The contract is now public record and the numbers are available for all to see.  Kevin Sumlin’s new contract at Texas A&M isn’t quite a $3.5 million deal as had been speculated, but it’s close.

Going into 2012, A&M’s coach had a contract worth $2 million per year.  After an 11-2 first season in College Station, that number has been bumped to $3.1 million.  But there’s also the potential bring in nearly $800,000 in bonuses.

The pact has also been extended to run through the 2017 season.

Sumlin has also been given $700,000 more dollars to dole out to his assistant coaches beginning this season.

Hey, SEC fans, we told ya Texas A&M would fit right in.

Like so many other league schools in recent years, A&M is raising the prices of its season tickets for home football games.  Coming off an 11-2 season and with a Heisman-winning quarterback to show off, why not?

According to the school, the $25 jump per season-ticket will result in a net profit of about $2 million which will then be funneled to Kevin Sumlin and his staff in the form of raises.  If you’re going to bump prices, $25 isn’t too bad and tying the money directly to the pay of a popular coach is a shrewd move.

During a speaking engagement Monday, Aggie AD Eric Hyman said the school’s move to the SEC had helped build brand awareness for A&M.  “The branding (moving forward) is going to be phenomenal — and we’re at the tip of the iceberg.”

The move to the SEC is also expected to result in more cash down the road and theoretically that could help to prevent future ticket price hikes.  (Yeah.  Right.)

Over the weekend, Texas A&M football coach Kevin Sumlin was presented with an honorary heavyweight championship belt by WWE.  In typical wrestling fashion, the villain du jour — a massive character known as “The Big Show” — interrupted the presentation and proceeded to insult Sumlin and the crowd cheering him.

The Big Show went so far as to refer to Texas A&M as a “second-rate university.”  This particular WWE event took place in College Station, so you can imagine the fan reaction.

The best part?  A quick round of the now familiar “S-E-C, S-E-C” chant briefly reigned down upon the leotard-wearing baddie.

Anything for recruiting.

New Texas A&M co-offensive coordinator Clarence McKinney made it clear yesterday that he has no intentions of hindering Heisman-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel:

“We’re going to let Johnny do what he does best.  We’re not going to try and control him.  We’re going to give him the system and let him play football…

I don’t see a reason to change much.  We’re going to add some things to get better, but our philosophy offensively is to take what the defense gives us.”

McKinney has been with Kevin Sumlin since serving as his running backs coach at Houston.  In other words, he knows the offense and he knows how Sumlin wants it run.

Listen closely and you can hear a deafening sigh of relief emanating from College Station.

(CORRECTION — An earlier version of this story said that McKinney came to A&M from West Virginia after serving on Sumlin’s Houston staff.  In fact, it was Jake Spavital — the other co-offensive coordinator — who was hired from Dana Holgorsen’s staff.  Apologies.)

New Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville knows what it’s like to compete in the SEC.  In 14 years as head coach at Ole Miss and Auburn, he won 110 games while losing 60.  And while he hasn’t coached in the conference since 2008, he still has some opinions about it.  Appearing on Paul Finebaum’s radio show, Tuberville offered his forecast for Texas A&M, which went 10-2 in their initial SEC campaign under coach Kevin Sumlin and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel.

“Kevin Sumlin is doing a fabulous job of recruiting. I’ve recruited against A&M for years, and they’re making their mark in recruiting against all the Big 12 teams and any team that’s coming into the state of Texas.

“With that said, I think they probably overachieved this year. Knowing the talent that they had with the quarterback that played and obviously was one of if not the best player in college football. But it kind of catches up with you. I think next year will be even tougher because teams will now see what they’ve done and who the quarterback is, they’ll gameplan in the summer, and it’ll be awful tough for them to repeat what they did this year.”

With Manziel claiming the Heisman Saturday night, we’ve already heard the question being asked: Can he repeat?  Those same types of questions are now being raised about Texas A&M with the Aggies heading into their second SEC season next fall.

From Monday evening until last night, Texas A&M receiver Thomas Johnson had gone missing.  After he was missing for 48 hours, the school’s police department announced last evening that it was searching for the freshman.  Head coach Kevin Sumlin released a statement asking for help in finding the player.

Overnight… Johnson was found.  An A&M spokesman announced that he had been found “safe” in his hometown of Dallas.  No more details were given about why Johnson had left, where he was found in Dallas, or why he’d gone silent since Monday.  But most importantly, the 18-year-old is safe.

Johnson has 30 catches for 339 yards and one touchdown for the Aggies this season.

Texas A&M freshman wide receiver Thomas Johnson has been missing since Monday, the school announced on Wednesday.

The Texas A&M University Police Department is seeking assistance in locating Johnson, who was last seen leaving his residence in College Station on Monday at about 5 p.m. central time, according to police.

Anyone with information regarding the location of Johnson is asked to contact University Police immediately at 979-845-2345.

