CFB world rips Jimbo Fisher after latest Texas A&M loss

In 2013, Jimbo Fisher led Florida State to a perfect regular season, which was capped off by a thrilling win over Auburn in the Final BCS Championship Game. A lot has changed for Fisher over 10 years.

Fisher now coaches Texas A&M. And the championship that he won with Florida State a decade ago feels now like it might as well have been 100 years ago. Saturday’s game against Ole Miss was another in a long line of tough losses for the Aggies in Fisher’s tenure.

For a while, Saturday’s game looked like it would be great for Texas A&M. Trailing 31-21 going into the fourth quarter, the Aggies scored two touchdowns to take a 35-31 lead. But the Rebels responded with a touchdown of their own to go up 38-35. Texas A&M did drive into field goal range, giving Randy Bond a chance at a game-tying 47-yard field goal as time expired. But the Rebels got a piece of Bond’s kick. And while it was only a partial block, it was enough to leave Bond’s attempt well short.

The loss to Ole Miss moved the Aggies to 44-25 overall and 26-21 in SEC play since Fisher took the job after the 2017 season. By comparison, in the six-year tenure of Fisher’s predecessor, Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M was 51-26 and 25-23 within the conference.

Moreover, the Aggies are trending in the wrong direction under Fisher.

Texas A&M’s best season under Fisher was 2020. The Aggies went 8-1 in the regular season with the lone loss coming against eventual national champion, Alabama. That season was capped off with a win in the Orange Bowl and Texas A&M finished No. 4 in the final rankings.

The Aggies followed with an 8-4 season in 2021, going 4-4 in the conference. A COVID-19 outbreak caused Texas A&M to miss its Gator Bowl appearance and the Aggies finished the year No. 25 in the Coaches Poll. On the surface, that’s a sharp regression from one year to the next. But any Texas A&M fans complaining about 2021 quickly realized how much worse it could get. The Aggies went 5-7 overall in 2022 (the first losing season for the program since 2008) and were 2-6 in the conference.

And while things may be improving in 2023, it’s not by a significant amount. Saturday’s loss moved Texas A&M to 5-4 on the season and 3-3 in the SEC. Of course, the Aggies could fire Fisher and are reportedly considering doing so but it won’t be cheap. Since Fisher’s contract is guaranteed, Texas A&M will still owe him more than $76 million if he’s fired after the 2023 season.

And after Saturday’s loss, there was a lot of commentary about both Fisher’s job security and the money he has coming to him.