Well, it finally happened: Texas A&M’s boosters decided to bite the bullet and pull the plug on the Jimbo Fisher experiment, even despite the $76 million buyout. They owe him about $26 million over the next few months, and then they’ll basically be paying him a little over $7 million a year through 2031.

It’s staggering to just think about that, and obviously the college football coaching contract/buyout system we have in place today is egregiously broken and wasteful, but if you look at it from the perspective of the uber-wealthy Texas A&M booster who is desperate to win at any cost, it’s not quite as bad because the majority of the buyout is paid out in yearly installments over the next 8 years.

They don’t have to come up with $76 million right now. Although I’m sure they probably could do that, the fact of the matter is they don’t have to. Yearly installments make it more palatable, even though it is kind of crazy to think they’ll be paying out Jimbo $7 million a year on top of the fact that they’ll be paying whomever they hire to be their new coach something like $10-12 million as well.

I don’t want to spend too much time talking about how Jimbo failed to live up to expectations because his track record at A&M is well-documented, but the bottom line here is that he had enough money to win, he certainly had enough talent to win (greatest recruiting class ever recorded back in 2022), and yet he came nowhere close to doing what he was hired to do.

A&M is a weird job. They’ve got a bottomless pit of money available to throw around. They’ve got world-class facilities, a massive, beautiful stadium that holds 100k+, they play in the SEC, the NIL program is elite–on paper, it’s gotta be one of the best jobs in the country. They have so much money, and money goes a very long way in college football.

But at the same time, it’s also like it’s kind of… I don’t know. Fake?

Like Texas A&M has done everything you need to do to give off the appearance of being an elite program, but they don’t actually have the tradition and history of an elite program.

They haven’t won a National Championship since 1939. This is a program that had Bear Bryant as its head coach back in the 1950s, and they still were unable to win a National Championship–although in fairness, Alabama came calling for him after just 4 seasons at A&M.

But A&M also had Gene Stallings as their head coach, too–another coach that failed to win a National Championship at A&M but won one at Alabama.

They’ve never won an SEC Championship since joining the conference back in 2011. In fact, they’ve never been to the SEC Championship game even once.

The last time Texas A&M actually won their conference was when they were in the Big 12 back in 1998. 25 years since their last conference championship, and counting.

A&M was part of the Southwest Conference from 1915-1995, and they did win the conference 15 times over that span, but 10 of those 15 titles were won prior to 1970. So basically Texas A&M has just 6 conference championships since 1970 between the SWC, the Big 12 and the SEC.

I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that the greatest moment in A&M football history was when Johnny Manziel led them to a win over Alabama and won the Heisman in 2012. That’s the peak for them. That’s the best it’s ever been at Texas A&M. It’s their only double-digit win season since 1998.

A&M kind of reminded me of Oregon, where there really wasn’t a whole lot of tradition and history there, but basically they just tried to throw a lot of money at the program until it became an elite power. It worked at Oregon, for the most part–even though they’re still chasing that elusive National Championship, they have over the past 20-25 years or so become a top-10 program in the nation. Not the case with A&M.

College football is a sport that is dominated by the same programs every year.

Like, for example, Alabama has a long history and tradition of winning that goes way back. Pull up just about any past season in college football and chances are, Alabama was great back then. They were great in the 1960s and 1970s under Bear Bryant, they were pretty great in the 1990s under Gene Stallings, and obviously they’ve been elite since 2008 under Nick Saban. Alabama won their first National Championship in 1925. They won 3 titles in the ‘60s, 3 in the ‘70s, one in the ‘90s, one in the 2000s, 4 in the 2010s, and they won their most recent National Championship in 2020. 

There is a long and storied tradition of winning at Alabama–a pedigree there that no matter what happens to the program will always be there. Like, even if somehow Alabama were to fall on hard times, the booster money dried up, and they turned into a bottom-dwelling program, there would always still be that history to fall back on, and the legacy of winning and dominance that they could point to and say, “This is who we are, this is what we do. We may have lost our way a bit, but no doubt we’ll be back on top before too long.”

Programs like Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Ohio State have something that no amount of money can buy: history and pedigree. You only get that by being great over many, many years, and I think A&M has been trying to buy that, and it’s been unsuccessful.

It’s a very “new money” vs. “old money” type of situation. There are no shortcuts to being old money–you just have to have money for a long time. Generations.