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin released a statement Wednesday evening. From KBTX-TV:

“All of us are obviously very concerned about the safety and well-being of Thomas Johnson, who has been missing since Monday evening. Authorities are working closely with his family, friends and law enforcement agencies to help locate him. Thomas is a tremendous student-athlete, greatly admired by his fellow teammates and all of us on the coaching staff. If anyone has any current information about him or knows of his whereabouts, please  contact his family or law enforcement authorities immediately. We pray for his quick and safe return.”

Update: Johnson found safe overnight.  No other details given at this time.

Coaches are used to hearing play-calling “advice” from fans in the stands and on talk radio.  And on messageboards, at church, while pumping gas, etc, etc, etc.

They probably hear quite a bit from their own players behind closed doors, too.

But in what might be a first, Texas A&M tailback Christine Michael took to Twitter to give his Aggie coaches some play-calling tips during last week’s 48-3 rout over SMU.  On the positive side, Michael was serving a one-game suspension for a “violation of team rules” and was not posting his comments from the sideline… or the Aggies the huddle:

Man run the ball….

— Christine Michael (@cmike33) September 15, 2012

Kevin Sumlin says he’s already addressed the issue with his starting running back.

SEC East

1. South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw felt “good” after Wednesday’s practice but status for Saturday still unclear.

2. Medical clearance based on  “how much pain Shaw is willing to endure.”

3. Florida tight end Jordan Reed on recently-named starting QB Jeff Driskel: ”He’s more confident now and less worried about making mistakes…”

4. Alarming and hard to figure? Florida’s  ”offense actually made more plays than a UF defense that many promoted in the preseason as possibly being one of the best in the nation in 2012.”

5. The loss of Da’rick Rogers at Tennessee has been Jacob Carter’s gain.

6. Gary Pinkel on Sheldon Richardson’s comments regarding Georgia: “What Sheldon did was wrong and irresponsible and that doesn’t happen here.”

7. “(E)ven if no one else quite believes Missouri is ready for the rough-and-tumble SEC, Georgia players are saying all the right things to show they respect what the Tigers bring to the table.”

8.  Has Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham seen anything like Mizzou’s spread offense?  ”No, they’re entirely new.”

9. Mizzou’s offense returns the favor. “Their defensive line is really tough.” Bernie Miklasz: “It’s time to play some big-boy football.”

10. Kentucky’s solution for bad defensive play?  Simplify things.

11. Joker Phillips: “We’ve got to put a better product on the field…”

12. Vanderbilt expects Northwestern to be ready this weekend: “They’re going to be amped up to play us because we’re an SEC team.”

SEC West

13. Alabama vs. Western Kentucky. How often does a 34-point underdog actually win the game?  Since 1980, it’s happened seven times – in 728 games.

14. Meet Alabama’s offensive line – “labeled by many as the best in college football”.

15. Missing two full seasons with knee injuries, Mississippi State tight end Marcus Green is in his sixth year of eligibility – and has never beaten Auburn.

16. Gene Chizik on the Auburn – Mississippi State matchup:“Every time we play them, certainly the last two, it’s come down to the wire, and it could very well come down to that again Saturday.”

17. Auburn lineman Shon Coleman’s long battle with cancer included two full years of chemotherapy treatments.

18. Here’s an advantage LSU has over Washington this weekend - familiarity with the heat and humidity.

19. Ole Miss has four running backs healthy and ready to go this weekend.

20. A cornerback battle at Arkansas.  “It’s up for grabs right now.”

21. Kevin Sumlin’s first year record of 7-5?

SEC/College News

22. Ron Higgins on Mike Slive, Mizzou and Texas A&M: “Yep Commish, you picked two jewels. They’re ready to play the feud.”

23. SEC football and a father’s influence.  Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin’s roots are in southwest Alabama. Mizzou quarterback James Franklin’s dad once preached in Alabama.

24. One game into the season, there’s a new generation of SEC stars.

SEC/College Basketball

25. Gary Parrish: If the allegations against Billy Gillispie are true, “then he’s a man who didn’t learn from his downfall at Kentucky and probably shouldn’t be coaching college basketball anyway.

26. John Clay:” Each new accusation out of Lubbock only serves to make UK’s former hire look that much worse.”

27. Arkansas’ schedule – “challenges from start to finish.”

Will he or won’t he?

Will a coach survive this fall and live to coach again at the same school next year… or will he be ousted?  For some coaches, there’s no debate.  For many there could be more debate than you might think.

Each year, when we look at the hottest seats in the SEC, we try to create a baseline from which all coaches can be judged.  For the past few years, that’s been a 5-7 record in the regular season.  In 2008, two of the SEC’s best coaches over the long careers lost their jobs following surprisingly disappointing 5-7 campaigns: Tommy Tuberville at Auburn and Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee.

Last season, Mark Richt entered the year with a Bunsen burner beneath his chair because he’d finished 2010 with a 6-7 record.  But there’s still a big difference between 6-7 — losing #7 in a bowl game — and finishing under .500 in the regular season.

So once again, we’re going to focus in on what a 5-7 season would likely mean for each coach in the Southeastern Conference this year.  And we believe there are four categories — as you’ll see by clicking to read more — that the league’s 14 coaches would fall into based upon that specific final record.

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