Kevin Sumlin on his boss’ hot seat comments: ‘Nothing changes for me’

Kevin Sumlin is a respectable 44-21 as Texas A&M’s head coach. He’s also only 21-19 in the SEC, with three straight five-loss seasons and a history of collapses. It’s no secret that this will be another high-pressure season for him, especially after A&M athletic director Scott Woodward told Paul Finebaum at SEC spring meetings in May, “Coach knows he has to win and he has to win this year.”

“Last year was extremely disappointing,” Woodward began, “We were as highly ranked as 4 and got up there and played very competitive games and fell off, like we’ve been doing.

“We just wanna make darn sure that we’re gonna get it right. We’ve had a heck of a spring. Recruiting continues to go well.”

At SEC Media Days on Wednesday, Sumlin was asked about his AD’s comments. The head coach had a long response.

“Scott and I have known each other for a while,” Sumlin said on Wednesday. “Even before he came to Texas A&M. So, we’ve had a lot of conversations before that. Might have been conversations after that. I’m not going to get into what those conversations were about, but, you know, it’s -- like I said, for me, my job, nothing changes for me.

And, you know, you’ve been around me a long time. Nobody puts more pressure on me than I put on myself and nobody wants to win more than I want to. And so whatever’s said, whatever the conversation, whatever’s written, it’s not going to affect how I do my job and it’s not going to affect my day-to-day operation. So I’ve been doing this almost 30 years.”

“Nothing is going change the way I approach life,” Sumlin continued. “And nothing is going to change the way I approach my job. I’ve known what’s at stake ever since I got into this.”

Woodward said during the interview there isn’t a specific wins mark A&M has to hit and that he has “confidence” Sumlin can get it done.

His reference to the Aggies continually falling apart after hot starts has got to be a sore spot after four straight years of this:

This isn’t the first time Woodward — who arrived in 2016 from Washington, where he hired Steve Sarkisian and Chris Petersen — has referenced the pattern (emphasis mine).

“I’m very proud of the job Coach Sumlin has done building this program and getting what we’re doing,” Woodward said. “I, like him, am very disappointed in what’s happening with these late-season swoons and we have to figure it out. We have to get it right.

“But I have full confidence that coach will figure it out and will get it right. And he will continue doing the things that we do well which is give our kids a great experience, compete at the highest level.”

Woodward also praised Sumlin for his recruiting and the team’s academic success.

“People forget up until November, we were fourth in the nation,” Woodward said. “Now, we’ve got to figure out how to stay there. And that’s going to be an important fact going forward. We have that pressure and I say a collective we, Coach Sumlin, the program, the athletic department, that hey, we have to take it to the next level. It’s an expectation that we have.”