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Former head coach Jimbo Fisher was fired on Sunday morning after six seasons in College Station, Texas.
Fisher will be paid a record buyout of over $76 million to not coach football the rest of this season. That figure is more than double the known buyout paid to a fired college head coach.
Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher is reportedly out as head coach.
He’s reportedly set to be paid in full $76,000,000.00.
For reference, that’s over $208,000.00….per day.
For doing nothing.
A day. One day. 208K. pic.twitter.com/veCf1qG8dp
— Brad Logan (@BradLoganCOTE) November 12, 2023
After a home win over Mississippi State, the Aggies are now 6-4 on the season and 4-3 in SEC play.
But changes needed to be made now according to Texas A&M administration.
Jimbo Fisher's Unprecedented Texas A&M Buyout
Within 60 Days: $19.4M
Within 120 Days: $7.27M
2025: $7.27M
2026: $7.27M
2027: $7.27M
2028: $7.27M
2029: $7.27M
2030: $7.27M
2031: $7.27MTotal Buyout: $77.56M
— Spotrac (@spotrac) November 12, 2023
Not Enough to Keep Them Happy
Fisher is fresh off a new 10-year contract with $95 million guaranteed in 2021. That deal was reached, in part, because of the potential of Fisher leaving for LSU at the time.
However, a 45-25 record in his tenure simply wasn’t enough to keep his job. Fisher was fired just hours after a large 51-10 win over SEC-opponent Mississippi State and becoming bowl eligible.
Despite a winning record, that’s about the only thing Fisher has to show for it.
The Jimbo Fisher Era at Texas A&M is over
– 0 National Titles
– 0 Conference Titles
– 0 Division Titles
– 0 10-win Seasons
– 0 wins vs ranked opponents on the road
– 0 ranked finishes in last 4 full seasons
– Worse record than Kevin Sumlin
– $117,450,000 guaranteed pic.twitter.com/Xc1Qe10KKB— Kyle Umlang (@kyleumlang) November 12, 2023
Fisher was hired in December 2017 after spending eight seasons as head coach at Florida State University, where he led the Seminoles to a national championship.
The last time A&M won a conference championship was almost three decades ago in 1998, when the Aggies were still in the Big 12 Conference. Fisher now joins the failed efforts to secure a conference title following Dennis Franchione, Mike Sherman and Kevin Sumlin.
Texas A&M director of athletics, Ross Bjork, addressed the media in regard to the interchanging of leadership in the football program.
"I determined our program is stuck in Neutral. We should be relevant on the national scene. Something is not clicking and therefore, something had to give."
More from Ross Bjork on the reasons for firing Jimbo Fisher and how he told the players the news: pic.twitter.com/JVNtfyXffP
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) November 12, 2023
Associate athletic director for football operations, Mark Robinson, was immediately relived of his role as well.
With just two games left in the regular season, the Aggies promoted Elijah Robinson to interim head coach after serving as Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line this season.
Potential Suitors
As Texas A&M begins their search for another head ball coach, many notorious names have filtered around the college football world.
As they boast a ninth-ranked recruiting class in the nation, names like Lane Kiffin, Mike Elko, Dan Lanning, Kalen DeBoer, and even Urban Meyer and Deion Sanders have been included in the recent chatter.
"[Jimbo Fisher] was a failure at Texas A&M. That's why he's unemployed today."
—@finebaum pic.twitter.com/TBkGcn18Rt
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) November 13, 2023
