Ryan Ivey explains decision to keep Sonny Cumbie

Louisiana Tech Athletic Director Ryan Ivey knows the decision for Sonny Cumbie to return as head coach in 2025 isn’t universally celebrated.

From an objective win-loss metric, it’s a curious move, given an 11-25 record through three seasons without a bowl game appearance, and a 2-17 record on the road since Cumbie took over in December 2021. The program hasn’t had a winning season or bowl win since 2019 as well.

And while Ivey understands frustration is mounting amongst Tech supporters, he remains confident in Tech’s approach to move forward with Cumbie in year four of his tenure. Why? Ivey sat down for a one-on-one interview with the Leader to explain the decision to keep Cumbie as head coach, and why the department is thinking long-term in its process.

What was your overall view of the 2024 football season?

“I think for my first one here and evaluating the program as a whole and the season, I thought we did some good things. I think defensively, obviously, has been a bright spot for us and right now we’re sitting 11th in the country in total defense. We’ve improved in every defensive statistical category since 2021. I think Jeremiah [Johnson] and the defensive staff and our kids did a really good job - obviously kept us in several ball games. We had eight one-score games this year and we were 3-5 in those games. I was pleased with the effort and the culture and the connectivity that I felt our team had from that standpoint.

“There’s no question we’ve got to figure out from an offensive standpoint who we are and really our identity moving forward. I know we had some issues in the quarterback position where we started with Jack [Turner] and then moved to Blake [Baker] and Blake breaks his collarbone and then Evan [Bullock] takes over and he tried to find his footing. I think the word is inconsistent from an offensive standpoint. I thought we were pretty good in the 20’s and then we got in the red-zone and we were just very inefficient from that standpoint.

"We’ve gotta figure out a way to be better from a red-zone efficiency aspect of it. Part of that is maybe the playcalling, maybe it’s the schematic aspect of what we’re doing, maybe it’s the offseason workouts. What can we do to get stronger so we can come off the line and push people off the line and be purposeful in what we’re doing from an offensive standpoint, especially when the field gets short down there. At some point in time, it’s about me lining up across from you and deciding I’m going to whip you tail and and am I strong enough and big enough to do that. I think overall, I thought we showed some bright spots. Again, not being here the previous two years and having conversations with multiple people throughout the year, I think that was the sentiment that, ‘This is better than what it’s been.’ I think that was part of the conversations throughout the year.”

Before you ultimately decided to keep Sonny as head coach, what factors did you weigh back and forth that led you to make that decision

“Like I talked about in the letter; I think number one, wins and loss standpoint. That’s a part of it. I said at the beginning of the year that it’s not just about wins and losses, although that is a big part of where we are. There’s no question we’re in a results-oriented business. We all understand that. Wins and losses are part of it. We obviously saw growth in that aspect of it from year-to-year in the first two years on this year.

“The reality of it is, dating back to 2021 with the transfer portal, with bringing in a new staff at that point from a transition standpoint, there’s an academic component to this from an APR [Academic Progress Rate] standpoint. We’ve got to make sure that we manage that, not just for the current year but looking at it for future years. Whether we like it or not, APR is still a thing and there are still penalties associated for falling below certain thresholds from an NCAA standpoint. When you make transitions, especially in a sport like football, and you do it within a four-year cycle multiple times, you run a high risk of not being able to achieve the thresholds needed to continue to be postseason eligible.”

“Obviously, the fiscal and fiduciary responsibility of where we are. There’s no question that Sonny’s under contract and there’s a buyout associated with it. But not only just with him, it’s with our other coaches, and then the transition of new staff. I think sometimes people might think you just fire somebody and hire somebody, well there are transition costs associated with that. And if we’re going to go out and try to attract a good candidate, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got money to maybe even buy someone out and contract that aspect of it. We evaluated that piece and what does that financial component look like for us as well. 

“And then the last thing we looked at was the current environment that is college athletics. With the House settlement coming, we’re in the process right now of creating some internal infrastructure that we think is going to allow us to capitalize on some opportunities for us with the House settlement. We’re not there yet because it’s ongoing right now and we’re building the plane as we fly it, so to speak. And we felt like we would be in a better spot to be able to be able to manage this situation with our current head coach and with Sonny because he’s been a part of some of those conversations with us, he knows what kind of direction we’re trying to do. I think when you look at all of that in totality, that it made sense for us to bring him back from that standpoint.”

Those points are well taken, but there is also a large portion of the fanbase that is upset with this decision. What’s your response to supporters that are not happy about the current state of things and this move?

“I completely understand peoples’ frustration. I don’t blame them. I would be frustrated as well.

"Going back to the last couple years that we had with coach [Skip] Holtz and now with Sonny, and this is a program that has historically been successful. I also know that college athletics has changed quite a bit in the last three years and where we are. So, for me, it’s not about just the ‘now’. We’ve got to figure out how to manage this and set this up for long-term, continuous, sustainable success that our fans continue to deserve and want. Right now, I think that was the aspect that we weighed. We weighed the short term thing of, ‘Hey do you do something now?’or do you try to help build a program that can be sustainable moving forward? Part of that is restructuring our offensive staff and our offensive schematic component.

