Kevin Sumlin has no tolerance for snooping employees.
Last week, a story made the rounds about the Texas A&M coach supposedly firing his pool boy for making a Twitter comment about the Aggies coach hiring a defensive coordinator.
The story unfolded on Twitter after Sumlin responded to a tweet from the pool boy, Rustin McFarland. McFarland tweeted that he had just cleaned Sumlin’s pool, saw the coach on the phone, and hoped the coach was on the phone with A&M’s new defensive coordinator. Sumlin responded that he had fired the guy:
You just lost your job!RT“@mcfarlandrk8: Just cleaned Sumlin's pool. Saw him on the phone, hopefully with our new DC!”
— Kevin Sumlin (@CoachSumlin) December 30, 2014
When I saw that, I thought it was in jest. A few years ago there was a similar story about Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, who later said the story was a joke. But apparently Sumlin does not mess around.
Sumlin was a guest on ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning” Wednesday and was asked whether he really did fire McFarland. Sumlin said he did and explained why (15:00 min mark).
“We try to teach lessons to young people and I’ve got a great company that built my pool and (McFarland’s) boss is a good friend – I’ve known him for a long time,” Sumlin said. “I was on the phone. Obviously everybody wanted to know who we were going to hire as a D coordinator and I was on the phone with John Chavis at the time and (McFarland’s) looking through the pool and I’m coming out of the car and he’s still standing around, looking.
“The message is if you come to somebody’s house and somebody hires you, whatever you’re doing – it’s a little bit personal. If you’re invading privacy, it’s not a public deal and Twitter is public. So, you know, guess what? Don’t come back.”
Well imagine that. Sumlin is teaching lessons on the field and off the field. But you know what? It’s people like McFarland who often get inside scoops. How do you think a cupcake shop was able to break news of LeBron James’ return to Cleveland? Snooping may cost you a job, but it will help you get a good scoop!
Helmet smack to Dr. Saturday
