Firing head coaches at a high cost is the newest craze, as Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher is the latest. The coach won a national title and was brought in to help the school become a championship contender.
However, in his six years as the coach of the Aggies, he couldn’t catch the lightning in a bottle that he had at Florida State.
Fisher went 45-25 and 27-21 in the Southeastern Conference. He won at most nine games in any season and, coming off a 51-10 victory against Mississippi State on Saturday night, the Aggies are 6-4 with two games left.
Still, on Sunday, Aggies Athletics Director Ross Bjork fired the coach even though he owed him more than $75 million.
What’s The Price Of Change?
“That’s the hard part in all of this,” Bjork said. “How many sitting head coaches won national championships? So, everyone had tons of optimism. But it just goes back to the last couple of years. Do we have momentum? Do we have hope? How do we see things trending? And we just didn’t see the trend lines improving.”
Fisher won a national championship for Florida State in 2013 but was snagged away by Texas A&M with a considerable 10-year, fully guaranteed contract at the end of the 2017 season. During the 2020 pandemic season, Fisher’s contract was extended after posting A&M’s best year under his watch, where he led the Aggies to a 9-1 record.
After the firing, per his contract, Fisher’s buyout is reportedly more than triple the largest known given to a fired head collegiate coach, and he is owed the totality of what remains on his deal. If he gets another job in coaching the Aggies still have to pay him.
Trendy Firing
The firing comes after a similar situation when the Las Vegas Raiders fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager David Ziegler. Team owner Mark Davis announced the firing in a statement on Nov. 1. The firings of McDaniels, Ziegler, and some of the coaching staff reportedly will cost Davis approximately $85 million.
“After much thought about what the Raiders need to move forward, I have decided to part ways with Josh and Dave,” Davis said. “I want to thank them both for their hard work and wish them and their families nothing but the best.”
Pivoting in the face of the tremendous expense that might come with firing your head coach happens in the NFL and in the collegiate ranks. Fisher and McDaniels prove that new energy costs are priceless for football organizations.
