10 Power 5 head coaches most on the hot seat in 2016
By John Buhler
Under normal circumstances, Texas A&M Aggies head football coach Kevin Sumlin wouldn’t be on the hot seat entering the 2016 NCAA season. Since leaving the Houston Cougars to be the Aggies’ head coach when they joined the SEC in 2012, Sumlin’s Texas A&M program has gone 36-16 overall, 17-15 in the SEC, and 3-1 in bowl games.
That being said, Sumlin’s Aggies have failed to win the brutal SEC West all four years he’s been in charge in College Station, having not matched the outstanding 2012 campaign where Texas A&M went 11-2 (6-2) and finished No. 5 overall during Johnny Manziel’s Heisman Trophy-winning season.
Coaching in the SEC West is a pressure cooker unlike any Division in the Power 5, not to mention being a perennial power in the State of Texas. With the Texas Longhorns falling on hard times, Sumlin had the ability to seize control of the state, but couldn’t take complete control over other strong teams in the state like the Baylor Bears, the TCU Horned Frogs, and even his old place of work in Houston.
With many five-star quarterbacks like Manziel, Kyler Murray, and Kyle Allen not riding out their entire scholarship with Texas A&M, Sumlin has to put a ton of faith in former Oklahoma Sooners starter Trevor Knight to hang tough in the dominant SEC West.
Sumlin’s Aggies are more than capable of going 8-5 or 9-4 in any given year, but will anything less than that allow him to continue in this role beyond 2016? The SEC West may have sent all seven of its teams to bowls each of the last two seasons. That trend may not continue and if Texas A&M stumbles this season, much if it will fall on Sumlin and his spread offensive attack.
Next: 9. Dave Doeren, North Carolina State Wolfpack