Paul Finebaum landed a hell of a quote from Texas A&M Athletic Director, Scott Woodward, last week. Breaking news – it ain’t exactly a ringing endorsement of Aggies head football coach Kevin Sumlin. 2017 could be a rocky year for the coach, who is now in his sixth season with Texas A&M.
Courtesy of The Washington Post:
“Coach knows he has to win and he has to win this year,” Aggies AD Scott Woodward told ESPN’s Paul Finebaum.
“Last year was extremely disappointing,” Woodward added. “We were as highly ranked as and got up there and played very well, hard competitive games and fell off like we’ve been doing. And we were very disappointed, very disappointed as a program both coach and I, and I just want to make darn sure we’re going to get it right. … We have to do better than we’ve done in the past.”
On the surface, Sumlin’s record at Texas A&M looks pretty good.
If you had told me the Aggies would be routine contenders before they officially joined the SEC, I would’ve laughed in your face. But, they’ve been in the hunt each season…in the most competitive division in college football. The SEC West also houses Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Arkansas. All of these teams have had legitimate BCS/College Football Playoff aspirations at some point over the last five seasons. So, why….after all of the success he’s had at Texas A&M….is Sumlin now on the hot seat?
All in all, the timing of Sumlin’s success probably couldn’t have been any worse. At one point, he was being heralded as the next great coaching genius. He was even rumored to be tied to several NFL jobs.
I was talking to Poppa Bear about this the other night, and he brought up an excellent point – Sumlin probably should’ve jumped ship when people actually thought he was a good coach. Now, he’s facing serious expectations and we’re starting to see just how vital Johnny Manziel was to that 2012 season.
But it’s not just the wins and losses that warrant this pressure. It’s the fact that this team has been competitive into October for four straight seasons before ultimately falling apart. That timing thing rearing its ugly head again – you just don’t want to playing your worst football at the end of the season. Sumlin’s teams just aren’t finishing strong and that’s an indication of poor coaching. The great teams get better as the season rolls on.
In 2014, the Aggies started 5-0 before finishing 2-5. They got off to another 5-0 start in 2015, but finished 3-4. Then, there’s last year – a 6-0 start met with a 2-4 finish. It’s reasonable for these questions to start popping up.
Three straight years of collapse is quite a lot for a head coach to endure in the SEC. What do y’all think? Is Texas A&M right to publicly declare this is Sumlin’s last stand?
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. A strong advocate of GSD (get shit done) and #BeBetter, he’s down to talk Tennessee Titans and Alabama Crimson Tide football over a beer any day. Check him out covering the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @WrestlingNewsCo
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