons was named the starter and Cumbie became the back-up. Tech blew out many opponents that year, giving Cumbie plenty of mop up time. He threw his first and only touchdown as a back-up against Baylor in a 62–0 rout in 2003. Prior to the 2004 season, he completed 40 passes out of 62 attempts for 374 yards and a touchdown with a 65.5 completion percentage.

2004

Cumbie earned the starting spot for the 2004 season over highly recruited junior college quarterback Robert Johnson and redshirt junior Cody Hodges. Cumbie led the Raiders to 7 regular season wins over SMU (27–13), TCU (70–35), Kansas (31–30), Nebraska (70–10), Kansas State (35–25), Baylor (42–17), and Oklahoma State (31–15). The Raiders were upset by New Mexico 27–24 and lost close games to division rivals Oklahoma (28–13), an overtime loss to Texas A&M (32–25), and were also defeated by the University of Texas (51–21). The Raiders finished the regular season 7–4, with a 5–3 conference record tied for third in the Big 12 South, and were invited to play a top 5 University of California team in the Holiday Bowl. Cumbie finished the regular season as the national leader in passing yards and passing offense.

Cumbie lead #23 ranked

After completing his college career, Cumbie was not drafted in the 2005 draft but was signed as a free agent by the Indianapolis Colts and later released. In 2006 Cumbie then joined the Los Angeles Avengers in the Arena Football League. He started 12 games his first season as a rookie, and won Rookie of the Year. Cumbie was invited back to the NFL by the Baltimore Ravens and signed a free agent contract in 2006 but was released. He returned as the Avengers starting quarterback in 2007. Playing in a total of 13 games in 2006, Cumbie completed 268-of-450 for 3,241 yards and 59 touchdowns in 2006. He also scored three touchdowns on the ground. In 2007 Cumbie led the Avengers to the playoffs while throwing for 83 touchdown passes and 4,370 yards. After the AFL folded in 2009, Cumbie joined the San Angelo Stampede of the Indoor Football League as the head coach and director of player personnel. Cumbie then became the starting quarterback for the team and led the team to the playoffs and a playoff win.

Coaching career

Texas Tech

In 2009, Cumbie began his coaching career at Texas Tech as a graduate assistant under head coach Mike Leach where he was in charge of the defensive scout team and coaching the quarterbacks. In this role, he worked with quarterbacks Taylor Potts, Steven Sheffield, and Seth Doege. Cumbie served in this capacity for two seasons.

After Leach's departure, Tommy Tuberville was hired as the head coach for the team. He promoted Cumbie to inside receivers coach, a post held formerly by current University of Southern California head coach Lincoln Riley.^[3] One of the receivers he coached was Eric Ward.

Following the hiring of coach

On December 21, 2020, Cumbie was hired and returned to Texas Tech as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under head coach Matt Wells.^[5] Wells was fired on October 25, 2021, with Cumbie being named the interim head coach.^[6]

On November 24, 2021, Cumbie was retained as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under new head coach Joey McGuire.^[7]

Louisiana Tech

On November 30, 2021, Cumbie was named the 34th head coach at Louisiana Tech University.^[8]

Personal life

Cumbie was a color commentator for the Texas Tech Football Radio network for three seasons (2005–2008), shortly before joining the Tech coaching staff. He currently resides in Ruston, Louisiana, and is married to his wife, Tamra. Cumbie graduated from Texas Tech with a bachelor's degree in history. Tamra, who is an alumna of Texas Tech, has a master's degree in technical communication and a PhD in marriage and family therapy. They have two children.

Head coaching record

See also

• List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
• List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders

References

External links

• Louisiana Tech profile
• Texas Tech profile