Texas A&M football went all in with Jimbo Fisher. Will this be another Texas A&M bad beat?
Jimbo Fisher made big news when he folded at Florida State to have his cards dealt by the Texas A&M football program. The SEC Network suits see ratings in this high stakes story, too, and will dispatch SEC Nation to College Station to chronicle the opening day of Jimbo Fisher Texas hold ’em.
Six Southeastern Conference football programs welcome new head coaches this fall. While each coach is a gamble, Jimbo Fisher of Texas A&M is the biggest. It certainly includes the biggest salary, and the pot is going to keep getting bigger.
Blind bet
Texas A&M football wasn’t bust when it released Kevin Sumlin from Aggie head coaching duties.
Sumerlin led the Aggies to five straight bowls games and finished with a 66.2 winning percentage in six years, slightly below the 67.3 percentage he enjoyed as head coach at Houston. But Sumerlin’s success rate consistently declined from his first season to last, and Texas A&M decided after last year’s 5 – 7 record to make a change.
Was the problem really the coaching? Or was it the recruiting base and the style of play in Texas high schools? Was it SEC recruiting competition?
Was it just Alabama?
Or was it just in the cards?
Reading the board
Texas A&M football owns a 59.1 winning percentage over the last twenty years . Those years include the last five years of the R. C. Slocum era. While the legendary Slocum won 72.1 percent of his games, consider the success of other notable Texas A&M coaches.
Jackie Sherril wom 64.8 percent of his Texas A&M games in seven seasons.
Emory Bellard won 64.0 percent of his games in seven seasons.
Bear Bryant won 63.4 percent of his games in four seasons.
Gene Stallings won 37.7 percent of his games in seven seasons.
Betting the house
Whether or not Sumlin was the reason for Aggie under achievement is a compelling question.
More compelling is why Texas A&M, a school with athletic department revenues of over 212 million dollars, over 20 percent greater than next highest SEC school Alabama, hired a coach with a 67.3 winning percent in the first place.
If the Sumlin hiring was a mistake, the Aggies did not duplicate it. Fisher brings to Texas A&M football a 78.3 winning percentage, eight bowl appearance in eight years, and a BCS Championship. He sits down in front of a big pot showdown over whether he will do the same at Texas A&M.
To take his seat at this table, Fisher walked away from FSU, an elite program, one that can dominate it’s conference and regularly place teams in the College Football Playoffs. He works now at a program that despite being flooded with financial and institutional support, has under-performed.
Fisher has won games, big games, and a lot of them. Texas A&M is doing everything it can do to win and win big. Will it be enough?
If it isn’t enough, SEC Nation will be back for opening day 2025.