Similarly, there is no shortcut to being a great program. You just have to be great over a long period of time until your name is synonymous across the country with greatness–until your program both breeds and attracts greatness in a sort of self-reinforcing virtuous cycle: great players want to play at Alabama because Alabama is great, Alabama remains great because they get great players, rinse and repeat.

There is just a different mentality and attitude that comes to define a program when it’s really good over multiple generations. The expectation of winning comes from experience. You build a winning culture by winning over and over and over, and eventually winning is expected by everyone associated with the program down to the fans. Eventually, there is a winning culture and tradition that is so entrenched that it transcends ADs, transcends coaches and players, and even generations. 

Ohio State, for example, is a winning program virtually no matter what. They won a National Championship in the 2000s under Jim Tressel. They won a National Championship in the 2010s under Urban Meyer. Now in the 2020s they are knocking on the door of a National Championship almost every year under Ryan Day, and it probably won’t be too long until he finally breaks through and gets one himself. That’s the definition of a winning culture and tradition.

An article in the Athletic published over the summer tried to answer the question of why it’s so difficult to win at Texas A&M, and it said this:

‘Why the Aggies haven’t put it all together is “the million-dollar question … or in this case, the almost billion-dollar question,” former Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee said.

But McGee, who played at A&M from 2005 to 2008, wonders if Texas A&M is demanding enough of success.

“The culture and the expectation, not just internally in the program but externally, isn’t demanding of greatness,” McGee said.

McGee offered as a counterexample a program like Alabama, where after one 9-3 season, “they’re pissed off. They’re ready to get rid of people.” That culture seeps into the program itself, he said.

At Texas A&M? “There’s an acceptance of 9-3, that we had a great year.”

No matter how much money A&M spends, they cannot replicate having a winning culture like that. Alabama can act like that because the standard has already been set: 12-0 is the standard at Alabama. Trips to Atlanta in early December are the standard at Alabama. The CFP is the standard at Alabama. At Texas A&M, they can’t have those expectations because that standard has never been set. When you’re used to going 8-4 every year, you’re thrilled with anything above that. Until A&M actually starts winning at an elite level consistently, they can’t credibly have that standard.

The difference between Texas A&M and Oregon is that while Oregon is a new money program that didn’t have its first 10-win season until 2000 despite playing football since 1916, Oregon has over the past 20 or so years carved out a brand, traditions, culture, and an identity that feel genuine. 

When I think of Oregon, I think of high-powered offenses and cool uniforms. Yes, certainly Phil Knight’s Nike money has gone a long way into building Oregon into what it is today, but all the money in the world can’t buy your program an identity. It has to be built and carried on by players and coaches over a long period of time.

I just don’t know what Texas A&M’s football identity is. I know they have a ton of money to throw around, but at the end of the day, you have to have people who are there for more than just money. They have to have pride in the brand. There has to be buy-in to the program’s traditions and culture, awareness and appreciation for its history–it can’t just be “Well I’m here because they offered me so much money I couldn’t say no.”

That’s what I feel like Texas A&M is. They get all these 5-star recruits because of money and then half of them transfer out or flame out after not even a year. I’ve always pictured Texas A&M as that weird rich kid that tries to buy his friends, but at the same time nobody really likes him because he doesn’t quite understand that money isn’t the answer to everything. If your friends are only hanging around you because you have a cool car and you pay for bottle service for them on Saturday nights, that’s not real friendship. They only hang around you because of your money.

There has to be some reason other than money that people gravitate to Texas A&M, and I just don’t know if there is one. In terms of brand and identity, all I can really think of for them is Johnny Manziel, whose nickname was ironically “Money Manziel.”

Texas A&M as a university definitely has a brand and an identity. People who went to Texas A&M fucking love that place. You meet an Aggie and they will within 30 seconds somehow find a way to tell you they went to Texas A&M. They are all, to a man, immensely proud of the fact that they went to Texas A&M. They want to shout it from a mountaintop. People from the outside call them a cult, and even some Aggies will admit that yeah, it’s kind of a cult. They’ve got all those chants and hand signs and slogans and rituals and shit–it seems like a gigantic fraternity or sorority. And why are they always saying “Gig ‘em!” What the fuck does that even mean? 

