Midway through the third quarter on November 22, 2025, Sonny Cumbie's time at Louisiana Tech looked about done.
It was Senior Day at Joe Aillet Stadium. Liberty had scored touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half to take a 28-7 lead. Tech was 5-5, and Cumbie was 16-31 in Ruston after two 3-9 seasons and a 5-8 bowl trip. The home sideline had gone quiet. Anyone who's followed this program long enough knew what a loss would mean, and so did everyone in that stadium.
Then Trey Kukuk ran 31 yards for a touchdown, and the whole thing changed.
The comeback
Tech followed with a 96-yard, 19-play drive to make it a one-score game. The defense, which had been carved up all afternoon, picked off Ethan Vasko four times, including once in overtime. John Hoyet Chance's 54-yard field goal at the end of regulation hit the right upright, and Tech fans were sure they'd seen this movie before.
They hadn't. Andrew Burnette took the first snap of overtime 25 yards to the end zone, and Tech won 34-28. That made the Bulldogs bowl eligible for the first time since 2019.
What came after
I'm not sure anyone expected what followed. Tech went to Springfield and beat Missouri State 42-30 for its first winning season in six years. Then the Bulldogs came from behind again in Shreveport, scoring both of their touchdowns in the fourth quarter to beat Coastal Carolina 23-14 in the Independence Bowl. That was Tech's first bowl win since 2019, and it finished an 8-5 season.
The administration didn't hand Cumbie a blank check. In February, he agreed to a restructured contract with a new salary and a list of performance incentives. You don't do that for a coach everyone fully believes in. You do it for a coach who has earned another shot but still has to prove the Liberty game wasn't a fluke.
So far he has.
Tech opened its first Sun Belt season by beating Northwestern State 80-6 and scored touchdowns on its first 11 possessions. Next came road trips to LSU and Baylor, and Tech lost both, 45-14 and 36-19. Nobody should be surprised by either result. Those are two Power 4 programs with Power 4 budgets, and a Group of 6 team going on the road in September usually loses those games.
Since then: Army 31-29. ULL 32-31. ULM 24-0 in Monroe. Old Dominion 26-0. South Alabama 35-20. And Saturday at Troy, 41-17.
The number
Count it up from the Liberty game: Tech is 10-2, and both losses came on the road to P4 teams. Against everyone else, Tech is 10-0, and 9-0 against FBS opponents.
The Bulldogs are 7-2, have won six straight, and are playing like they belong in a new conference instead of trying to figure it out.
I've watched a lot of Tech football, and a coach rarely gets saved by one second-half rally and then makes the most of it. Usually the rally is the high point, and the next year looks like the three before it. Cumbie flipped that. The Liberty game didn't save his job so much as show what this team could become, and they've played that way ever since.
Where the phone rings
Unless the last three weeks fall apart (Southern Miss, Arkansas State, and a trip to Georgia Southern), Cumbie's phone is going to ring this winter. These are the jobs that matter.
Baylor. It's already open. Baylor fired Dave Aranda after a late-October loss at Kansas. It's a Power 4 job in Texas, and Cumbie got a close look at the place when Tech played in Waco in September. He'll be on the list, but a Big 12 school in Texas will also go after bigger names.
TCU. This would be the fun one. Sonny Dykes, who coached Tech from 2010 to 2012, has been on the hot seat since the opening loss to North Carolina, and TCU started 0-2 in Big 12 play. Cumbie spent seven seasons in Fort Worth as Gary Patterson's offensive coordinator. Tech's current coach replacing Tech's former coach, at the school where the current coach made his name as an assistant? I'd love to read that column.
UTSA. This opens only if Jeff Traylor leaves. He's 7-1 this season, which makes him a logical Baylor candidate too. If Traylor ends up in Waco, San Antonio would be a step up for Cumbie within the G6 and a chance to coach in his home state.
Texas Tech. The job is unlikely to open this year, but it's the one where Cumbie would have the best chance if it did. Joey McGuire just won the Big 12 and isn't going anywhere. Still, Cumbie was the Red Raiders' interim head coach in 2021 when they hired McGuire. He's a former Tech quarterback. And Cody Campbell, the regent chair and NIL money behind the program, was his roommate back when they played for Mike Leach. Whenever that job opens, Cumbie probably starts as the favorite.
Any of those schools will see that Cumbie has turned into a CEO-style head coach. Early in Ruston, he tried to call plays, coach the quarterbacks, and run the program all at once, and it showed in the record. The turnaround started when he stepped back, hired Tony Franklin to run the offense, and focused on running the whole program. For a first-time head coach, that's harder than it sounds. Plenty of offensive guys never let go of the play sheet, and plenty of them get fired still holding it.
Southern Miss comes to Ruston on Saturday. A year ago, Tech fans were wondering whether Cumbie would make it through November. Now they're wondering how long they get to keep him.
