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Why Jimbo Fisher belongs in same class as Nick Saban, Urban Meyer

By Kerry Belkin

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Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher already has one national championship on his resume, so where does the Seminoles head man rank among the game’s best coaches?

The Florida State Seminoles are preparing themselves for the start of the season in less than two weeks. Led by Jimbo Fisher, the Seminoles are once again looking to assert their place in the national picture, as has become recent habit under their head coach.

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Even in the wake of a crushing loss against Oregon in the Rose Bowl at the end of last season that snapped their 29-game win streak, Fisher has his ‘Noles ready to prove themselves as the best in the NCAA for the second time in three years. Fisher has managed to bring enthusiasm to his program in spite of the exodus of talent to the NFL in record numbers, including Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jameis Winston who was the top pick in the 2015 draft.

Fisher has managed to resurrect a program that was floundering for some time during Bobby Bowden’s later years. Since his hiring, Fisher has found a way to keep the Seminoles ranked and relevant.

But where does he himself rank among the top coaches in the country?

Since he was hired in 2010, Fisher has an impressive 58-11 career record, which includes three ACC championships and one national title victory over the Auburn Tigers. Under Fisher, the Seminoles have ranked in the top-10 in recruiting every year during his reign, and finished in the top five on three occassions. Florida State has seen 39 ‘Noles drafted in the NFL draft, and with their 11 picks in the 2015 draft, Florida State broke the record for most picks from a school in a three-year stretch.

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By virtue of his accomplishments at Florida State, he deserves to be named in the upper level of coaches, right along Urban Meyer and Nick Saban.

However, out of those three, it seems like Fisher often times gets a raw deal. Whenever Fisher and Florida State are brought up in a conversation, it is usually involving off the field issues about the players. That’s not to say that the negative media attention isn’t deserved in its entirety, players at Florida State have to act like adults and stay out of trouble.

But much of the negativity towards Florida State has bred a sense of animosity about Fisher, and his reputation as a coach has been overshadowed by the established narrative that he leads this generation’s “Criminoles.”

While Florida State’s legal trouble is indeed worthy of mention, how much of that negativity should actually be directed at Fisher?

This is where he gets the raw deal: when a Florida State player gets into trouble, it’s all over the media and Fisher gets branded as someone who doesn’t care about what his players do as long as it benefits him on the gridiron. Meyer and Saban aren’t unfamiliar with players being arrested but between the two they have seven national championships, so they flash the jewelry on their fingers and get a pass that Fisher’s one doesn’t buy him yet.

In terms of coaching ability, Fisher has shown enough at Florida State to be named as one of the best coaches in the country behind those two in either order. His results speak for themselves.

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