By Malcolm Butler
The proverbial buzzards were circling.
And although the carcass wasn’t completely lifeless, it was pretty dang close.
How close? We may never know. At least not those of us who weren’t in the room where those types of decisions are made. But make no mistake. Things looked dire.
Just over 11 months ago, Louisiana Tech trailed Liberty 28-7 late in the third quarter at Joe Aillet Stadium. The Bulldogs were about 20 minutes away from losing for the fifth time in six games and falling to 5-6 on the season.
I stood in the television broadcast booth alongside my broadcast partner and good friend, Luke McCown, feeling somewhat numb. Not because Tech was losing. I’ve seen losses in my almost three decades around Bulldog athletics.
But, this one just felt different.
When you spend enough years working in college athletics, you understand the roller coaster ride it can be. You have a good feel for job security, or lack thereof. And you get to know coaches as more than just the people wearing headsets on Saturday afternoons.
Contrary to what social media platforms might have you believe, coaches are human, too. They have families. They have friends. They have feelings. And they have to live with the results long after the final whistle blows.
Sonny Cumbie is one of the genuinely good guys in college athletics.
He’s a team player when it comes to the Louisiana Tech Athletics Family. You’ll see him at tennis matches. Basketball games. Baseball and softball games. And when his schedule doesn’t allow him to attend, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see one or more of his boys running around those venues.
Trust me when I tell you that’s not the norm for a head football coach at the Division I level.
Sonny gets Louisiana Tech. He gets Ruston. He gets the importance of being part of something bigger than his own football program. When it comes to fitting the culture of this university, check that box.
But here’s the deal.
Being a good guy doesn’t win football games. And at the end of the day, Sonny is paid to win football games.
We can debate until we’re blue in the face what realistic expectations should be for an underfunded Group of Five program trying to survive in today’s world of the transfer portal, NIL and an increasingly lopsided financial playing field. That’s a column for another day.
The reality is that winning came hard during Sonny’s first three seasons. And even through the first two-thirds of his fourth year. Too hard at times. And understandably, the frustration within a fan base grew. Fans want results. The positive kind.
And on that November afternoon against Liberty, it didn’t appear as if the right results were coming. Then something happened. With their backs against the proverbial wall, the Bulldogs refused to quit.
Tech scored 21 unanswered points over the final 20 minutes of regulation to erase that three-touchdown deficit. Then the Bulldogs finished the job in overtime. What appeared to be another disappointing Saturday turned into one of the most improbable comebacks in recent program history.
And perhaps something much bigger.
We may never know just how significant those final 20 minutes were for Sonny’s future at Louisiana Tech. Or maybe we do.
I had an opportunity to visit with Sonny this week and asked him about that November afternoon. Did those final 20 minutes against Liberty represent a turning point for his football program?
“Oh, yeah. I think it totally is,” Cumbie said. “It’s a total turning point because you’ve got your back to the wall in every facet when you’re in that situation.”
He talked about the plays made by Trey Kukuk, Eli Finley, Jakari Foster, and other Bulldogs. He talked about the competitiveness, fight and grit his players displayed when it would have been awfully easy to fold.
And then he said something that caught my attention.
“I mean, I might not be here if I didn’t win that game,” Sonny acknowledged.
There it was. That one sentence told me plenty.
I don’t know exactly how close Sonny came to losing his job last November. But judging from that comment, he certainly understands how close things may have been. And perhaps just how close things came to going in a completely different direction for Louisiana Tech football.
But they didn’t.
Instead, the Bulldogs have won seven of their last nine games, with the only two losses coming on the road against LSU and Baylor.
They defeated Liberty. They knocked off Coastal Carolina in come-from-behind fashion in the 2025 Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. They beat Army, a team that has since recorded impressive wins over Tulane, Florida Atlantic and Tulsa. And over the past two weekends, Sonny and the Bulldogs have done something its fan base especially appreciates.
They beat their “hated” neighbors.
First came a thrilling (yes, come-from-behind) 32-31 win over UL-Lafayette in the Bulldogs’ inaugural Sun Belt Conference game. Then came Saturday night’s 24-0 victory over ULM in Monroe, the first meeting between the two programs since 2000.
Those victories extended Tech’s winning streaks over the Ragin’ Cajuns and Warhawks to nine games apiece. Nine straight against each. That’s the kind of statistic Bulldog fans can appreciate.
Now Tech sits at 4-2 overall and 2-0 in Sun Belt play, preparing to host Old Dominion for Homecoming today. Suddenly, the conversation surrounding Louisiana Tech football sounds a whole lot different than it did 11 months ago.
Instead of wondering whether the Bulldogs can salvage a season, fans can legitimately wonder just how much noise this team might make in its first year in the Sun Belt.
Don’t misunderstand me.
There is a lot of football left to play, starting today against a Monarch program that won 10 games last season. This Tech team is far from a finished product. Special teams, particularly the kicking game, remain a concern. And with what figures to be a challenging second half of the schedule, those shortcomings could prove costly in close games.
Nobody should be making championship reservations just yet. But we also shouldn’t overlook what’s happened.
Sonny and his staff have navigated some awfully rough waters. They’ve endured the criticism, the speculation and the growing frustration that comes with losing football games at a place where winning matters. And instead of allowing the ship to sink, they’ve managed to get it sailing in the right direction.
During our conversation, Sonny made another observation that I found interesting.
He acknowledged that the close games Tech is winning today are the same kinds of games the Bulldogs somehow found ways to lose during his first three seasons.
Some of the same guys who found ways to lose those close games are now finding ways to win them. Sonny credited experience, confidence and continuity. And maybe a few battle scars along the way.
Calluses. That’s the word Sonny used. And I think it’s a pretty good description of what we’re seeing.
Does that mean every question about the future of Louisiana Tech football has been answered? Nope. But it does mean Sonny deserves some credit. Maybe more than a little.
Eleven months ago, the buzzards were circling Joe Aillet Stadium.
Today, for Homecoming 2026, they’re nowhere to be found.
