We’ve had an unusually low number of coaching changes the past few years in the SEC but the flip side of that storyline is that a good quarter of the league enters the 2017 season firmly on the hot seat at their respective schools.
Perhaps nobody is feeling that heat more than Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin, who is 44–21 at the school but who very well could be coaching for his job this year following three consecutive 8-5 finishes. He was already put on the hot seat in a very public manner by his athletic director this spring and addressed all the talk swirling around College Station on Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
“I’m feeling the same pressure I feel all of the time and so nobody puts more pressure on me than me,” said Sumlin. “That pressure, it never changed. It never changed from the first day I got here when we opened with Florida and lost and then went on to win however many games we won or whatever happens. We’re here to compete for championships. How we do that, when we do that, basically, the why, with and how, that remains internal, but that’s my job. And the pressure for that never changes.”
While that is a little bit of coach speak, it does seem like Sumlin is well aware of what expectations are for the Aggies and what he’ll need to do in order to keep his high-paying job beyond 2017.