Jimbo Fisher out as Texas A&M head football coach
Jimbo Fisher has been relieved of his head football coaching duties at Texas A&M University, the school announced Sunday.
“After very careful analysis of all the components related to Texas A&M football, I recommended to President (Mark) Welsh and then Chancellor (John) 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,” Ross Bjork, Texas A&M director of athletics, said in a statement.
“We appreciate Coach Fisher’s time here at Texas A&M and we wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Bjork added.
Fisher was 45-25 in six seasons at Texas A&M. He 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.
When Fisher was first named head football coach at Texas A&M, the university said he had agreed to a 10-year contract worth $75 million, adding no “state-appropriated funds” would be used toward his salary.
In 2021, Texas A&M extended Fisher’s contract for an additional four years through the 2031 season, giving him an annual salary of more than $9 million.
The finances behind the decision to fire the coach are “monumental,” Bjork said during a Sunday evening news conference. “As the contract states, there is a buyout provision in coach Fisher’s contract and those details will be worked out.”
Texas A&M Athletics and an independent fundraising organization for the department will be “the sole sources of the necessary funds covering these transition costs.”
This season, the Aggies are 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the Southeastern Conference, with two games remaining in the 2023 season, at home against Abilene Christian Wildcats on Saturday and on the road against the LSU Tigers on November 25.
Bjork and Welsh met with Fisher early Sunday morning and informed him of the decision, Bjork said during a news conference Sunday evening.
“I respect coach Fisher, he’s a good man,” Bjork said. “I respect his family and all that he’s accomplished in college football.”
In explaining his decision, the athletic director said while the timing is “not ideal,” he felt the team needed a shift in direction.
“Our program is stuck in neutral, we should be relevant on the national scene, something is not clicking, something is not working and therefore, something had to give in order for Aggie football to reach our full potential,” Bjork said during the news conference.
The search for a new coach will be “diligent, confidential, and also efficient” and will involve a “football advisory group,” Bjork said, and added former players and industry experts will also be asked to weigh in.
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