Texas A&M AD Scott Woodward turned heads when he told Paul Finebaum on Tuesday that Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin has to start winning more games this season, seemingly helping to heat up the hot seat.

“We’ve had a heck of a spring and recruiting continues to go well, 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,” Woodward said on The Paul Finebaum Show.

Yahoo columnist Dan Wetzel thinks he knows why Woodward is warming up Sumlin’s seat, and it’s about ESPN’s most recent hire.

“After getting fired by San Francisco (after getting fired by Philadelphia), Chip Kelly didn’t take a job analyzing the NFL as his main gig,” Wetzel writes. “He chose college, which means he’s headed back to college. Not since Urban Meyer was perched behind a microphone for one season has this desirable of a free agent been sitting there.”

Following a 12-1 season at Oregon in 2012, Kelly left to take the head coaching job with Philadelphia Eagles. He was fired by Eagles after three seasons and then became the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

After Kelly left Oregon, he was given an 18-month show-cause from the NCAA due to multiple violations which took place during his four seasons as head coach (2009-12). With the show-cause no longer in effect, it is presumed by Wetzel and many others that Kelly will have no trouble landing another college coaching gig.

Under Kelly, the Ducks went 46-7 and were known for having a high-powered, fast-paced offense. With the amount of resources and in-state high school talent available to him at Texas A&M, it’s not hard to see why the ESPN analyst will be a highly sought-after candidate for many Power 5 openings.

Woodward’s comments seem to suggest that Sumlin’s squad must post a better record than the last three seasons’ 8-5 mark. Sumlin faces an uphill battle to win in 2017, replacing starting QB Trevor Knight as well as No. 1 overall draft pick Myles Garrett.