If the rumors are to be believed, Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin is about to enter into a very important season in College Station. The last two seasons Sumlin has led the Aggies to consecutive 5-0 starts only to see A&M collapse with 3-5 finishes and a 7-9 overall SEC record during that span.

Considering Sumlin is the SEC’s second highest paid coach with a price tag of $5 million a year and the school spent half a billion dollars to renovate the stadium and complete construction on lavish football facilities, another 8-5 campaign may not cut it for the powers that be at A&M.

Sumlin recently met with Sport Illustrated’s Pete Thamel to discuss the state of his program in the face of massive overall to the program this offseason, as the Aggies lost two high-profile quarterbacks to transfer, took in a graduate transfer at quarterback (and have already named him the starter), let go of its offensive coordinator and hired a new athletic director.

The Aggies’ fifth-year coach openly discussed many topics in the article, including his perceived status as a coach on the hot seat:

“I’ve always felt that way. Wherever I’ve been a head coach and whenever you’ve been that guy, you know that you get paid on results… So from an urgency standpoint, there’s always been a sense of urgency…That’s an expectation that has been created since we’ve been here, and we don’t run from that. And that should never change.”

On the belief that Texas A&M suffers from a culture problem:

“We had some problems with guys early when I got here. That’s not an issue anymore. So the things that coincide with culture and with discipline, with the types of things you want to talk about a program structurally, that’s not true.

“As I said before, we’re not where we want to be, but over the course of the last four years we won 36 games. That’s the most in 20 years here. Is the program better than it was? You bet it is. Is it where we want to be? No, but to say that we haven’t made strides at this program is not true.”

On the A&M’s efforts to improve on defense this offseason:

“Right now we’re in a good place in the locker room because we’ve got a number of guys that have played a substantial amount of plays and have had some success. We improved on defense last year. We still need to get better against the run, which has been an effort.”

On new starting quarterback Trevor Knight and the backup Jake Hubenak:

“Trevor’s been through it. He’s been in big games. Jake’s been in a bowl game. So they’re not wide-eyed.”

Texas A&M will face a tough opponent right out of the gate Sept. 3 as UCLA and star sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen travel to College Station. However, one factor playing in A&M’s favor – new offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone spent last season with the Bruins and should intimately understand the strengths and weaknesses of both its offensive and defensive personnel.

Two weeks after the opener, A&M plays a four game SEC stretch at Auburn, in Arlington against Arkansas, at South Carolina and home for Tennessee. That four game slate should dictate how the rest of the 2016 season goes for the Aggies.

If the Aggies can start hot once again, the Tennessee game will be the game that stands in the way of finally achieving a 6-0 mark to the season. Can A&M beat the preseason pick to win the East at home? If so, the hot seat talk should die down significantly – at least until the next game when the Ags travel to Tuscaloosa.