After going 11-2 in his first season at Texas A&M in 2012, coach Kevin Sumlin has seen his team’s stock fall in recent years.

The 2016 season was the third-straight year the Aggies finished with an 8-5 record, which has many questioning whether the embattled coach will survive to coach in 2018.

However, this week, Texas A&M AD Scott Woodward gave Sumlin a vote of confidence in an interview with The Eagle, saying he believes 2017 will be a better year for the Aggies:

“I’m very proud of the job Coach Sumlin has done building this program and getting what we’re doing,” Woodward said. “I, like him, am very disappointed in what’s happening with these late-season swoons and we have to figure it out. We have to get it right.

“But I have full confidence that coach will figure it out and will get it right. And he will continue doing the things that we do well which is give our kids a great experience, compete at the highest level.”

The 2016 season started with the Aggies jumping out to a 6-0 start before finishing the year in a 2-5 slide. Woodward said avoiding a late-season collapse will be important for Sumlin’s job security moving forward:

“People forget up until November, we were fourth in the nation,” Woodward said. “Now, we’ve got to figure out how to stay there. And that’s going to be an important fact going forward. We have that pressure and I say a collective we, Coach Sumlin, the program, the athletic department, that hey, we have to take it to the next level. It’s an expectation that we have.”

Sumlin and the Aggies kick off the 2017 season with a trip to the Rose Bowl to take on the UCLA Bruins. Taking down the Pac-12 squad will do a lot to inspire hope in College Station.