The USFL announced the final piece to the puzzle with the upcoming season as fans learn about Kevin Sumlin’s full coaching staff for the Houston Gamblers.
Thursday saw the USFL release all eight of the coaching staffs going into the 2022 season next month.
Sumlin’s staff includes three of his assistants having head coaching experience in college or the pros. The experience level is more aligned with the college level for most of the coaches. Mark Snyder is the only coach on the staff who has been a coordinator under Sumlin at one point in his career. Here is a view into the careers of each of the new coaches on the Houston Gamblers coaching staff.
2022 Houston Gamblers Coaching Staff
Kevin Sumlin, Head Coach/Quarterbacks
With his coaching career spanning back to the late 80’s, Kevin Sumlin enters his fourth head coaching job with this being his first as a professional coach. Sumlin’s first head coaching job was with the Houston Cougars from 2008 until 2011 appearing in two Conference USA title games and going 1-1 in bowl games.
He would join Texas A&M afterward from 2012 until 2017. Sumlin never coached a losing record at the school and help quarterback Johnny Manziel become the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in 2012. Sumlin went on to win SEC coach of the year in that same season going 11-2. He went 3-2 in bowl games before being fired in 2017 after finishing the regular season at 7-5.
Arizona was his next destination the next season but wasn’t able to have the same success as he did at Houston and Texas A&M. Sumlin never posted a winning season finishing with a 9-20 record in three seasons as the coach for the Wildcats.
David Beaty, Wide Receivers Coach
David Beaty has been coaching since the mid 90’s where he was at the high school level in Texas for about 10 years before joining the college level. Beaty’s most prominent coaching job was when he joined the Kansas Jayhawks as their head coach back in 2015.
He held the heading coaching job at Kansas for four seasons only producing six wins during that time at the school. Their best season was in his last season as the Jayhawks head coach in 2018 producing a 3-9 record when he was told he would not return as head coach. His last job with with the Texas Longhorns as a consultant.
Tim Lewis, Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
A familiar face to the spring football fam nase, Tim Lewis takes on the defensive coordinator job in Houston. Most of his career is in the NFL with defensive coordinator stops with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants.
Lewis has had two stops in spring football leagues. His first stop was in the AAF where he was head coach of the Birmingham Iron. The Iron was one of the top teams in the AAF and were on their way to a playoff appearance before the league ceased operations after eight games. Birmingham finished the season with a 5-3 record with Lewis as head coach.
He would return to spring football in the XFL as the defensive backs coach for the St. Louis BattleHawks in 2020. Lewis would be at that position before the XFL also had to shut down operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Greg McMahon, Special Teams/Tight End
Greg McMahon is a long-time assistant coach who has coached at both the college level and the NFL with most of his experience coming in college. McMahon has been a special teams coach for multiple teams including UNLV, Illinois, East Carolina, New Orleans Saints, and LSU.
LSU was his most recent coaching job as he was the special teams coordinator from 2018 until 2021. He won a national title with the Tigers during his time at the school. McMahon retired from coaching at the end of the 2021 season with LSU.
Gordon Shaw, Offensive Line
Gordon Shaw will be taking the reigns of the offensive line for the Gamblers making his first appearance in the pros. His career has been predominately in the college game coaching both offense and defense with his coaching career starting in 1971.
Shaw’s coaching stops include Colorado State-Pueblo, Houston, Texas State, Idaho, Hawaii, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Northern Arizona, Cal Poly, and Cal State Northridge. Some of those stops have included him being the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and defensive line coach.
Mark Snyder, Linebackers
Mark Snyder has a long history of coaching as he has been a coach since the late 80’s coaching all in college. Snyder has been a defensive coordinator four times with Youngstown State, Ohio State, South Florida, and Texas A&M. His performance as defensive coordinator at Ohio State earned him his only head coaching job at Marshall.
After being named head coach at Marshall, Snyder took over the Thundering Herd from 2005 until 2009. During that five year span, the team never recorded a winning season with his best season being his last season at the school with a 6-6 record resigning from the job before their bowl game.
Snyder and Sumlin have worked with each other in the past as Snyder was Sumlins’ defensive coordinator at Texas A&M from 2012 until 2014. His last job was with Florida State coaching linebackers and special teams.
Ty Warren, Defensive Line
Many will remember Ty Warren for his time in the NFL as a defensive end winning two Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. Warren finished his NFL career with 20.5 sacks in 10 seasons in the league. He spent most of his time with the Patriots before ending his career with the Denver Broncos.
Warren’s coaching career began in 2020 when the Detriot Lions brought him on as a William Clay Ford minority coaching assistant. During the 2020 season, he had to step in as interim defensive line coach for one game due to coach Bo Davis missing the game against Tampa Bay due to Covid-19 protocols.
Team Assistants
Brendan Donovan, Defensive Quality Control & James Runnels, Running Backs