If you went to Texas A&M, you are absolutely stamped for life. Aggies really do take care of their own–you’ll get jobs because the hiring manager is an Aggie, etc. I really don’t know if there’s any other college out there that has as much school pride as Texas A&M. It’s like they all know each other, and it’s like college never ends for them.

That doesn’t even scratch the surface. Literally everything they do–everything you see on TV–is some sort of tradition. They all wear the class rings they get after graduating. They take immense pride in that shit. You know the kind of person that would buy a class ring? That’s all of them. Nobody has more school spirit than Texas A&M–I don’t think anybody else even comes remotely close, honestly.

The Yell Leaders? I don’t even want to go there. Biggest weirdos I’ve ever seen. If you can stand to watch it, this video sums up Texas A&M pretty well.

You know how they sway in the crowd during games? They put their arms around each other and sway from side to side, that’s them symbolically SAWING OFF THE HORNS of the Texas Longhorn. That’s what that means. (And yeah, the rest of the country is about to really learn about that rivalry when Texas joins the SEC next year–Texas and Texas A&M absolutely despise each other. There might not be a more hated rivalry in all of sports and that includes Ohio State/Michigan.) Everything is some sort of tradition or ritual. 

“I’m a fightin’ Texas Aggie, class of 2015! Gig’ em, Aggies! Boy do I sure love Lady Reveille. Who’s Lady Reveille?! Why, she’s the First Lady of Aggieland, of course!”

(Lady Reveille, for the record, is a dog that is the school’s mascot.)

They have an official greeting–”Howdy”–which is just weird, right? Unless you’re a cattle rancher, why the fuck are you using the word “Howdy”? You’re a marketing major–what is wrong with you? If some normal-ass, white collar person greets me with “Howdy!” I’m going to be weirded-out.

This is the reason, by the way, their football program has so much money. The Aggie network is arguably the strongest alumni network in the United States. The Aggies who go on to get rich after graduating really, really want their football team to be great. They think Texas A&M is the greatest place in the world, and they want a football team to match that. The greatest university in America should have the greatest football team America, in their minds. So they dump millions and millions of dollars into the football program.

But I’ve often wondered if this cult-like atmosphere around the university is actually a detriment to the football program. Like, do football players and coaches really want to be around all those weird fake military dudes who squeeze their junk, and the “Yell leaders” and their overalls with “aTm” on the ass? 

Again, it feels like football players and coaches go to Texas A&M and basically say, “Yeah they’re pretty weird, not gonna lie, but they offered me so much money I just couldn’t say no.”

Look, I don’t think any of this is sinister or anything like that. I do think at the end of the day, Texas A&M and all its traditions and rituals–I think it’s for a good cause, ultimately. They talk a lot about how they’re trying to develop leaders, stuff like that. I don’t think they’re bad people at all. It’s just kind of weird to me, that’s all–and it’s probably weird to just about any outsider. That’s really the point I’m getting at here. Just because the rest of us don’t “get it” doesn’t mean it’s wrong or bad or anything like that.

But this gets at the core of maybe why no head coach has ever really been able to succeed there: I think they need an Aggie to lead the program. 

The only guy out there that I can even think of that would fit the billing is Dan Campbell, but it’s just very hard for me to see a guy go from the NFL down to the college ranks unless he was fired like Jim Harbaugh was with the Niners. But the Lions definitely aren’t firing Dan Campbell anytime soon, and I doubt he would leave there either. He loves the city of Detroit and they love him back.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the Aggie boosters will make it hard for Campbell to say no. Because they will offer him that job. It’ll be a strong pitch, too: come back to A&M and make your alma mater proud. We’ll give you $12 million a year and make you the highest paid coach in the sport. No? How about $15 million? We will pay you whatever you want.

I don’t think he’ll do it, because again, nobody leaves NFL jobs for college jobs. In addition to the money being better in the NFL (although I’m sure A&M will offer Campbell more than he’s making now), you don’t have to deal with as much bullshit when you coach in the NFL. You don’t have to recruit, that’s #1. You don’t have to deal with boosters and fundraisers and all that. Being a college football coach, you’re really more like the CEO of a massive organization. The job has more responsibilities than just coaching the team. I mean, shit, you’ve got to worry about whether your guys are going to class and making grades and not getting arrested and all that, too. You have to deal with angry parents who think their kid should be starting, etc. 

