Jimbo Fisher

Former Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher is taking a patient approach as he looks to return to the college football landscape in 2025.

"I'll be watching a lot of film this year and see if there the right opportunity for me to get back into it next season," Fisher said during a Monday ESPN Radio appearance (via ESPN's Peter Burns).

"There is only so much you can hunt and fish before you want to get back in," he added.

Fisher was fired by Texas A&M in Nov. 2023 after the Aggies won six of their first 10 games of the season.

Per ESPN's Pete Thamel, the move cost the Aggies more than $76 million to buy out Fisher's deal. He was later replaced by former Duke head coach Mike Elko.

Fisher joined Texas A&M prior to the 2018 season. The Aggies finished with a winning record in each of his first four years with the team, including a 9-1 mark during the shortened 2020 season.

Texas A&M slipped to 5-7 in 2022 to go along with a mere 2-6 record in the SEC. Despite an overall record improvement in 2023, the Aggies only won four of their eight contests against SEC opponents. The result was especially disappointing after the program secured the No. 1 2022 recruiting class in the country (per 247Sports).

Before his tenure at Texas A&M, Fisher went on an immensely successful eight-year run at Florida State. He accumulated a record of 83-23 with the Seminoles, winning the BCS national championship in 2013 and wrapping up an undefeated season.

Florida State earned another College Football Playoff appearance in the following year before ultimately losing to Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Fisher's success at Florida State could convince a team to hire him despite his struggles with the Aggies, and it appears that the 58-year-old is already looking for new opportunities.

Texas A&M hired former Duke head coach Mike Elko as its Jimbo Fisher replacement on Monday, and he'll be compensated quite handsomely if he can turn the Aggies into a national powerhouse.

Alongside a $7 million base salary over the six years of his contract, he'll also receive major bonuses for making the College Football Playoff ($1 million), winning a conference title and/or reaching the CFP quarterfinals ($1.5 million), reaching the CFP semifinals ($2 million), reaching the CFP title game ($2.5 million) or winning a national championship ($3.5 million).

Additionally, hitting any of those milestones would result in another year being added to his contract.

Elko will additionally receive a $100,000 bonus for reaching the SEC Championship Game, a $50,000 bonus for being named SEC Coach of the Year, a $100,000 bonus for being named the National Coach of the Year and a $50,000 bonus for having a multi-year APR of 960 or higher.

The 46-year-old spent the past two seasons as the head coach at Duke, leading the Blue Devils to a 16-9 record and bowl eligibility in both seasons. He's a familiar face in college station, having served as the Aggies' defensive coordinator and safeties coach from 2018-21.

Other stops as a defensive coordinator included Hofstra (2006-08), Bowling Green (2009-13), Wake Forest (2014-16) and Notre Dame (2017).

"Coach Mike Elko is one of the best leaders and coaches in college football and has had high-level success at each stop of his career," Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said in a statement Monday. "He is known amongst coaching circles as one of the best defensive minds in the country and has shown his ability to lead and turn around a program as a Power 5 head coach."

The Fisher era was disastrous for Texas A&M, as he went just 46-26 in parts of six seasons, never won a conference title or reached the College Football Playoff, failed to post double-digit wins in a season and reportedly cost the school somewhere in the vicinity of $76 million in a buyout after his firing.

The Aggies couldn't afford to get his replacement wrong, and they certainly couldn't afford to tether themselves to another historically huge contract.

"Coach Elko has a vision for Aggie football, and a specific plan for innovation and greatness which is exactly what our program needs right now to compete in the modern era of college athletics," Bjork said.

If that proves to be true, he'll also have some very lucrative bonuses heading his way.

On Saturday night, Jeff Tarpley of 247Sports reported that Texas A&M was set to hire Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops to replace the fired Jimbo Fisher as head football coach.

However, conflicting reports have since declared that Stoops won't be hired by the school:

Stoops himself took to X to refute the reports:

Stoops, 56, has gone 73-64 in his 11 seasons at Kentucky, including a 7-5 record this season. It's been a strong run at a school famously more invested in the basketball program.

As for whether the potential hire would have been the right move for a Texas A&M program where the expectations often unrealistically ignore the realities of life in the loaded SEC, that was met with mixed reaction on social media:

One thing that Stoops would have had in College Station, compared to his time in Lexington, asw more resources. He lamented Kentucky's lack thereof during an October radio appearance following a 51-13 stomping at the feet of two-time defending national champion Georgia.

"I can promise you—Georgia, they bought some pretty good players," he said (h/t ESPN). "You're allowed to these days, and we could use some help. That's what they look like, you know what I mean, when you have 85 of 'em. I encourage anybody that's disgruntled to pony up some more."

Stoops somewhat clarified his remarks the next day.

"Basically one person was questioning me and the program and getting over the hump," he said. "I really simply should have said, 'Hey, dude, I've gotten over a lot of humps. That's not a hump, that's Mount Everest.'"

The expectation at Texas A&M is that you summit those peaks. Jimbo Fisher never came close, registering a 46-25 record and just three bowl appearances in parts of six years.

