Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward shares the same sentiment as his head football coach and many of the program's supporters.

In an extended interview with the Bryan-College Station Eagle, Woodward said he shared coach Kevin Sumlin's disappointment about fading during SEC play the last three seasons.

But despite that, Woodward told the local newspaper that he's proud of how Sumlin's built his program. As Sumlin enters his sixth season with the Aggies, Woodward told the Eagle he has "full confidence" in Sumlin's ability to fix the team's recent late-season swoons and make A&M a contender in the SEC.

"People forget up until November, we were fourth in the nation," Woodward told the newspaper, referencing A&M's No. 4 ranking in the initial College Football Playoff poll last season. "Now, we've got to figure out how to stay there. And that's going to be an important fact going forward."

Last year, A&M started the season with six wins for the first time since 1994. But A&M lost five of its last seven games and finished 8-5 for the third straight season.

Sumlin is currently making $5 million annually on a contract that expires on Dec. 31, 2019. Of the eight coaches who have been at Texas A&M since the school started playing conference games in 1915, Sumlin has the third-best winning percentage (44-21 overall).

But Sumlin is fifth in conference winning percentage (.525). The Aggies are 21-19 since joining the SEC in 2012, Sumlin's first season.

"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," Woodward told The Eagle. "It's an expectation that we have."

Click here to read and watch the full interview.