clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Jimbo Fisher’s historic buyout at Texas A&M shatters college football record for fired coach

Jimbo Fisher’s buyout more than triples previous record in college football after being let go by Texas A&M.

Texas A&M v Ole Miss Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images

Jimbo Fisher is reportedly set to be fired as head coach of Texas A&M football. The news comes after the Aggies crushed Mississippi State, 51-10, on Saturday in a victory that amounts to too little, too late for Fisher.

Texas A&M sits at 6-4 overall after the Mississippi State victory. The program thought it would be competing for national championships when it hired Fisher away from Florida State and signed him to one of the biggest coaching contracts in history. Fisher had to win nine games this season to keep his job, according to Max Olson of The Athletic.

Texas A&M is about to pay a huge sum to fire Fisher. The school originally signed him to a 10-year, $75 million contract in December 2017 following a successful run at Florida State that saw him lead the school to the 2013 national championship. Fisher then received an updated deal of 10 years, $95 million in 2021 that was fully guaranteed.

Fisher’s buyout is historic. He’ll personally receive about $75 million for being let go. When you factor in his full staff also being fired, Texas A&M is shelling out about $100 million to change coaches.

The best job in America has long been being a fired college football coach. Fisher’s firing takes that idea to an entirely new level. The record for the biggest buyout in college football history is $21.45 million for Gus Malzahn when he was fired by Auburn football.

At $75 million, Fisher’s buyout crushes that.

Texas A&M badly wants a championship-level program. They didn’t have it under Jimbo Fisher. Coming off a 5-7 season in 2022, Fisher had to have an excellent year, and it just didn’t happen.

Don’t feel too bad for him, though. The man is about to get a historic payment for being let go.