Posted on 11/14/2022 6:24:44 PM PST by Brookhaven
1. I don’t want to get on a soapbox, but …
It’s time to start looking at the mess in College Station strictly from a value standpoint.
Where is the value now at Texas A&M? In coach Jimbo Fisher, or the players he recruited?
Because if you decide it’s with the players and not the coach — as the mounting empirical evidence continues to suggest — the simple decision is saving face or saving a program.
No one wants to admit they’re $86 million wrong. But if you’ve decided value is with the players, how can you not try to fix it?
“Self-inflicted wounds, gotta do a better job,” Fisher, the man with the Enron-sized buyout, said after Texas A&M’s 6th straight loss removed all doubt about the worst team in the SEC.
If that sounds familiar, well, it’s because we’ve heard that same mantra all along this 6-game losing streak that has taken the preseason No. 6 team in the nation all the way to rock bottom.
Only this time it was different. This time 1 of the 3 most talented teams in the SEC was playing a team that had just fired its coach and was reeling in every way imaginable on and off the field.
Auburn was barely a functional team, its quarterback (Robby Ashford) threw an interception, lost a fumble and missed 2 wide-open receivers for touchdowns. All Auburn had was a running game, and the 3rd most talented team in the SEC was still chasing points in the 4th quarter.
A decade ago, Texas A&M entered the SEC, rolled into The Plains and scored 63 points. That’s a fantasy now.
That was Johnny Manziel and a bunch of overachievers who got hot and won 11 games — and led to another overreaction by a Texas A&M administration so consumed by winning, it’s always willing to do anything to make it happen.
They gave coach Kevin Sumlin a $30 million contract extension (a ridiculous number a decade ago), one that guaranteed him every penny if he was fired at any point without cause.
A decade later, and after paying off Sumlin and throwing nearly a billion dollars into facilities renovations and upgrades, the Aggies tripled that unthinkable contract by giving Fisher a $90 million guaranteed extension.
Now here we are: the 3rd most talented team in the SEC — are you beginning to understand where the value is in College Station? — is now the worst team in the SEC. The coach whose past 4 recruiting classes were 1st, 8th, 6th and 4th (according to the 247Sports composite), can’t finish a sentence without mentioning one of these crutches:
— “That’s what happens when you’re young and inexperienced.”
— “It’s just self-inflicted wounds.”
— “The plays are there, we just have to execute and do better.”
After yet another loss, after the Aggies skulked off the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn interim coach Cadillac Williams ran celebratory laps amid a delirious moment and spoke of how you can’t measure the fight in a man who has something to prove.
At the same time, Fisher was asked about this uber-talented team failing to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2008.
“It’s the first time ever in my life, too,” Fisher said.
It’s always about Jimbo.
Only now more than ever.
2. Losing the grip
I spoke to an NFL scout who was at the Texas A&M-Ole Miss game in late October, and it removed all doubt that the message Fisher is sending isn’t getting home.
“If you line up those 2 teams, 1 physically looks like a mini NFL team, the other looks like your typical college football team,” the scout told me. “There are so many different dynamics to winning, but at the end of the day, it’s are you prepared, and how badly do you want it? (Texas A&M) got bullied on both lines of scrimmage by a team with far inferior talent. A team that wanted it.”
Fast forward to last weekend, where Texas A&M (again) was pushed around by an inferior team on the lines of scrimmage. Just like it was a week ago against Florida.
In those 3 games, the Aggies — who have recruited 18 4- and 5-star defensive linemen (including 6 5-stars) in the past 4 years — gave up 952 rushing yards to 3 programs (Auburn, Florida, Ole Miss) that haven’t recruited anywhere near the level of Texas A&M.
Two of those programs (Auburn and Florida) fired coaches, in part, because they were poor recruiters.
“Running the ball is the basic essence of football,” the scout said. “It’s hat on hat, I’m tougher than you. I could see a couple of guys who look the part but don’t play it. But a majority of the defensive front?”
Knowing all of that, maybe it’s easier to understand what happened prior to the Auburn game, when star WR Moose Muhammad III was suspended for the game.
All Fisher would say was the matter would be handled “internally.” But Muhammad tweeted after the game that he was benched for “wearing arm sleeves — something that my teammates and opponents wear frequently for protection.”
