Kevin Sumlin really did fire the pool boy who overheard him on the phone

While Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin was having a phone conversation to finalize the hiring of the Aggies’ next defensive coordinator, an A&M student who was cleaning his pool sent out a tweet that ultimately cost him his job.

You just lost your job!RT“@mcfarlandrk8: Just cleaned Sumlin's pool. Saw him on the phone, hopefully with our new DC!”

— Kevin Sumlin (@CoachSumlin) December 30, 2014

When Sumlin replied, people weren’t entirely sure if he was being serious, but in a radio interview with ESPN’s Mike & Mike on Wednesday, Sumlin confirmed that he was.

Sumlin said that he was actually on the phone with John Chavis, who he hired away from LSU the day after the pool boy, Rustin McFarland, overheard him on the phone. Sumlin said the decision to fire McFarland came down to an invasion of privacy.

(The pool boy question comes around the 15:00 mark)

“We try to teach lessons to young people and I’ve got a great company that built my pool and (McFarland’s) boss is a good friend – I’ve known him for a long time,” Sumlin said. “I was on the phone. Obviously everybody wanted to know who we were going to hire as a D coordinator and I was on the phone with John Chavis at the time and (McFarland’s) looking through the pool and I’m coming out of the car and he’s still standing around, looking.

“The message is if you come to somebody’s house and somebody hires you, whatever you’re doing – it’s a little bit personal. If you’re invading privacy, it’s not a public deal and Twitter is public. So, you know, guess what? Don’t come back.”

Sumlin said it’s a lesson for young people, including his players, to take social media seriously.

“Guys are going to make mistakes. Think before you tweet,” Sumin said.

McFarland definitely received that lesson loud and clear.

For more Texas A&M news, visit AggieYell.com.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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