The question would have been whether Stoops could have gotten closer to meeting the expectations of Aggies' fans.

"This is not an 8-4 job. It's not," athletic director Ross Bjork said on the Aggie Fan Zone radio show in November (h/t Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle). "Because of the decision we made (to fire Fisher) but also because of the resources and expectations. Does somebody have the wherewithal to deal with that, the weight of (the job) and the magnitude, and not get fazed and rattled, not panic, and if something doesn't go right, they fix what they need to fix?"

It's a moot point now, as Stoops appears set to remain with the Wildcats, leaving the Aggies to continue their search.

Texas A&M insiders said Jimbo Fisher had already peaked as a football coach when the Aggies signed him $95 million deal in 2021, according to The Athletic's Sam Khan Jr., Bruce Feldman and Max Olson.

"Jimbo lost his fastball," one former Texas A&M staffer said, per Khan, Feldman and Olson. "He was hungry and motivated at FSU. Then he started reading his press clippings."

Fisher was fired by Texas A&M on November 12 in exchange for a record buyout of more than $76 million, per ESPN's Pete Thamel.

The Aggies put together a 45-25 record in six seasons under Fisher but have not played a College Football Playoff game since he took over.

Fisher joined the school after eight seasons with Florida State, where he led the Seminoles to the program's first national championship since 2014.

But Florida State declined after that championship— and insiders blamed Fisher for a similar decline at Texas A&M, which ranks last in the FBS in total offense with 4,455 yards gained through 11 games.

That offense was heavily dictated by Fisher. After the Aggies finished 2022 as one of the worst offensive teams in college football, the team hired Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator. Even after that, many of the plays Petrino called were still designed by Fisher, A&M staffers told ESPN's Dave Wilson.

A staffer similarly told Khan, Feldman and Olson that Fisher hired Petrino "for perception" but never truly gave up control of the Aggies' offense.

"Jimbo's scheme was antiquated in 2014 when he won a national championship at Florida State," one staffer on an opposing SEC team said, per Khan, Feldman and Olson. "It was kind of out-of-date then, and it's just not gotten better in 10 years."

According to Khan, Feldman and Olson, five people involved with the Texas A&M program described Fisher as "stubborn."

The record buyout shows how serious Texas A&M was about getting away from that leadership. By firing Fisher and getting additional time with the NCAA transfer portal open ahead of December 4, the Aggies have extra time to put together a new offensive identity heading into 2024.

While there was certainly a lack of on-field success during the Jimbo Fisher era at Texas A&M, the program also suffered from a number of off-field and disciplinary issues during his tenure, according to ESPN's Dave Wilson.

Fisher, 58, was dismissed by the Aggies on Nov. 12 as the team sunk to a 6-4 record this season despite having unlimited resources at one of the best funded programs in the entire country.

The former National Champion coach put a heavy emphasis on recruiting over his six seasons. He brought in a top 10 recruiting class in all but two seasons that he was in College Station—including the No. 1 overall class in 2022—per 247 Sports.

However, it appears that often times that talent came at the cost of discipline as Fisher opted to have a player-led locker room, which didn't lead to a whole lot of order.

"There was 100% a lack of discipline, a lack of accountability," a former player said.

Another former player told Wilson that there was a culture of "individualism" on the roster, as players were not often punished for missing meetings or being late.

Some examples of the off-field issues include five-star cornerback Denver Harris getting suspended twice before transferring to LSU—where he has yet to play due to disciplinary reasons (as noted by Wilson).

Four-star corner Smoke Bouie and five-star wide receiver Chris Marshall were also suspended and both eventually left the Aggies.

So, while Fisher was great at bringing in talent, A&M wasn't able to take advantage of it due to a lack of the culture that he built at his previous stop with Florida State—where he won a national title with the Seminoles.

Fisher went 45-25 during his time with the Aggies—28-21 in the SEC. His best campaign came in 2020 when he led the program to a 9-1 record and a win in the Orange Bowl.

Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork told reporters that his decision to fire head coach Jimbo Fisher was due to the program being "stuck in neutral," according to ESPN's Dave Wilson.

"The assessment that I delivered was that we are not reaching our full potential," Bjork said. "We are not in the championship conversation and something was not quite right about our direction and the plan."

The Aggies have gotten off to a 6-4 start this year, including a record of just 4-3 in the SEC.

After picking up bowl wins in each of his first three seasons as head coach to go along with a 9-1 record in 2020, the expectations for Fisher's program were high.

However, Texas A&M has gone 19-15 in the three years since. This includes a dismal 5-7 finish in 2022. Fisher was never able to bring the national championship contention to the Aggies that he previously experienced at Florida State.

His recruiting classes were strong, with each one ranking within the top 10 from 2019-2022 according to 247sports. In fact, Texas A&M's 2022 class was No. 1 in the country with eight 5-star players.

However, it rarely translated to the on-field success that fans initially imagined when he was hired at the end of the 2017 season.