In the NFL, it’s all about football. You don’t have to worry about anything else. I’m not saying it’s “easy” to be an NFL coach or that NFL coaches don’t have to put in 120 hour weeks and sleep in their offices regularly, but you just don’t have to deal with as much bullshit as college coaches do.

So that’s why you don’t really see NFL coaches voluntarily leave NFL jobs to coach at the college level. That’s why I don’t think Dan Campbell will leave–however, while NFL coaching salaries are typically kept under wraps and all us in the general public can go by are estimates, it’s very clear the Lions are going to have to give Dan Campbell a huge raise now. Reports say he makes between $3-4 million a year, and whatever Texas A&M is about to offer him will blow that out of the water. If the Lions don’t essentially triple his salary up into the $12 million+ range, he might just have no choice but to take the A&M job. If A&M comes offering $12 million, and the Lions are only willing to go up to like $6-7 million, how will Campbell be able to say no to A&M?

So that’s the only real caveat I see. I still think Campbell stays with the Lions, they’d be idiots not to lock him up long term considering he’s the best coach they’ve had in a generation (although Jim Caldwell did have a winning record in Detroit not too long ago, which is quite a feat and I don’t think Caldwell gets enough credit for the job he did there). 

Overall, though, I just think Texas A&M needs a football coach who gets them, and who will be there because he wants to be there. This isn’t really a foreign concept–most big-time college football programs are led by guys who actually attended the school, or are at least from the same state. Kirby Smart played at Georgia back in the day, Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback for Michigan in the 80s. You think about Ed Orgeron at LSU as well. Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer were both Ohio guys.

Texas A&M needs a native son to come back and lead the program. And it can’t just be a guy who is from Texas, either. He has to be an Aggie, because I don’t think non-Aggies can fully understand Aggies. Jimbo Fisher always struck me as an outsider who couldn’t say no to the money, and the Aggies pounced all over him once he left Florida State for the simple reason that he had won a National Championship at Florida State, so he’d certainly be able to win a National Championship at A&M.

I will say this, though, because I’ve bashed on A&M quite a bit: I think it’s one of the best jobs in the country. I’m not going to put it up there at the tippy-top of the pyramid (for the record, I think the top three jobs in the country are, in whichever order, Texas, Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia). But I think A&M might be in that next tier below it, if only because you will never be wanting for resources there. You will have all the money you could ever need and then some. A&M boosters will spare no expense in their dogged hunt for that elusive National Title.

Plus, what might make it even more attractive is that nobody’s really won at A&M. You win a Natty there, you are a legend for life. You’re getting a statue. Think about the guy who replaces Saban at Alabama: that dude has to follow up a guy who won 6 Nattys. There’s no following up Saban. You’re cooked before you even coach your first game at Alabama if you follow up Nick Saban.

But if you win at A&M, you’re their George Washington. You’re the King of the Aggies. You’d be so revered you’d basically have Prima Nocta over all the women of Aggieland.

I know I just spent a whole several paragraphs talking about programs with established winning cultures vs. programs that don’t have the established winning culture, but really the winning is a byproduct of the culture. It’s a byproduct of having competent people in place at the school–in the university, in the athletic department, in the booster network, etc.

I think the difference between Texas A&M and Georgia, or Alabama, or Ohio State is that the great programs have people in place that know what it takes to win and are willing to do it. I think at A&M you have a lot of people who are desperate to win, but don’t know what it takes to do it.

The one name I keep coming back to for A&M is Urban Meyer. He knows how to win, obviously. I do wonder if perhaps the game has passed him by a bit, and would he actually be suited for the transfer portal/NIL era given how notoriously tough he is on his players? Additionally, Urban Meyer is a football guy. He’s not a glad-hander. I feel like at A&M you have to be a glad-hander, almost a politician in a way. You have to keep the big wigs and boosters happy, and there are a lot of them that all have massive egos and want them stroked. Urban Meyer isn’t that kind of guy.

But if they hired Urban Meyer and basically told him that he is the supreme dictator of the A&M football program, he could probably turn them into a winner. It would be a painful process because he’d probably clean house quite a bit and be a really demanding boss, but the guy knows what he’s doing. He knows what it takes to win 12+ games a year, he’s done it before, so he can credibly set those expectations and then if anybody isn’t up to snuff, they get the boot.

And yet, I could easily see Urban at A&M going almost exactly like Jimbo’s tenure at A&M went–an outsider who doesn’t really “get it” but couldn’t say no to the money, and fails miserably to live up to expectations.

