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Kevin Sumlin: fearless coach, quote machine, and brilliant recruiter. But who is he really? Who does he know? How does he know them? We delve a bit deeper into the enigma of the man in Seven Degrees of Kevin Sumlin to tie him to some remarkable people.
I. Sam Elliott
Gruff, yet cavalier. A man's man. Remarkably like Kevin Sumlin in these regards, but with admittedly cooler facial hair. Here's the connection:
- Sam Elliott starred in The Big Lebowski as the better half of the two sides of the conscience of the title character. The worst half was played by
- John Goodman, who starred in the sitcom Roseanne, where his daughter was played by
- Sara Gilbert. She also starred in the early 2000s sitcom Twins, where one of her guest stars (I am taking Wikipedia's word for this one) was played by 30-something pubescent crooner
- Nick Lachey, who is most famous for being married to (and sharing their beautiful life together on a TV show) renowned scholar and celebrity
- Jessica Simpson, who has been photographed being chummy with offensive guru
- Kliff Kingsbury. And who gave Kliff his break as a big-time coordinator that led to him becoming the second-youngest head coach in all of FBS football?
- YESSIR.
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II. Ozzy Osbourne
The "Prince of Darkness." One of the founding fathers of Heavy Metal. He's legendary, unassuming, and candid at the same time. Let's make the connection.
- Ozzy was the feature of the 2011 documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne directed by one
- Mike Fleiss, who was also the producer during the 2004 season of The Batchelor, which starred none other than
- Jesse Palmer. Palmer has since given up on playing football and TV heartthrob for an announcing career. For a while, his broadcast and special workout partner was
- Craig James. No one can stand this guy. Not even former college teammate and payrollee
- Eric Dickerson. Dickerson had a great few years in the NFL, and he was just hitting his stride with the Rams in 1986 when they brought on rookie QB
- Jim Everett. He would eventually have a solid pro career, but few remember that he got his start at Purdue. In fact, he started playing there the same year as a freshman walk-on linebacker by the name of...
- YESSIR.
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III. Johnny Five
Lovable robot and possible future QB prototype. Fun-loving and always good for a quote at the most opportune time. Hmmm.
- Johnny was created by a pair of scientists, one of whom was played by
- Fisher Stevens, who also was in the forgettable mid-'90s TV show Early Edition starring
- Kyle Chandler, who is obviously best known for starring in the TV version of the book Friday Night Lights by
- H.G. Bissinger. One of the players on the opposing team he wrote about in the actual story was linebacker
- Jessie Armstead out of Dallas, who went to the Miami Hurricanes and played football under head coach
- Dennis Erickson. During his brief two-year stint at Washington State in the late '80s, Erickson gave who his first-ever college coaching gig as a GA?
- YESSIR.
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Who else is KDS tied to? Share your own discoveries with us below. And if this task scares you, well, you know, get a dog.