What would Fisher bring? Wait and see
Florida State coach avoids speculation, focuses on next game
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M fans have never been so excited about the legalese and fine print of a board of regents meeting.
The agenda of the special gathering scheduled for Thursday afternoon in part calls for “discussion of legal and personnel issues relating to football program, including issues relating to appointment of new head coach.”
Cutting through the mumbojumbo, the meeting means A&M intends to move one step closer to hiring its top target all along: Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, according to multiple people familiar with the process.
A&M athletic director Scott Woodward on Sunday fired sixthyear coach Kevin Sumlin, citing the Aggies’ need to compete for Southeastern Conference and even national titles.
“Our expectations at A&M are very high,” Woodward said. “… I believe that we need a new coach to take us there.”
That’s where Fisher comes in, and on Monday during his weekly news conference in Tallahassee, Fla., he avoided any questions about A&M and its new vacancy.
“I’m not going to speak about jobs right now,” he said when asked if he could offer some encouraging words for a curious Seminoles fan base.
So what exactly does he tells his players, whose access to all the A&M rumors is as close as the phones in their hands?
“We’re playing, we control how we can play, we’re getting ready to play this week against (LouisianaMonroe) and I’m here coaching you right now,” Fisher said. “So, let’s go. We’re going to be ready to play. (But) they don’t ask.”
The Seminoles have an unexpected game tacked on their regular-season schedule, considering FSU originally canceled its contest against Louisiana-Monroe in September because of Hurricane Irma. But early this month, FSU rescheduled the game for Saturday when it became apparent the Seminoles (5-6) might need the contest to become eligible for a bowl. Sure enough, heavily favored FSU needs the victory to qualify for a postseason game for a 36th straight year.
Not so fast
Ideally from A&M’s end, the Aggies would have been able to announce Fisher’s hire early this week, and he would have been able to hit the recruiting trail in the state of Texas and beyond. But he intends to coach the regularseason finale, stretching the process out by about a week.
Fisher on Monday morning was asked about the speculation concerning A&M on a Tallahassee radio show.
“I don’t get into the rumors and the rumor mill,” he told host Jeff Cameron. “If there was ever something to it then at the appropriate time, but right now, there’s no reason to comment and I’m focused on beating ULM.”
An A&M insider first told the Chronicle of mutual interest between the university and Fisher back in September after the Aggies blew a 34-point lead at UCLA. Sumlin’s fate was sealed when A&M lost by a combined 36 points at home to Mississippi State and Auburn.
Topping it all off, the 7-5 Aggies last Saturday lost for a sixth straight time to LSU with both in the SEC West, the only division foe Sumlin failed to defeat in his six seasons with A&M.
As for the special regents meeting, an A&M vice chancellor told the Chronicle on Monday that it is for discussion only regarding the new coach — he declined to say whether it was about a specific candidate — and that no action would be taken immediately afterward.
A&M must take these legal steps when hiring a state employee, especially when the new coach is expected to make at least $7.5 million annually as part of a multiyear contract. Sumlin made $5 million annually and is owed $10.4 million with two years remaining on his contract, a sum that will be paid within 60 days.
Dreams of a title
Next season, the Aggies will be in search of their first conference title in 20 years, with the last coming in 1998, when they competed in the Big 12. A&M hasn’t won a national title since 1939, and Fisher is one of only four active coaches with a national championship to his name, joining Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Dabo Swinney.
Fisher has flirted with LSU the past two years before ultimately deciding to stay in Tallahassee. Seminoles quarterback James Blackman’s legal guardian, Rick Butts, on Monday posted via Twitter that Fisher’s evasiveness on the current matter is wearing thin.
“I for one don’t think it’s fair to the fans or the players to have this thing lingering,” Butts wrote in part.