"When Sonny came in, he came in with the idea that he was going to call plays. As we went through this year, that obviously changed and so now you have to look at it from a standpoint of how do we build and structure an offensive staff around the head coach not being involved on a daily basis. I think if we can do that, similar to what we did on the defensive side of the ball this year, it’ll allow him to do what he does really good which is build culture, build relationships with players, create an environment that student athletes want to be in and have success in, help to lead them at a high level, grow them as people, and then let’s let individuals that are offensive and defensive coordinators and our coaching staff, let them do what they’re capable of doing and then figuring out that standpoint.”

For some housekeeping items, do you anticipate Sonny will still be coaching the quarterbacks next season? Is that the plan?

“Honestly, I don’t think so. But I think it just depends on how the staff's makeup is going to be at that point.”

You mentioned in the letter to fans about achieving ‘the only acceptable on-field result.' Going into year four, what needs to be achieved at this stage in Sonny and this staff’s tenure?

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to win football games. Sonny knows that and everyone else knows that. I appreciate their professionalism and we’ve tried to keep it professional but there’s no question we’re at a point now when we go into year four that we have to have a winning season, we have to be in bowl games, and we have to be competitive from that standpoint. Anything less than that is not going to be the result we wanted for this program. He knows that. We know that.

"I think that’s where I would tell our fans, I understand your frustration. I get it. I see it. It’s warranted. No one is probably more frustrated than our coaches and our players about the results of this year because there are a lot of what-ifs and could-ifs and should-ifs. If you go back, there are probably four plays that if they go our way, we’re sitting here 8-4, 9-3, and we’re not having these conversations. But the reality of the situation is we’re not. We all understand that and see that. We’re not blind to that fact and we’ve got to make sure it gets better moving forward, or we will have to do something different.”

You mentioned in the letter, “We need every one of our Loyal Blue supporters now more than ever.” As someone that sees the donations and gift figures on a daily basis, is the fanbase at a point where there’s enough financial backing? Is there more that needs to be done in that area based on what you said?

“I’ve said that since we had the town hall meetings to try to figure out what we can do to engage our fans more. There is certainly culpability on our end from an athletics department standpoint as I think we’ve put up barriers to entry, resistance for some of our fans. And we’ve made it difficult to be a Tech fan. Some of that is wins and losses. I always tongue-in-cheek say, ‘There’s no marketing like winning.’ That’s part of it. But I’ve also asked folks at every Tech’s in Town event and other opportunities to do three things.

"Number one is show up and be present. If you can’t do anything else, show up and be present. That is critical for our student athletes. I’d put that with any student group we have on campus that’s doing extracurricular activities. The second thing I always ask people to do is give. If you can purchase season tickets and if you can give to the LTAC and become an Aillet Society member, whatever it might be, I don’t want people to go broke by supporting us. That’s not what I’m asking them to do.

"I understand we’re in a smaller community. There are a finite amount of resources. Inflation is a real thing. I see it everyday on the business side of it with what we’re doing. But I also believe there is strength in numbers. If you can get 1,000 people to give $100, what do you have? Whatever it may be, there are opportunities to help us. And those that are doing that, we thank them so much. We appreciate their support. The third thing I ask people to do is have that logo out there, because you’d be surprised about the conversations that come from that.

“I’m never going to tell a fan base they’re doing enough or not enough. That’s up to each individual to decide whether or not you’re giving everything that you can at that particular moment - if it’s important to you to help support us. And if it’s not important, that’s OK. We’ll figure out how to move forward with that as well. But there’s no question in this day of college athletics and where we are, we need more resources. The business of college athletics is not slowing down in any way.”

Last one for you is open-ended. Louisiana Tech football will be successful in 2025 if?

“I think one, we gotta figure out the House settlement and what we’re doing there. We’ve gotta make sure we’re managing the roster limit and the compensation that’s coming from that and some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of it. I’ve been really proud of our staff. We’ve created our in-house GM tool that’s going to allow us to really think about this from a high level standpoint. We are, from a football standpoint, looking into repurposing a position to a potential General Manager position. That’s where, again, I don’t think fans understand that. And that’s OK. It’s new. We’ve got to be able to build structure around it. 

“From an offseason standpoint, we gotta look at what we’re doing from a strength and conditioning standpoint. We gotta look at what we’re doing from a competition standpoint - trying to help our student athletes where they know how to win. Winning is a habit. Losing is a habit. What are we doing to help our student athletes understand the winning aspect of that.

"We’ve obviously got to get the right makeup of a staff in and we’ve got to be able to retain some players. And we want to retain some of our staff that we have, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We’re all working through that process right now. I think we’re able to hit all that in the next six to eight weeks, I think people will be excited about where we’re going. I understand their frustration. Everyone is welcomed to have their opinion on it moving forward. I understand if someone wants to be skeptical of it. I appreciate their passion. I also look forward to welcoming them back when we’re having that opportunity and they’re always welcome here moving forward.”