Jimbo Fisher fired as Texas A&M head football coach
Jimbo Fisher is officially out as the head football coach at Texas A&M, the school announced Sunday. Fisher was hired away from Florida State back in 2017 and signed a massive deal with A&M, one that will require the school to pay their departed head coach north of $75 million. It’s the biggest buyout in college sports history, and reportedly does not include any offset for future salary if Fisher is hired by another school.
“After very careful analysis of all the components related to Texas A&M football, I recommended to President Welsh and then Chancellor Sharp that a change in the leadership of the program was necessary in order for Aggie football to reach our full potential and they accepted my decision,” AD Ross Bjork said in the statement. “We appreciate Coach Fisher’s time here at Texas A&M and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Fisher went 45-25 overall, winning 9 or fewer games in each of his five full seasons at the helm. The highlight of his tenure was the shortened 2020 season, in which the Aggies went 9-1 (8-1 SEC) and won the Orange Bowl to finish #4 in the country. Outside of that, he had two seasons in which his team was ranked in the Top 6 preseason but finished unranked. The Aggies also missed out on a bowl completely last year, which drastically increased the heat on Fisher despite the financial situation.
Prior to A&M, Fisher had spent eleven years at Florida State – the last eight as head coach – and won the 2013 National Championship with the Seminoles (14-0). His incredible tenure at FSU allowed him significant leverage with A&M, which is now looking at a $100M+ commitment between the firing and the hiring of its next head coach.
Assistant head coach and co-DC Elijah Robinson has been named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The Aggies host Abilene Christian in a non-conference game this week before closing the season at LSU 11/25. At 6-4 (4-3 SEC), they are already bowl eligible.
credit to John Bunch/Icon Sportswire/Getty Image for the image
