» Fisher leaving Florida State to take over Texas A&M,
Coach resigns from Florida State to replace Sumlin.
Jimbo Fisher, who coached Florida State to its third national title in 2013 and opened this season with his team ranked in the top five, is leaving to take the same job at Texas A&M.
Fisher told university President John Thrasher on Friday morning he was resigning to accept Texas A&M’s offer.
“I believe Texas A&M is getting one of the best coaches in college football. We appreciate all he has done for our program and wish him and his family great success moving forward,” Thrasher said in a statement that closed days of speculation about Fisher’s future.
Fisher leaves Florida State after going 83-23 in eight seasons. Besides the national championship, he also led the Seminoles to three Atlantic Coast Conference titles and four ACC Atlantic Division crowns. He will replace Kevin Sumlin, who was fired Sunday after going 51-26 in six seasons at Texas A&M.
Fisher is just the fourth coach to leave a school where he has won an AP national championship and go directly to another college job. The last to do it was Johnny Majors, who went from Pittsburgh to Tennessee in 1977.
Florida State (5-6) faces Louisiana-Monroe today and needs a win to be bowl-eligible for a 36th consecutive season. Athletic Director Stan Wilcox said defensive line coach Odell Haggins will be the interim coach.
The Seminoles were ranked third in the preseason Top 25 but lost quarterback Deondre Francois in the opening loss against Alabama and were 3-6 at one point before winning their past two. Florida State is trying to avoid its first losing season since 1976.
NCAA penalizes Ole Miss: Mississippi won’t participate in the postseason this year or in 2018 as part of the NCAA’s sanctions levied against the school in the long-running rules violation case that included a charge of lack of institutional control.
In the latest development in the more than five-year case, the Committee on Infractions Friday came down fairly hard on Ole Miss. Most notably, the sports governing body decided the oneyear self-imposed postseason ban was not enough for the Rebels, who finished the regular season 6-6.
Ole Miss had hoped to avoid a postseason ban next season but was hit with another year and plans to appeal the decision.
The Committee on Infractions said the case was similar to other Ole Miss rules violations cases in 1986 and 1994 and that the school had an “unconstrained booster culture.” The NCAA says six football staff members and 12 boosters contributed to the current violations.