“$76 million is why he won’t get fired,” “He’s not going anywhere, the buyout is too big,” – these were the responses in regards to my article from 2 weeks back. I spoke of the unlikely scenario that if Texas A&M were to lose at home to a 2-5 Gamecock team at the time, Jimbo would have been gone by Sunday of that week. Nonetheless, here we are two weeks later and Texas A&M has decided to part ways with Jimbo Fisher.

$76 million is the largest buyout ever paid to fire a head coach in college football, crushing the previous record of $21.7 million between Auburn and Gus Malzahn. It’s the same story every year for Texas A&M: underperform, build hype in the off-season, fall short, repeat. 

Jimbo Fisher's Unprecedented Texas A&M Buyout

Within 60 Days: $19.4M
Within 120 Days: $7.27M
2025: $7.27M
2026: $7.27M
2027: $7.27M
2028: $7.27M
2029: $7.27M
2030: $7.27M
2031: $7.27M

Total Buyout: $77.56M

— Spotrac (@spotrac) November 12, 2023

In 2021, Texas A&M extended an additional $95 million to Jimbo Fisher just to keep him from running to LSU; that decision is ultimately what led to his firing. Since that time, Texas A&M watched Brian Kelly come in and turn LSU into a legitimate contender, while Jimbo has the Aggies sitting towards the bottom of the SEC. 

There is no lack of talent; every resource that you need to win is there in College Station. The whole reason Jimbo went to Texas A&M is due to resources being “limited” at Florida State. If they are so limited, how does Mike Norvell have them 3 games away from a trip to the College Football Playoff? Meanwhile, Jimbo has not won a game on the road since 2021.

Jimbo built his career off of having a generational QB, Jameis Winston, at Florida State at the right time. He was brought in to find the “next Johnny Manziel” for Texas A&M, but in 6 seasons, he has swung and missed on every quarterback brought in. The 2013 season was a fluke in Jimbo’s coaching history, and he hasn’t been able to sniff those levels since.

It’s no question that Texas A&M is a desirable job, but with Texas joining the SEC next season, it’s only going to get tougher moving forward. You have to believe if the Board of Trustees were willing to pay this buyout, they are unloading every resource to bring in an elite head coach. Dan Lanning, Mike Elko and Lane Kiffin are the names to watch out for.