Jimbo Fisher is in the middle of a tug-of-war between Texas A&M trying to pry him away and Florida State trying to keep him in Tallahassee. The Seminoles had tried to take extra measures to keep him by giving him a bigger money pool for assistants and making a serious commitment to better football facilities. However, it's been reported that the Noles should not expect Fisher back.
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While he has not made an official decision, Fisher is reportedly getting a strong "urging", according to ESPN, from FSU to make his decision so they can make some of their own in regards to a potentially new coaching staff. The 52-year old coach was hoping to wait until after the rescheduled Louisiana-Monroe game on Saturday to make an announcement on his future according to the report, but it looks like that time table may have just been moved up.
A report earlier this week noted there was a done deal.
Sources w/knowledge of TAMU search process tell me Jimbo-Fisher has a deal to be next Head Coach @AggieFootball .Fisher will coach 1 final game at FSU but not Bowl game should they become eligible. I'm told his TAMU contract will be at least 5 yrs/7.5 million per year. @KPRC2
— Randy McIlvoy (@KPRC2RandyMc) November 26, 2017
First it was LSU last year, and now Texas A&M has become heavily involved in trying to pry Fisher away from the Seminoles. With those rumors flying, Florida State did its due diligence to appease Fisher and prevent him from fleeing the program.
According to a report by the Orlando Sentinel, Florida State was making progress on a standalone football facility, which became an issue after Fisher made comments on Clemson's facilities. The same report also noted that the school was looking to invest more in the salaries for Fisher's assistant coaches.
Facilities have become more and more important to programs in recent years, as schools hope to flaunt their commitment to football with these large investments. While Fisher recently mentioned Clemson's new athletic facility, the Tigers are far from the only ones to make that kind of investment; even Kansas has recently committed to pouring hundreds of millions into improvements dedicated purely to football.
FSU President John Thrasher also previously noted, "Jimbo's here forever." But he did leave the door open a bit with what he said next.
"You know, as long as he wants to be, he's good. He's as good as gold. He's going to be here."
Fisher would be a homerun for an Aggies programming looking for a quick turnaround.
At one point this season, it appeared as if Sumlin was as good as gone but, after four consecutive wins following the opener, Sumlin appeared to be at least somewhat in the "safe" category when it came to his job status.
From there, though, the Texas A&M Aggies began to struggle again and eventually Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle reported that the powers that be in College Station had come to a decision. In short, Sumlin was expected to be on his way out, regardless of what took place in his team's season finale against LSU (they lost, 45-21).
The same report indicated that Jimbo Fisher is "the Aggies' top target."
The Aggies are certainly taking a risk in parting with a known commodity but, in the end, it seems as if Texas A&M wants to aim high and Sumlin wasn't the guy moving forward.
Sumlin finished his tenure with a 51-26 record (25-23 in the SEC).
