9 Jimbo Fisher replacements that would get Texas A&M back to winning, fast
Texas A&M football is taking the poison pill and firing head coach Jimbo Fisher.
Paying the largest buyout in college football history (by a longshot) to dismiss Fisher after he was hired in 2018 following an eight-year stint as the Florida State head coach, the situation in College Station ultimately became tenable. According to reports, this decision to fire Jimbo Fisher resulted from meetings between university officials that landed on this as the only possible outcome.
Fisher spent five full seasons and 10 games of the 2023 campaign at the helm of the Aggies program. While he did get Texas A&M to 9-1 and as the first team out of the field of four in the College Football Playoff rankings for the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he never won more than nine games with the Aggies in a single year.
Most importantly, however, the Aggies have poured endless resources into the program under Fisher's watch, resulting in a massive recruiting boom that put Texas A&M in the same realm as Alabama and Georgia. The wins never followed, though, especially of late as the Aggies were a combined 11-11 with a 6-9 record in SEC play since the start of the 2022 season.
If Texas A&M is ponying up the dough to fire Jimbo Fisher, though, then finding his replacement should also be a lucrative venture, one where no expense will be spared. Critically, the Aggies also have to get this right. So let's take a look at nine possible replacements that could possibly be in the mix.
9. Deion Sanders is a College Station pipe-dream, but it should be discussed
There's no bigger name in college football coaching circles, at least in terms of the public eye, than Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders.
For as easy as it is to criticize Coach Prime for the lackluster finish to the 2023 season for the Buffs after a hot start that capture the imagination of the college football world, the job he's done in Boulder in just one year has been remarkable. Sanders took a team that went 1-11 a year ago, immediately overhauled the roster, and still has Colorado in line to possibly make a bowl game if they can win their final two games. That's unlikely, but it remains an incredible turnaround.
Because of where he stands in terms of his Colorado tenure -- and with legitimate questions about his long-term viability as a Power 5 head coach beyond just hammering the transfer portal relentlessly -- Sanders probably isn't the right man for Texas A&M. However, the Aggies would be doing themselves a disservice to not at least explore the possibility given the star power that Coach Prime would bring to College Station... and what he could parlay that into given the university and program's resources.