"The assessment that I delivered was that we are not reaching our full potential," Bjork said, per Wilson. "We are not in the championship conversation and something was not quite right about our direction and the plan. We should be relevant on the national scene."

Fisher is still owed just more than $76 million due to a contract extension that he signed in 2021. It's the largest buyout in college football history.

Jimbo Fisher's time as the head coach of the Texas A&M football team is over, Texas A&M Director of Athletics Ross Bjork announced on Sunday.

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. We appreciate Coach Fisher's time here at Texas A&M and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.

While the Aggies defeated Mississippi State on Saturday, they are just 6-4 overall and 4-3 in SEC play on the season.

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported associate head coach Elijah Robinson will take over in an interim role.

This will be a costly move for Texas A&M.

As Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports noted, Fisher's contract that was extended ahead of the 2021 campaign "is believed to be fully guaranteed and was, at the time, worth about $95 million." As a result, he is expected to receive "the largest single buyout paid to a football coach" that "will nearly eclipse the entire amount spent to buy out coaches last year, which hovered around $90 million."

Thamel reported the plan is to fully honor the contract. He also pointed out the $76 million owed to Fisher "is more than double the known buyout paid to a fired college head coach."

Despite the financial implications of such a move, Dellenger reported "intense pressure" has been building to make such a decision among the school's fanbase, donors and administrators.

With that as the backdrop, the Texas A&M University Board of Regents met for more than four hours on Thursday to lay the groundwork for such a move.

Fisher came to the Aggies before the 2018 campaign after eight seasons as the head coach of Florida State. He won a BCS national championship and two Orange Bowls with the Seminoles. He also reached the College Football Playoff in 2014 and went 83-23 during his tenure with the ACC program.

That success seemed to set the stage for an ideal partnership between an accomplished coach and an SEC team with plenty of resources.

It started that way with the Aggies showing notable improvement from Fisher's first two years into his third. That third season was the shortened 2020 one, which saw them go 9-1, win the Orange Bowl and just miss the CFP.

It turned out to be the highlight of Fisher's tenure.

Texas A&M went just 4-4 in the SEC in 2021 and an ugly 2-6 in 2022. It is 5-10 in its last 15 games against Power 5 opponents and will settle for a lower-level bowl this year following a 6-4 start regardless of how it does in the final two games against Abilene Christian and LSU.

The Aggies never made the SEC Championship Game during Fisher's six seasons and are well behind the likes of Georgia and Alabama in the conference. The school's leadership decided it was time to make a change and reportedly did so Sunday.

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher found himself in an unfamiliar position during the fourth quarter of the Aggies' win over Auburn on Saturday.

In the middle of an ongoing play.

Fisher was caught too far out on the field as the Tigers' Eugene Asante picked up a fumble, and sprinted down the A&M sideline for Auburn's only touchdown of the afternoon. He was the last man standing between Asante and the end zone.

"I thought the play was dead," Fisher said after the game. "I was yelling at somebody else on the side and then the ball's coming back my way. I said, 'Dang, that ain't supposed to happen.'

"I'm lucky I didn't get ran over."

While Fisher's tackling technique may be a little off, the same can't be said for the rest of his squad as the Aggies were fairly impressive in their SEC opener. They had Auburn quarterbacks Payton Thorne, Holden Geriner and Robby Ashford under pressure all afternoon, racking up seven sacks.

One year after it was made clear Jimbo Fisher's status as Texas A&M head coach would be safe because of how much money it would cost the school to move on from him, the 57-year-old finds himself on the hot seat after a 1-1 start.

Per Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic, Fisher's job is "absolutely" in jeopardy if he doesn't turn things around.

Per Zac Al-Khateeb of the Austin American-Statesman, Fisher has a $76.8 million buyout in his contract if he's fired in-season during the 2023 campaign.

Fisher signed a four-year extension with Texas A&M in August 2021 that tied him to the school through the 2031 season. The deal, which was fully guaranteed, increased his average annual salary to $9 million starting on Jan. 1, 2022.

The salary increased to $9.15 million on the first day of 2023 and goes up by $100,000 in the first day of each subsequent year.

Texas A&M gave Fisher the extension after leading the team to a 9-1 record and an Orange Bowl victory over North Carolina during the 2020 season.

As the Aggies limped to a 5-7 record in 2022, there was speculation about Fisher's future with the program. He would have been owed $86 million if he had been fired last year.

In an October 2022 article by USA Today's Brent Schrotenboer and Steve Berkowitz, the only coaches with a higher buyout in their contracts were Georgia Kirby Smart ($103 million) and USC's Lincoln Riley ($100 million).

Texas A&M opened this season with a 52-10 win over New Mexico before suffering a 48-33 loss to Miami on Sept. 9.

Fisher was hired by Texas A&M in December 2017 coming off a 5-6 record the previous season at Florida State. He went 83-23 overall in eight seasons with the Seminoles, including winning the BCS Championship Game in 2013.

In six seasons with the Aggies, Fisher has a 40-22 record and won bowl games in each of his first three years. Texas A&M hasn't finished higher than second in the SEC West division during his tenure.