Texas A&M fired football coach Jimbo Fisher on Sunday after six-plus seasons and a 45-25 record. The school owes the 58-year-old coach a buyout worth roughly $77 million under a contract that includes no offsets if Fisher lands another college football job.
“After very careful analysis of all the components related to Texas A&M football, I recommended to President Welsh and then Chancellor Sharp that a change in the leadership of the program was necessary in order for Aggie football to reach our full potential and they accepted my decision,” Ross Bjork, Texas A&M director of athletics, said in a statement. “We appreciate Coach Fisher’s time here at Texas A&M and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
The buyout smashes the previous record for a college football coach buyout set in 2020 when Auburn fired Gus Malzahn despite owing a $21.5 million buyout. Other big payouts after firings included Charlie Weis ($19 million), Willie Taggert ($18 million) and Tom Herman ($15.4 million).
The $77 million is roughly what Texas A&M earns in a single year from tickets, sponsorships, licensing and advertising from all sports. It is more than three times as much as the combined operating budgets of men’s and women’s basketball. With $193 million, Texas A&M ranks 7th among public schools in revenue from college sports, according to Sportico’s college athletics financial database of public school funding.
Fisher’s contract calls for him to receive more than $19 million within the next 60 days, or the equivalent of the entire athletic budget for Louisiana-Monroe in 2021-22. That amount is likely to exceed the amount of money A&M will spend this year on all of its athletic scholarships. A&M reported spending around $13.6 million on athletic aid in 2021-22. Fisher will then receive just over $7 million a year through 2031.
There were three football teams that paid more than $10 million in severance during the 2021-22 fiscal year, and four public schools topped $10 million across all sports.
Fisher spent eight years as coach of Florda State, including a national championship when FSU finished 14-0 and topped Auburn in the 2014 BCS National Championship game. Fisher resigned at the end of the 2017 season to take the A&M job under a record contract worth $75 million over 10 years. The deal stunned the football world for its value and length.
Fisher won bowl games in his first three season and had the Aggies ranked fourth in the 2020 year-end polls. He regularly recruited classes ranked in the top 10 and was rewarded with an updated 10-year, $95 million fully guaranteed deal in September 2021. A&M is 19-15 since the start of the 2021 season, including 10-13 in the SEC.
Fisher’s deal worth $9.5 million a year on average ranked tied for 16th in Sportico’s look at the highest paid pro and college coaches across all sports in 2022. He was tied with Michigan State’s Mel Tucker for 7th among college coaches. Tucker was also fired this year with his contract payout likely headed for a legal showdown. MSU invoked a “for cause” firing, which followed a university investigation for prohibited conduct pursuant to MSU’s relationship violence and sexual misconduct and Title IX policy.
A&M defeated Mississippi State 51-10 on Saturday and finishes its regular season against Abilene Christian and LSU.
With assistance from Eben Novy Williams and Daniel Libit.