Texas A&M has had some of its most successful years under Kevin Sumlin, but each season the team finds a way to lose its good start and finish under 10 wins. Despite going 11-2 in his first year in College Station, Sumlin has not finished better than 9-4 and in fact has gone 8-5 the last three seasons.
That prompted Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward to make quite the statement on Paul Finebaum's show on ESPN. "Coach knows he has to win and he has to win this year."
RELATED: Kevin Sumlin reportedly 'trying hard' to get a NFL job
That kind of sounds like an ultimatum for Sumlin to do better than 8-5 in the toughest division in all of college football. Sumlin has gone 44-21 (and 3-2 in bowls) in his five seasons as head coach and Woodward even went on to say that last season "was extremely disappointing" after getting off to the best start in school history at 6-0 and capped it off with an exhilarating overtime win over Tennessee.
For what it's worth, Woodward did say he thinks Sumlin can get the job done. "I have all the confidence that coach is going to get it done, and he's going to get it done in a very convincing way," Woodward said.
Sumlin's buyout also expired at the end of last season so that could help should the administration decide to let him go. The Aggies won't get any money from Sumlin as his buyout expired on Jan. 1 of this year. So getting rid of him wouldn't be any extra benefit for them either. That could mean they take some extra time to decide on keeping him or not if the season goes sour.
[h/t Sporting News]
