We have been conned by John James Fisher Jr.
But can you really blame us? We were the perfect mark - a program desperate for success and loaded with resources. We were just 5 years removed from true national relevance when Johnny Football took the world by storm and won the Heisman. We had tasted a little bit of relevance and success and we were convinced that the right guy could make it last.
On the East Coast Jimbo's con at Florida State was nearing it's end because a con can only last so long before it's exposed. The writing was on the wall for Jimbo but he had already found his new mark in the Aggies.
On the surface he appeared to be everything we desired - a national championship coach, a Heisman trophy winner, 2 Orange Bowl victories, a CFP appearance, 3 conference championships, and 4 division championships. Jimbo had more success in his 7 years at FSU than our program had experienced in the last 30 years (maybe even 80 years). Can you really blame us for thinking he was the guy?
In the face of such success it was easy to overlook a few blemishes like his 5-6 record on the way out at FSU - he lost his starting quarterback in the first game, what could you expect (tell me if this sounds familiar). An embarrassing Peach Bowl loss to Houston (just a meaningless bowl game), a 39 point blowout loss in the CFP against Oregon (at least he made it there, right?), a 43 point blowout loss to Louisville (They had a Heisman winner, what do you expect?), or numerous losses to typically unranked teams with inferior talent like Wake Forest, Virginia, NC State, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina. I mean no coach is perfect, right? I'm sure even Lord Saban has a few bad losses on his record.
The problem was that Jimbo just wasn't a good gameday coach and he stumbled against inferior teams consistently. His teams enjoyed a massive talent gap playing in a weak ACC where the only challenger for most of his time was Clemson and each division rarely featured 2 or more ranked teams (including FSU). Despite this talent advantage Jimbo lost multiple games every year, except for his 2 years with Jameis Winston. To his credit he did win some big games against teams like Clemson and Florida - but even his championship season was built around an incredible stroke of luck.
In the 2013 BCS title game he faced an Auburn team that should have lost at least 4 and maybe even 5 games, they had received miraculous plays like the Kick 6 vs Bama, the hail mary deflection and catch vs Georgia, and an uncalled horse collar against JFF to scrape out wins in games they really should have lost. Jimbo avoided the defending champions Alabama in the title game, playing Nick Marshall and a Gus Malzahn Offense instead of the Alabama power game of TJ Yeldon and Derrick Henry with a SR Maxwell Award winning QB McCarron chucking balls up to Amari Cooper. Auburn had some solid NFL defensive players but it was nothing compared to the Alabama team loaded with NFL talent across the board. Instead of facing the Alabama juggernaut Jimbo faced probably the luckiest championship game team in who knows how long.
The evidence of who Jimbo is was all there but we were too blinded by the championships, Heisman, and big bowl wins to see it; the repetitive pattern of blowing games against inferior teams, often multiple times a year. Remember that thing about backup QB's? Well it turns out that Jimbo's entire head coaching career he has failed to adequately protect his quarterbacks. His teams average surrendering 2 sacks per game and usually rank in the lower half of the entire FBS. His offense is designed to get the quarterback hit repeatedly. Even with mobile big man Jameis Winston running the show in 2013 they still gave up 2.36 sacks per game and ranked #99 in FBS. Is it any wonder that he seems to lose his starting quarterback every year? Hopefully the chart below shows up well in the paste but it shows sacks allowed for Jimbo teams during his head coaching career. The anomalies are actually 2020 and 2021 where he finally leaned on the run game to move the ball, but old habits die hard and have a way of coming back. We're currently ranked #75 giving up 2 sacks a game, right on schedule for a Jimbo team.
At the end of the day we paid championship money for a coach who can only recruit. The numbers don't lie there, he's done a great job getting talent on campus, the problem is that the SEC has a lot more talent than the ACC so talent only gets you so far - outside of the 3 year run with NFL QB's EJ Manuel and Jameis WInston Fisher did not dominate the ACC the way a team with superior talent should have. Eventually the poor coaching and poor offensive scheme caught up to Fisher at Florida State and it's caught up to him here at A&M too. Jimbo has a 2 deep filled with 4 and 5 star players and he's 4-3. It's time for the con to end, Jimbo is not the perennial championship coach we thought he was, for all of his recruiting prowess he hasn't even approached on the field success that rivals Mr. February himself, Mack Brown. Jimbo may have laid down the bones of a championship squad, but it can't be a champion without a championship coach, and John James Fisher Jr. is most definitely not that.
But can you really blame us? We were the perfect mark - a program desperate for success and loaded with resources. We were just 5 years removed from true national relevance when Johnny Football took the world by storm and won the Heisman. We had tasted a little bit of relevance and success and we were convinced that the right guy could make it last.
On the East Coast Jimbo's con at Florida State was nearing it's end because a con can only last so long before it's exposed. The writing was on the wall for Jimbo but he had already found his new mark in the Aggies.
