Texas A&M’s monumental takeover of Jimbo Fisher marks a new era in College Station

Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher is owed approximately $76.8 million over the remainder of his 10-year contract.Getty Images

Texas A&M’s decision to move on from football coach Jimbo Fisher was “not only a monumental decision for the future of the program,” it “came with a massive rebalancing of the checkbook” for AD Ross Bjork and the CEO of the 12th Man Foundation. Travis Dabney, according to Travis L. Brown of the Bryan-College Station EAGLE. On Sunday, Bjork said: “Let me be very clear in this next part: Texas A&M Athletics and the 12th Man Foundation will be the sole sources of the funds necessary to cover these transition costs. » Under the terms of Fisher’s guaranteed contract, he is owed approximately $76.8 million over the remainder of his 10-year contract. Of that amount, “25 percent is due within 60 days of Fisher’s termination date,” or approximately $19 million, and an additional $7 million is due to him “within 120 days of his termination.” The remainder will be paid in equal annual installments until the end of the contract. Björk said that as the contract currently stands, “unrestricted contributions within the 12th Man Foundation will be used” to cover the approximately $26 million in one-time payments, while the rest of the annual payments “will come from the budget of the athletic department. He added that the costs “will require examining new and alternative revenue streams and tightening belts in certain aspects of the athletic program.” Texas A&M finished seventh in the NCAA in total revenue in 2022 with about $193 million. Bjork said Texas A&M has “new television deals” and “new sponsorship deals coming.” He added that the department is “reusing a lot of our revenue categories,” so Texas A&M has “a lot of new revenue coming in as well, but we also have to manage expenses” (Bryan-College EAGLE Station, 11/12).

MUST BE DONE: SI’s Pat Forde wrote that the timing of Fisher’s firing is “bizarre” but that the outcome was “inevitable, once the school reconciled itself to the fiscal irresponsibility of paying by far the largest buyout of the history of university sports. Between “reimbursing Fisher and his staff and replacing them,” that’s an expense of more than $125 million. Forde: “With oil prices being what they are, it seems like there’s a lot of stupid money to boost college football in Texas” (IF, 11/12). In College Station, Robert Cessna writes in retrospect, it is “obvious” that A&M should not have given Fisher an extension and, indeed, “maybe not even hired him.” Cessna: “You should probably get more than a 45-25 record for about $122 million. » Hiring Fisher in 2017 and extending his contract in 2021 were “smart business decisions at the time,” but “giving him a blank check was stupid – only because it didn’t work.” Firing Fisher and “giving him a Brink’s armored truck full of money is the easy part.” The challenge is to “do the right recruitment” (Bryan-College EAGLE Station, 11/12).

NOT YOUR FATHERS’ COACHING MARKET: USA TODAY’s Dan Wolken wrote that the “most alarming part” of Texas A&M’s decision to spend about $77 million to force Fisher out is “how normal it seems.” Just a few years ago, it was “a big deal — a stain on your program, even” — if the cost of firing a coach reached $10 million. Now, college football officials have “decided to allow a completely open, unfettered market for coaching talent” where contracts are “only written to be enforceable in one direction.” Wolken noted that since “almost all top-level head coaches are controlled by a small handful of agents,” it’s an “easy game to play.” Wolken: “It’s not a deal, it’s a hostage negotiation. And each time, the schools lose out, so much so that $77 million no longer seems like a big deal. Wolken added that the “curious part” is why college administrators “seem to accept this while begging Congress to pass a law that ensures they will never be forced to make their athletes employees and pay them salaries” (USA TODAY, 11/12). In Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw wrote for those who think “college football has lost its way” by paying star players between $1 million and $2 million NIL to play, “consider what Fisher is about to receive for not do nothing “. Before Fisher’s firing, the record was held by former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, who raised $21.5 million. Cowlishaw noted that Fisher “can find another job” and that the Aggies “will still pay him” the $76 million (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/12).

NOT FEELING WELL: In Fort Worth, Mac Engel wrote that “chances are good” that the $76.8 million figure “will be negotiated down to a ‘smaller’ number, but the money is gone.” Fisher’s contract is “privately financed,” meaning a “handful of wealthy Aggies agreed to pool their money to keep one person from working for their school.” Engel: “There is something seriously wrong with this case and nothing can stop it” (FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM, 11/12).

Just throw some money at it: Blake Toppmeyer of USA TODAY wrote that Texas A&M “is so desperate for relevance in football” that it “doesn’t think twice before throwing oil drums full of money at its desires.” Toppmeyer: “You didn’t really think Texas A&M was going to let something like a $77 million-plus buyout stop them from firing a bankrupt coach, did you? Texas A&M “knows little about championships” but they “know how to spend like a shopper on Rodeo Drive.” At every turn, the Aggies were “spending like a rich drunk in the high-roller section of the casino, and it’s not last call yet” (USA TODAY, 11/12). In San Antonio, Mike Finger wrote that money “got them out of this mistake, just as money will get them out of the next one,” so they could “continue to believe that they are nothing but ‘to a big check from a national title’. » (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 11/12).