5 reasons Jimbo Fisher should turn down LSU, stay at FSU
By John Buhler
Jimbo Fisher would be crazy to leave Florida State for LSU. Here are five reasons he turns down the LSU Tigers to stay with the Florida State Seminoles.
When the LSU Tigers decided it was time to part ways with former head coach Les Miles, two names immediately came to mind for the head coaching vacancy: Houston Cougars head coach Tom Herman and Florida State Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher.
Herman is the most sought-after head coaching candidate in college football. Unless Houston gets an invitation to join the Big 12, Herman is going to leave the Cougars after the 2016 NCAA season for a bigger Power 5 job. He’ll get to pick the school of his choosing.
Fisher already has a great head coaching gig at Florida State, but he was the offensive coordinator for the Bayou Bengals from 2000 to 2006. He has been at Florida State since 2007, but does have strong ties to the LSU football program.
The connection is there, but here are five reasons Fisher would be out of his mind to leave Florida State and become the next head coach at LSU in 2017.
5. Better quarterback history at Florida State
There are few college football programs that consistently turn out top-tier talent at the quarterback position like Florida State does. Since the early 1990s, Seminole signal callers include Charlie Ward, Danny Kanell, Chris Weinke, Christian Ponder, E.J. Manuel, and Jameis Winston.
LSU has been an absolute grease fire at the quarterback position during the same time frame. Matt Flynn was nice, but never did much of anything in the NFL. JaMarcus Russell is considered the biggest NFL Draft bust of all-time. Zach Mettenberger transferred from Georgia and hasn’t had the maturity to succeed in the NFL. Those are the highlights of LSU quarterbacking since 2000.
It’s no secret that the quarterback play eroded in Baton Rouge once Fisher left for Tallahassee. Florida State is just a better place for college quarterbacks to grow and succeed. The two stongest branches from the Bobby Bowden coaching tree are Mark Richt and Fisher. They are the two best coaches in college football in developing pro-style passers.
Does Fisher have the coaching chops to make LSU an elite quarterbacking school? Yes, but there is a certain stigma he’ll have to overcome with that position as the head coach of the Tigers. At Florida State, history of great quarterbacks work for him, not against him like it would at LSU.