Florida State loses Fisher to Texas A&M
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 8323 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 last Sunday after going 51-26 in six seasons at Texas A&M.
Fulmer to lead Tennessee’s search: Tennessee has named Phillip Fulmer athletic director and placed former AD John Currie on paid leave amid what has been a tumultuous and embarrassing football coaching search.
Chancellor Beverly Davenport said Fulmer will immediately take over the coaching search.
Tennessee fired Butch Jones last month and was close to hiring Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano on Sunday. That deal fell through amid a public backlash. Currie met Thursday with Washington State coach Mike Leach.
Reports linked Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and Purdue’s Jeff Brohm to Tennessee’s vacancy, but both stayed put. North Carolina State’s Dave Doeren agreed to a new contract Thursday after speaking with Tennessee.
Ole Miss penalized: Mississippi’s football program won’t participate in the postseason this year or in 2018 as part of the NCAA’s sanctions levied against the school in the longrunning 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 came down fairly hard on Ole Miss on Friday. Most notably, the sports governing body decided the one-year 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.
Hauck returns to Montana: Bobby Hauck is back as the coach at Montana, a program he led to three FCS national championship games.
Hauck agreed to a three-year contract. Hauck, a Montana native and a school alum, coached the Grizzlies from 2003 to 2009, compiling an 80-17 record.
He was the head coach at UNLV from 2010’14 and spent the past three seasons as special teams coordinator and associate head coach at San Diego State.