Florida State needs a new head football coach after parting ways with Mike Norvell on Sunday.
Could they go back to an old friend, Jimbo Fisher?
That’s definitely something that will be floated as an idea, no matter how realistic it is or isn’t.
There would be at least one obvious reason to bring Fisher back, and it has to do with money — which is ironic, considering that Fisher got a massive buyout when he left Texas A&M in 2023 and hasn’t coached since then.
Why Florida State Would Re-Hire Jimbo Fisher
Fisher’s massive buyout from Texas A&M would save the Seminoles money.
The Athletic’s Chris Vannini summed it up in an article on Sunday with this paragraph:
“We might as well start here. One segment of the FSU faithful wants Fisher back. He led Florida State to that 2013 national title, but he got the largest buyout in college football history ($77.6 million) from Texas A&M upon his firing in 2023, and he hasn’t coached since then. Rerun hires almost never work out well, but Fisher would help solve the money problem because he is able to take a lower salary with that Texas A&M money still coming his way, and no buyout will be required to hire him away from someone else. Don’t worry about the fact that he left Tallahassee for College Station amid a 5-6 season, apparently, because some people still remember the good days.”
This would be a bit, in a weird way, like the Minnesota Vikings signing Kyler Murray and the Atlanta Falcons signing Tua Tagovailoa as free agents in the past NFL offseason. They both had huge cap hits with their former teams and got cheap contracts to play quarterback with their new teams.
Fisher would work similarly for Florida State.
Jimbo Fisher Record at Florida State
Fisher coached at Florida State from 2010 through 2017.
In that time, he had an 83-23 record.
That included a 14-0 season in 2013 when they won the national championship with Jameis Winston at quarterback.
Fisher also had FSU go 12-2 in 2012 and 13-1 in 2014.
In addition to the BCS National Championship, FSU won the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the Champs Sports Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the Orange Bowl again while Fisher was at Florida State.
They spent most of Fisher’s tenure ranked in the AP Top-25.
Fisher ended with a 5-6 mark in his last season, and that’s when he left for Texas A&M.
It would certainly be a headline-grabbing move for the Seminoles to bring back Fisher. It might also be a fun move toward recruiting wins. It’s something to keep an eye on.
Florida State Bringing Back Jimbo Fisher as Head Coach Would Have Major Financial Incentive