Chancellor jokingly raises ante to 15-year contract
Sharp dismisses criticism of giving Fisher long deal
COLLEGE STATION — College football fans are watching a real-life episode of the old television show “Dallas,” known for its excess and glamour, play out on the Brazos County prairie.
Texas A&M football generates millions of dollars, and the relatively good times in the oil industry have in turn helped boosters contribute millions of dollars to Texas A&M football. That glut of money is one of the reasons A&M chancellor John Sharp, in playing the role of desperado J.R. Ewing, scoffed on Monday at critics of new coach Jimbo Fisher’s 10-year contract.
Sharp sardonically said A&M’s brass also had concerns about the 10-year deal worth a guaranteed $75 million, or $7.5 million annually for a coach who just finished 5-6 at Florida State.
“We couldn’t get him to agree to a 15-year deal, so this is the best we got,” Sharp jokingly told the Chronicle.
The outspoken and colorful A&M boss said that’s how confident he is in the abilities of Fisher, who won a national championship at FSU in 2013 and won at least 10 games in six of his eight seasons there.
“We got the best coach available in the country,” Sharp added in why he can kid about a 15-year contract, what would be considered outlandish even by today’s standards in the bidding wars for the top college coaches. “He’s a winner, and we’re perfectly happy to get him.”
Fisher was introduced as Kevin Sumlin’s successor on Monday during a festive news conference in Kyle Field’s Hall of Champions. The Twitter reaction to Sharp’s declaration to the Chronicle about adding five years on the deal if he could was swift and barbed.
“Everything is bigger in Texas, y’all,” wrote Nebraska-based sportswriter Lee Barfknecht.
“The inevitable fail will be glorious,” another poster tweeted. “Same thing you see when some rube wins the lottery and a couple of years later they’re dead broke and homeless.”
Wrote Adam Kramer of Bleacher Report, “I admire A&M’s willingness to cut the (brakes) on its car with a thousand pounds of fireworks in the back and make sure we know about it.”
Sharp, the state’s comptroller for most of the 1990s, obviously doesn’t care about the critics. He believes the Aggies have finally hired the coach who will lead them to their first national title since 1939. It’s why he can joke about a 15year deal.
“Vintage Sharp,” tweeted Jay Leeson, citing Sharp’s flamboyant tenure in Texas politics as well.
Sharp can be sure of one thing: People will remember his “15 year” sentiment for seasons to come, for better or worse.
“Can we just go ahead and cue this up for the end of each season for the next four or five years?” tweeted college football fan Wesley Gottesman. “This … will age about as well as crab meat.”