Speculation about
FSU coach Jimbo Fisher being linked to LSU is heating up again after the Tigers fired Les Miles. But Fisher denies any contact with the school.
TALLAHASSEE — The college football coaching job Jimbo Fisher has continually been linked to is finally vacant.
And the speculation has already begun.
Fisher, in his seventh year as Florida State’s head coach, will surely hear his name in the mix for the newly opened LSU coaching job after the school fired Les Miles on Sunday.
But instead of vehemently denying interest like Louisville’s Bobby Petrino or Stanford’s David Shaw did on Monday, Fisher simply denied having contact with LSU during his press conference ahead of FSU’s matchup against North Carolina on Saturday.
“I’m not talking about LSU,” Fisher said. “No, I’m not talking about it. We’re talking about North Carolina.” During a Campus Insiders interview with Seth Davis last week, Fisher denied reports of him or his representation having contact with LSU when the program was on the brink of firing Miles toward the end of last season.
Negotiations for Fisher to become the LSU coach were “ongoing” before school president F. King Alexander, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and support from the LSU Board of Supervisors intervened in favor of keeping Miles, according to a December report from The (Baton Rouge, La.) Advocate.
Miles was fired after LSU dropped to 2-2 this season following an 18-13 loss to Auburn and had been on the hot seat for much of the 2015 season.
“I never had any contact with them whatsoever,” Fisher said. “I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Fisher, who is under contract at Florida State through the 2022 season, has a $5 million buyout of his current deal before Dec. 31. The buyout drops to $3 million for 2017-18 and $1 million in 2019. He is currently getting paid $5,075,000 from Florida State for the 2016 season.
Petrino reiterated his commitment to his current team, saying, “This is the job I want. This is where I’m going to be.”
Shaw comically shed any doubt. “Are you serious? The answer is no,” he said.
Fisher, on the other hand, ranted about the state of the sport becoming even more of a results-oriented business for coaches now with the College Football Playoff in place.
“I think every circumstance is different, but I think it’s a shame that college football is getting [like] that, too,” Fisher said. “What I think it’s the first sign of: playoff. I think they’re starting to turn it into pro football.”
Fisher spent seven seasons as an assistant under Nick Saban and Miles at LSU from 2000-2007, where he helped Saban win the national title in 2003.
But Fisher has built Florida State into one of the nation’s top programs in the country since taking over for legendary coach Bobby Bowden in 2010, winning a national championship in 2013 and setting the modern NFL-record for most players drafted during a three-year stretch with 29 players selected from 2013-15.
FSU has also met most of Fisher’s wishes as a head coach, providing the football team with an indoor practice facility in 2013, a number of nationally televised season openers with hefty payouts to increase program exposure and recent improvements to Doak Campbell Stadium.
Houston coach Tom Herman, whose team beat Fisher’s Seminoles in the Peach Bowl last season, remains the hottest name in college football coaching searches. Now in his second season with the Cougars, Herman has a 17-1 coaching record after serving as an assistant coach on Urban Meyer’s staff at Ohio State. Houston is also in the mix to join the Big 12, which is weighing expansion.
TCU’s Gary Patterson, Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin and former Baylor coach Art Briles are among names national writers have speculated could be a fit for the LSU job.