This, everyone, is a significant red flag. Why, you ask?
Because players have more power than they’ve ever had in college football. They have free movement, without the threat of being forced to sit out a transfer season.
It’s not hard to figure where this is going.
If 1 or more (or many more) aren’t happy — if they don’t want it — they’re leaving and playing immediately somewhere else. More than likely, somewhere else in the SEC.
If what Muhammad said was true — and there are certainly 2 sides to every story — that won’t sit well in a locker room that already has problems. Fisher twice this season suspended impact players from the historic No.1-ranked recruiting class.
The first round of suspensions happened before a big nonconference game against Miami in mid-September. The second was after the first loss to South Carolina.
A week later, Ole Miss ran for 391 yards on the Aggies — and the give-up officially began.
3. The Choice, The Epilogue
Fisher has built his reputation as an offensive coach. He insists the offense — last in the SEC (21.5 ppg.), and 108th in the nation — is a few plays, a few blown protections, a few missed blocks, from performing at its best.
He has started 3 quarterbacks this season and has called each a “backup” quarterback. That’s not by mistake, that’s with intention.
Translation: It’s not me, it’s the backup quarterback.
It’s spotty protection and dropped passes and wrong routes and a lack of consistency from the 3rd most talented team in the SEC.
Haynes King, the original starter, was a 4-star recruit. As was his backup, LSU transfer Max Johnson, who had a 35/7 TD/INT ratio despite 2 tumultuous seasons in Baton Rouge — but looked average in his brief time as the starter before sustaining a season-ending hand injury.
Then there’s 5-star freshman Conner Weigman, who was forced into the lineup against Ole Miss and played well. But 2 weeks later against Auburn, the results were brutal: 38 percent of his passes completed, 3.4 yards average per attempt.
Auburn led 7-0 at halftime, and the Aggies came out in the second half — after halftime adjustments — and had negative-2 yards of offense in the third quarter.
This is where we are with the evolution of Fisher at Texas A&M: The talent has never been better, the coaching has never been more questionable.
Where is the greater value? And are you willing to spend to find out?
Because firing Fisher not only costs $86 million in buyout money, it’s another $50-60 million investment for a new coach.
Do you want to save face, or save a program?
The latter might cost $140 million.
TAMU can't afford NOT to fire Jimbo.
Wokeball blues.
DGAF.
When they broke up the Southwest Conference, and sold out for TV money, and started having a fake “national championship” (thanks Obama), they destroyed good old normal college football.
It couldn’t happen to a better team. Hopefully, Texas and OU will be right behind. Money grubbers.
Texas A&M has always pretty much been what you just described. And therein is the issue, they think they are a program much bigger than they are. They’re just A&M.
Texas 4&8 is stuck with Jimbo. I’m not certain that they have done away with the people who “negotiated” that contract. Ironically, Auburn is almost as much of a mess. Auburn paid a lot to get rid of a pretty good coach, only to end up back a Square One again.
Meanwhile Fisher’s old school, Floida State, has finally turned it around and the future is looking very bright
Hoe is it woke?
There are plenty of TAMU alum with really deep pockets who would be willing to pony up the $$$$ for the $86 million buyout
I hope you aren’t referring to Harsin as the pretty good coach.
Malzahn, I would agree, but Harsin, no.
No, I meant Gus. He is probably deserving of more than “pretty good.” Yes, he runs a gimmicky offense, but it’s a good gimmick. Harsin just ... didn’t have it. At all.
Jimbo Fisher hasn’t had his head straight since divorcing his blonde wife when he was head coach at FSU, because she fell in lust with a gator trainer coach.
Totally fecked him up. And I didn’t like him afterr Bowden, but daggum, the man had reason for going south.
He should take the money and go fishing. Praying for him to get some peace.
Someone owes Kevin Sumlin note of apology…
Agree 100%!!!
Not reading all that...because....Poor Aggie
I’m an Aggie. Don’t know who I’m more mad at, Jimbo or the administrators who signed his contract
Meanwhile, all season, I have been saying “Brian Kelly should know know how to do this.” It might not be the best fit in terms of personality, but the guy is getting really good results. Weird profession.
Just set up a minor league for the NFL.
And NBA.
That would draw about as well as the USFL does.
People support college sports because of real or imagined affiliations.
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