Saturday Blitz
Fansided

Jimbo Fisher reportedly fired by Texas A&M with massive buyout

By Jake Mitchell

Sep 30, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher before the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Arkansas Razorbacks at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 30, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher before the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Arkansas Razorbacks at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Just a day after leading the Aggies to a 51-10 victory over Mississippi State, it appears that Texas A&M brass has decided to move on from head coach Jimbo Fisher.

Reports began circulating on Sunday. morning that the Texas A&M athletic department, president, and Board of Regents had met to decide on firing the embattled Aggies head coach, despite the team winning their sixth game of the season to become bowl eligible.

The news was first reported by TexAgs.com Billy Liucci on X (formerly Twitter).

After that post, the frenzy of reports increased until this post from The Action Network’s college football insider, Brett McMurphy.

Then McMurphy dropped the bomb.

It’s been an up-and-down season in College Station. Fisher’s team won four of their first five games, then lost three of the next four heading into the matchup with Mississippi State.

Despite the blowout win on Saturday, reports indicate that Fisher’s fate was already decided by the time the Aggies took the field.

After reaching the peak of the sport at Florida State, winning a BCS National Championship in 2013 and double-digit games in six of his eight seasons in Tallahassee, Fisher was lured to College Station after the 2017 campaign.

His initial contract with Texas A&M was, at the time, a staggering 10-year, $75 million dollar deal. In 2021 he signed a new decade-long deal, this time with $95 million guaranteed, supposedly to fend off LSU’s pursuit of the coach.

For all that money, the Aggies got 45 wins over six seasons in return, an average of 7.5 victories per year.

After the $76.8 million buyout that Fisher is owed, bringing his total contract to $121.03 million, Texas A&M will end up paying him over $2 million per win.

Now that is all said and done, the Jimbo Fisher era in College Station can officially be deemed a disappointment. His tenure was littered with inconsistent performances and underperformance, and despite hauling in top-ten recruiting classes every season after 2018, the Aggies never won more than nine games under Fisher.

The signature win of his tenure came over Alabama in 2021, when Fisher became the first former Nick Saban assistant to defeat the legendary Crimson Tide coach.

However, arguably the most memorable moment of Fisher’s time in College Station was his feud with Saban during the following offseason.

The Aggies took a big swing on Fisher, and it was ultimately a whiff. It will be interesting to see if they elect to go for another splash hire, or if the next head man at A&M is a more conservative choice.

Fisher, meanwhile, has little incentive to jump right back into coaching. He’s still owed more than $75 million, so we could see him follow in the footsteps of many other fired coaches who have taken time off and, at most, done media for a season or two.

Fisher isn’t the only one cashing in right now. You can too. Just click this link, sign up for FanDuel and place a $5 bet and you’ll get $150 in bonus bets if that first bet wins. You can bet on the biggest favorite out there and as long as they win, you get that $150. Sign up for FanDuel now!