A Fish out of Water

Jimbo Fisher Parts Ways With Texas A&M

Photo by Daniel Lin / CC BY-SA 2.0

Six years ago when Jimbo Fisher, a coach with a national title on his resume was hired, it seemed like a chance for Texas A&M to finally become a championship winner. Unfortunately for A&M, Fisher did not withhold his standard and was fired by athletic director Ross Bjork. The 51-10 win against Mississippi State had fans feeling optimistic, however, after a Sunday meeting on Nov. 12, Fisher was informed that the coaching job was no longer his.

“I felt like it was a little weird how Texas A&M won the game right before Jimbo was fired, it was just really unexpected,” junior Lily Thompson said. “However, the team has been terrible the past couple years, so it’s justified.”

Fisher’s contract provides him with a record setting buyout of $75 million that is over triple the largest known given to a fired head coach. He will receive an initial $19 million with an additional $7.2 million yearly through 2031 which will begin 120 days after termination.

“Jimbo worked very hard and he is very deserving of the money, " Fisher's stepson Keller Bridges said. “Even if everyone thinks he wasn’t very successful, he worked as hard as he could every single day. He would get to work extremely early and leave around 11 p.m. at night so he was working as hard as he could and he deserves everything he receives.”

Previous to being fired, during the 2022 recruiting cycle, Fisher secured the Aggies a record setting recruiting class containing 8 five-star recruits, 20 4-star recruits and 2 3-star recruits. Based on the sheer amount of raw talent rolling into the program, the Aggies expected their national championship dreams to finally be fulfilled. However, even with Fisher's guidance these players were never able to reach their full potential.

“Texas A&M is a huge program with an incredible amount of money, so with his [Jimbo Fisher’s] firing, it makes me question if his recruits will stay loyal to the university or possibly decommit or transfer,” junior Carson Conway said. “It also makes me question the possibility of which head coach is going to take the new job considering that this could be a huge financial opportunity for even some lower level coaches in the NFL that are willing to step down.”

Based on the fate of many other college football teams who have lost their head coach, many of Fisher’s blue chip recruits will take their talents elsewhere via the transfer portal. Based on this, the future of Texas A&M lies in the hands of Bjork.