Even though Jimbo Fisher
FSU should remember positive impact Fisher had on program
is at Texas A&M now, FSU needs to realize just how much he did for their program, Mike Bianchi writes.
ATLANTA – Thanks, Jimbo. Thanks for everything you did for the program.
Thanks for making FSU champions again.
Moving forward, these should be the sentimental feelings Florida State fans have when they reflect upon former football coach Jimbo Fisher.
Now that all the hurt feelings and harsh words have subsided in the wake of Jimbo’s ugly divorce from FSU and his subsequent hiring as the new coach of Texas A&M, Seminole Nation needs to realize just how much Fisher did for their program.
Granted, it didn’t end well with Jimbo bolting after one of the worst seasons in modern Florida State history, but as somebody wise once said, “Everything ends badly — or else it wouldn’t end.”
Jimbo obviously kept FSU’s administration in the dark throughout the negotiating process with A&M and, consequently, school administrators became so miffed they wouldn’t even allow Jimbo to coach the final game of the season. And just like that, Jimbo became the
gridiron Grinch of Tallahassee, leaving without a trace — except for the abandoned Christmas tree he left on the curb for the garbage truck to pick up.
“When you leave, is there ever a good way to leave?” Jimbo said at SEC Media Days Monday when I asked him if he had any regrets about his departure. “You try to do it the best you can and wish you could finish the season, but the circumstances [didn’t allow it]. I had no intentions of ever leaving there. It was very emotional. I was very tight with those players and the people in the community.
“Everyone there was wonderful to me, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for what they do and wish them nothing but the best in the future. Florida State is a tremendous place and I have wonderful memories there. “
In hindsight, FSU fans should feel the same way about Jimbo, who rescued the Seminoles, restored their glory and modernized a once-proud program that had become outdated and dilapidated in the final years of legendary coach Bobby Bowden’s tenure.
Jimbo, too, was a major factor in elevating the status of the Atlantic Coast Conference. He essentially built an SEC program in the ACC, evidenced by his 2013 team that beat Auburn for the national title and ended the SEC’s unprecedented streak of seven consecutive national championships.
I’ll be the first to admit, I hated the way Jimbo abandoned ship after last year’s miserable season and I certainly don’t believe Texas A&M is a better job than FSU. In the last 25 years, Florida State has won three national titles, played for it six times and would have played for it many more times if they had not lost one key game (usually to Miami) during the Bowden era. Texas A&M’s last national title was 77 years ago.
But despite Jimbo’s awkward departure, you simply cannot deny the positive impact he had at FSU. As new FSU coach Willie Taggart told me not long ago, “I hear a lot of negative things, but Jimbo did a lot of great things around here, too. He won a lot of ballgames and made a lot of people proud to be ’Noles … And I was one of them!”
The fact is, Taggart’s program will be a lot better off because of the legacy Jimbo left behind. While Jimbo’s constant demands for more facilities, more staffing and more money became a royal pain in the posterior to FSU administrators, he also got things done.
It was Jimbo who prodded to get the indoor practice facility built five years ago. It was Jimbo who pushed for the standalone football facility that is currently in the planning stages. It was Jimbo who went to bat for higher salaries for his assistant coaches. It was Jimbo who insisted on more money for nutritionists, sports psychologists, academic support, etc.
After Jimbo’s departure, FSU President John Thrasher cracked to a roomful of boosters that he’ll no longer have to have his hand on his wallet every time he visits FSU’s football offices.
Maybe so, but Jimbo’s decision to leave should also be a wake-up call for the Seminoles. Don’t kid yourself, there’s a reason one of the top coaches in college football became the first in more than four decades (since Johnny Majors left Pitt for Tennessee in 1976) to leave a program where he won a national championship to take another college job.
And the reason is financial commitment. Texas A&M gave Jimbo a $10-year, $75-million contract — the biggest coaching contract in college football history. Likewise, the Aggies have arguably the best facilities in college football and the secondbiggest athletic budget in the nation. At Florida State, Jimbo had to badger and beg to get the things he wanted; at Texas A&M, they deliver them on a golden platter.
When Jimbo was introduced as the Aggies’ new coach, he indirectly took some shots at FSU when he called the decision to take the A&M job, “A no-brainer.”
“You can have the greatest coaches in the world, but if your administration doesn’t see things the way you see things and allow you to do things that way, nothing can be achieved,” Fisher said.
Although FSU’s administration was insulted by the comment, you better believe it got their attention and got them on the ball. It’s not just coincidence that the Seminoles now seem to be fast-tracking plans on a new football-only facility.
You could say, Fisher has made FSU a better football program — both coming and going. Thanks, Jimbo. Thanks for rebuilding the program and restoring the glory.
You may have bailed on the Seminoles, but not before you bailed them out.