Fisher to stress fundamentals, not shiny new play caller
COLLEGE STATION — Ten years ago this coming season, Jimbo Fisher won a national title at Florida State while calling plays on offense. Ten years later he’s having to answer questions about bringing onboard Bobby Petrino to call plays on offense at Texas A&M.
No wonder Fisher, 57, is a touch grumpy during a time when flowers bloom and every program prevails: spring practice. Fisher this week interrupted the first question he took from beat reporters in more than three months — the longest absence from any media appearances by an A&M football coach in memory — about how much control of the offense Petrino will have this fall.
“Here’s what we’re doing — we’re running our thing and we’re going to be base fundamentals, we ain’t getting into scheme, we ain’t getting into anything,” Fisher said of his plan for spring drills, which started Monday. “That’s what we’re going to do. That’s what we’re going to practice and what we’re going to do on a daily basis.”
So much for refreshed and recharged heading into Fisher’s most telltale season at A&M, one coming off a 5-7 finish that included a home loss to Appalachian State and Fisher directing one of the nation’s worst scoring offenses last fall in his fifth year with the Aggies.
Fisher has served as primary play-caller for more than two decades, whether he was offensive coordinator at LSU or FSU or head coach at FSU or A&M, so a transition to a more hands-off role with the offense does not seem easy for him — or on him. The most peculiar moment in roughly 17 minutes of general discomfort with a defensive Fisher on Monday occurred when he was asked whether he or Petrino would call plays this season.
“We’ll go through that as we go,” Fisher first said.
He then added as the news conference moderator was calling on the next question, “Plan on him making calls, plan on him calling plays, I have no problem with that at all.”
Why he believed it was necessary to add “plan on” twice and “I have no problem with that at all” even once was one of the handful of head-scratchers Fisher offered up in his first media visit since before Christmas. Keeping in mind this is new ground for Fisher, starting with a directive from those paying his salary to hire a true offensive coordinator so he can focus on running what’s been an undisciplined program, to trying to bounce back from a losing season.
His only other losing season as a head coach occurred in 2017 (5-6) when he was exiting FSU for A&M — and had planned to for much of that distracted fall. Fisher, in no mood this week to discuss offensive intricacies with Petrino onboard, said it’s time to get back to fundamentals in spring practice, which culminate with the spring game April 15.
“… Just like you’re watching it in the NCAA Tournament, the teams that are fundamentally sound and the … guys who can handle pressure and the guys who can do things in a big moment are the guys who are totally fundamentally sound,” Fisher said. “That’s what at the end of the day it’s about, and we have to do that this spring, and that’s our goal this spring.”
The Aggies have some cause for optimism despite the worst body language, delivery and low-level disgruntlement of perhaps any A&M coach in spring football history. They return 10 starters on offense with Petrino now calling the plays — we believe — and sophomore quarterback Conner Weigman returning as starter. We believe.
“Every position is an open position, that’s what spring is about,” responded Fisher, in cutting off a reporter for a third time over Fisher’s first four questions. “Nobody has anything, I don’t care what position you are. You’ve got to prove yourself each and every day. … All the way across the board it’s about one thing: competition.
“What is your competition (level), your ability to compete and then your productivity.”
A&M isn’t terribly far removed from success under Fisher — the Aggies finished 9-1 during the COVID-19 season of 2020 when stadiums were at about a quarter of capacity at most under SEC guidelines. Fisher’s offense didn’t have nearly as much trouble communicating and moving the ball in that situation, compared to last year when it particularly struggled on the road in front of full houses (a 13-10 loss at Auburn for instance).
Enter Petrino, the former Atlanta Falcons, Arkansas and Louisville head coach once known for his offensive prowess (that, too, has come into question after a terrible final year at Louisville in 2018 and three seasons at Missouri State). Fisher has not made Petrino available for interviews at A&M, so Fisher is left to speak for him. Sort of.
“At the end of the day we all believe in one thing: execution,” Fisher said of his and Petrino’s offensive philosophies. “… Go watch everybody in the country, everybody does the same thing. Go watch a film — you sit down and watch film. There’s not a hill of beans (difference) between anybody.
“As far as what goes on and what routes are, what plays are. A counter is a counter, a dig and a post is a dig and a post, and verticals are verticals. I mean, it’s all the same, and it gets back to execution and fundamentals.”