Fisher era begins with high hopes
New coach’s more demanding style expected to provide program a jolt
COLLEGE STATION — From the time he arrived at Texas A&M, Jimbo Fisher has said time and again how much he loves the Aggies’ commitment to football, evidenced by a halfbillion dollar rebuild of Kyle Field, a makeover of the Bright Football Complex, an elite weight room, and multiple plush practice fields.
Then Fisher offered an example of the relentlessness that some Florida State administrators grew weary of in his always demanding the best for his program. The worst thing a university can do, Fisher vowed earlier this month, is stop improving its football facilities, because “they become obsolete very quickly.”
In a change from what Fisher had grown accustomed to dealing with at more money-conscious FSU, A&M athletic director Scott Woodward smiled when relayed Fisher’s financial opinion.
“I agree, and it doesn’t mean you have to start from whole cloth,” Woodward said. “It means you have to continue to upgrade and update and do the things that give you a competitive advantage without being irrational. That’s the blessing of being in Aggieland — Texas A&M and former students and supporters of our program are so generous.
“It allows, along with the (revenue) of being in the SEC, to do really special things here.”
Starting Thursday night at Kyle Field, Fisher finally gets the chance to do “really special things” at A&M, as he’s promised from the beginning. The Aggies open the Fisher era in what should be a glorified scrimmage against Northwestern State, a middling team of the Southland Conference.
The prime-time contest on the SEC Network should provide Fisher a long look at his two sophomore quarterbacks, Kellen Mond and Nick Starkel, with the more mobile Mond earning the starting nod because of what Fisher said was “a little better camp overall.”
“He played very well in the pocket (in camp) and made great decisions,” Fisher said. “He led our team and played with great poise and composure and knowledge of our offense. He created plays, and our team followed him very well, not that they didn’t with Nick.”
Fisher, 52, is facing a much different task than when he took over Florida State in 2010. Then, he was promoted from his role as Bobby Bowden’s offensive coordinator and already had been the Seminoles’ “coach in waiting” for a couple of seasons.
“I was new, but I still knew the players,” Fisher said. “What made them tick, what buttons to push.”
In inheriting a program from the fired Kevin Sumlin, Fisher is pushing his own buttons in asserting his way with the Aggies — one they to a man claim is tougher than what they had become accustomed to around the Bright complex.
“Coach Fisher has changed the culture around,” junior linebacker Tyrel Dodson said. “It’s a lot more businesslike. I love it.”
At Florida State, Fisher inherited a program with more recent national success. The Seminoles won national titles in 1993 and 1999 under Bowden but had leveled out prior to his retirement eight years ago.
Fisher won a national title at FSU in 2013 and is one of four current FBS coaches with at least one championship. Alabama’s Nick Saban, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney are the others.
The Aggies last won a league title in 1998 under then-coach R.C. Slocum when they competed in the Big 12. They exited that league for the SEC in 2012 and have finished no higher than third in the SEC West since then.
Enter Fisher, whom the Aggies lured from FSU with a $75 million, 10-year contract. Woodward and Fisher worked together 15 years ago at LSU, when Fisher was Saban’s offensive coordinator with the Tigers and Woodward served as liaison between then-LSU chancellor Mark Emmert and the football program.
In other words, Woodward knew exactly what he was getting when he brought Fisher onboard.
“Jimbo’s practices are very organized and controlled,” Woodward said. “There’s a lot of coaching going on — and hard teaching. There’s constructive criticism and really getting after it and showing kids how and why things happen.”
Fisher has pledged to bring championships to A&M, and he hasn’t backed off that sentiment over nine months.
“I like the direction our team is going,” Fisher said leading to the opener against the Demons. “We have some young guys really emerging. We’ve had guys emerging that I didn’t know anything about before. I like our football team. Now we have to go out and do it for 60 minutes.
“We’re at the next stage. We’re going to take a test, and we’ve prepared, and we’ll see where we’re at.”