On the surface he appeared to be everything we desired - a national championship coach, a Heisman trophy winner, 2 Orange Bowl victories, a CFP appearance, 3 conference championships, and 4 division championships. Jimbo had more success in his 7 years at FSU than our program had experienced in the last 30 years (maybe even 80 years). Can you really blame us for thinking he was the guy?
In the face of such success it was easy to overlook a few blemishes like his 5-6 record on the way out at FSU - he lost his starting quarterback in the first game, what could you expect (tell me if this sounds familiar). An embarrassing Peach Bowl loss to Houston (just a meaningless bowl game), a 39 point blowout loss in the CFP against Oregon (at least he made it there, right?), a 43 point blowout loss to Louisville (They had a Heisman winner, what do you expect?), or numerous losses to typically unranked teams with inferior talent like Wake Forest, Virginia, NC State, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina. I mean no coach is perfect, right? I'm sure even Lord Saban has a few bad losses on his record.
The problem was that Jimbo just wasn't a good gameday coach and he stumbled against inferior teams consistently. His teams enjoyed a massive talent gap playing in a weak ACC where the only challenger for most of his time was Clemson and each division rarely featured 2 or more ranked teams (including FSU). Despite this talent advantage Jimbo lost multiple games every year, except for his 2 years with Jameis Winston. To his credit he did win some big games against teams like Clemson and Florida - but even his championship season was built around an incredible stroke of luck.
In the 2013 BCS title game he faced an Auburn team that should have lost at least 4 and maybe even 5 games, they had received miraculous plays like the Kick 6 vs Bama, the hail mary deflection and catch vs Georgia, and an uncalled horse collar against JFF to scrape out wins in games they really should have lost. Jimbo avoided the defending champions Alabama in the title game, playing Nick Marshall and a Gus Malzahn Offense instead of the Alabama power game of TJ Yeldon and Derrick Henry with a SR Maxwell Award winning QB McCarron chucking balls up to Amari Cooper. Auburn had some solid NFL defensive players but it was nothing compared to the Alabama team loaded with NFL talent across the board. Instead of facing the Alabama juggernaut Jimbo faced probably the luckiest championship game team in who knows how long.
The evidence of who Jimbo is was all there but we were too blinded by the championships, Heisman, and big bowl wins to see it; the repetitive pattern of blowing games against inferior teams, often multiple times a year. Remember that thing about backup QB's? Well it turns out that Jimbo's entire head coaching career he has failed to adequately protect his quarterbacks. His teams average surrendering 2 sacks per game and usually rank in the lower half of the entire FBS. His offense is designed to get the quarterback hit repeatedly. Even with mobile big man Jameis Winston running the show in 2013 they still gave up 2.36 sacks per game and ranked #99 in FBS. Is it any wonder that he seems to lose his starting quarterback every year? Hopefully the chart below shows up well in the paste but it shows sacks allowed for Jimbo teams during his head coaching career. The anomalies are actually 2020 and 2021 where he finally leaned on the run game to move the ball, but old habits die hard and have a way of coming back. We're currently ranked #75 giving up 2 sacks a game, right on schedule for a Jimbo team.
| Sacks allowed per game | |||
| year | rank | sacks | avg |
2010 | 72 | 27 | 1.93 |
2011 | 112 | 40 | 3.08 |
2012 | 70 | 26 | 1.86 |
2013 | 99 | 33 | 2.36 |
2014 | 42 | 23 | 1.64 |
2015 | 59 | 26 | 2 |
2016 | 108 | 36 | 2.77 |
2017 | 99 | 32 | 2.46 |
| FSU AVG | 82.625 | 30.375 | 2.2625 |
2018 | 106 | 35 | 2.69 |
2019 | 106 | 34 | 2.62 |
2020 | 8 | 7 | 0.7 |
2021 | 21 | 19 | 1.58 |
2022 | 55 | 25 | 2.08 |
| A&M AVG | 59.2 | 24 | 1.934 |
2023 | 75 | 14 | 2 |
At the end of the day we paid championship money for a coach who can only recruit. The numbers don't lie there, he's done a great job getting talent on campus, the problem is that the SEC has a lot more talent than the ACC so talent only gets you so far - outside of the 3 year run with NFL QB's EJ Manuel and Jameis WInston Fisher did not dominate the ACC the way a team with superior talent should have. Eventually the poor coaching and poor offensive scheme caught up to Fisher at Florida State and it's caught up to him here at A&M too. Jimbo has a 2 deep filled with 4 and 5 star players and he's 4-3. It's time for the con to end, Jimbo is not the perennial championship coach we thought he was, for all of his recruiting prowess he hasn't even approached on the field success that rivals Mr. February himself, Mack Brown. Jimbo may have laid down the bones of a championship squad, but it can't be a champion without a championship coach, and John James Fisher Jr. is most definitely not that.
