A lot of coaches in the SEC could be on the hot seat this upcoming season: Auburn's Gus Malzahn, Tennessee's Butch Jones, Ole Miss's Hugh Freeze... however, Paul Finebaum believe the man in the biggest trouble is Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M, and Finebaum partially blames the school's own athletic director for currently thinking that.
The one who is on the hottest seat thanks to his own boss is Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M.
Four weeks ago at SEC spring meetings, Scott Woodward — the athletic director — answered a very pedestrian question from me, I thought. "What's the situation with Coach Sumlin?"
"He better win."
That might be worse than the old "dreaded vote of confidence".
Sumlin is 44-21 in five seasons at Texas A&M, which is a respectable record in a vacuum. However, the Aggies have gone 8-5 in each of the past three seasons, which is notable considering that all three of those Texas A&M teams started 5-0 or better in each of those seasons.
The SEC West schedule is difficult, but finishing three straight seasons by going 3-5 (or worse) isn't going to work for most SEC head coaches for very long.
Texas A&M will open the season with a rare Sunday college football game at UCLA on Sept. 3.