Texas A&M's Woodward: Sumlin 'has to win this year'

The writing is on the wall for Kevin Sumlin. Win now or else.

Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward spoke with Paul Finebaum of the SEC Network on Tuesday regarding the program's expectations for the coming season as well as Sumlin, specifically. Woodward didn't pull any punches in laying down the gauntlet for his head coach.

"Last year was extremely disappointing," Woodward said. "We were highly ranked as (No.) four and got up there and played very well, hard competitive games, and fell off like we've been doing."

The Aggies got off to a red-hot start to begin 2016, winning their first six games and, for a time, reaching the coveted final spot in the College Football Playoff before going 2-5 the rest of the way.

"We were very disappointed, very disappointed as a program, both coach and I," Woodward added. "We just want to make darn sure that we're going to get it right...but coach knows he has to win and he has to win this year and we have to do better than we've done in the past."

The ironic thing about Woodward's lack of satisfaction with his head coach is that since taking over the job in 2012, Sumlin has a .667 winning percentage while leading the Aggies to three bowl victories.

In a tough SEC West division with the likes of Alabama, Auburn, and LSU to compete against, however, it may be time for dominance rather than consistency in College Station.