I saw on Rece Davis’ podcast that the last coach to leave Texas A&M of his own volition, meaning the last A&M coach to not be fired, was Bear Bryant back in 1958, when he left for Alabama. That’s a truly wild fact.

Jimbo was fired, Kevin Sumlin was fired, Mike Sherman was fired, Dennis Franchione was essentially forced to resign. The coach before him, RC Slocum, his Wikipedia page says he was “forced to resign”. Jackie Sherrill technically resigned but did so amidst a slew of NCAA violations. Tom Wilson was fired in 1982 after just three seasons, Emory Bellard resigned in the middle of 1978, his 7th year as head coach, after a string of ugly losses. Gene Stallings (yet another A&M coach that went on to have great success at Alabama) was fired after the 1971 season. Hank Foldberg was fired after the 1965 season. And then Jim Myers, the guy who directly followed-up Bear Bryant, it doesn’t actually say on his Wikipedia page how exactly his head coaching tenure at A&M ended, but we can probably deduce he was fired from the fact that he went 12-24-4 in his 4 seasons.

I don’t think it’s any accident that they’ve pretty much fired their last 11 coaches. When you combine the fact that you need somebody who truly understands Texas A&M, and their incredibly demanding booster network, it takes a special individual to succeed there.

At the very least, they need somebody who understands how things work down in Texas, because not anybody can coach in Texas. Texas is basically its own country, and really a lot of the things that are true of Texas A&M (the culty-ness, the immense pride people derive from being from there, the fact that outsiders see them as strange) is kind of true of Texas as a whole. It’s a whole different culture down there.

You at least need somebody from Texas to coach the Aggies. That’s a bare minimum requirement, in my view. But really, I don’t see them winning a Natty until they’re led by someone who went to A&M. They need their LeBron James, their Neo from the Matrix–their “Chosen One.”

Dan Campbell is probably that guy, but I don’t see him coming available anytime soon. It feels like he’ll be with the Lions for a while. And he should stay there–they’ve got a really good thing going. Honestly, Dan Campbell is like the “Chosen One” for Detroit–virtually nobody was able to win with the Lions, and it doesn’t help that most people don’t want to be in Detroit. But Dan Campbell is a winner and he wants to be there–that’s special.

I really don’t have an answer here.

Jimbo was not an Aggie, and he was not from Texas–he’s from West Virginia. Kevin Sumlin was from Indiana and went to Purdue. Mike Sherman was from Massachusetts (not sure how they ever thought he’d work out). Dennis Franchione was from Kansas.

At least RC Slocum, who coached the program from 1989-2002, was from Texas, albeit he didn’t go to A&M. Prior to Slocum, Jackie Sherrill was from Alabama.

The last coach A&M had that was actually an Aggie was Gene Stallings, who played under Bear Bryant when he coached the Aggies.

It’s been over 50 years since an Aggie has coached the Texas A&M program. Obviously things didn’t really work out with Stallings at A&M (his record was 27-45-1) but Stallings was also 30 years old when he got the job, and of course a lot has changed with both the program and college football itself over the past 50+ years.

I don’t know off the top of my head any Aggie alums that are currently moving up the coaching ranks. It’s something that’s almost impossible to research–you’d have to look at every coaching staff in the country and individually go through every assistant coach’s bio to see who went to A&M. It’s not something I have any appetite to do.

And I assume the folks leading the coaching search at A&M know that stuff a lot better than I do, so if there is anyone with Aggie ties that is even a remote possibility here, they’re being vetted and considered as we speak.

I’m also going to assume there are no real options as far as Aggies who could coach the program, because of all the names that are being thrown around, none of them went to Texas A&M.

But that still doesn’t change my conviction that Texas A&M’s football program needs to be led by an Aggie–they need somebody who “gets it”, and who gets them.

It’s kind of like the LSU job a bit: Louisiana is a very unique and different state. They’ve got their own culture going on down there–Louisiana is one of those states that’s like another country unto itself. Not just anybody can win at LSU because you have to understand the state of Louisiana and its people. Like Ed Orgeron–the guy was LSU personified. Les Miles wasn’t from Louisiana, but he was quirky and eccentric and brash and a winner, and they loved him like one of their own down there.

Again, you could argue that just about any big time college football job requires a coach that understands the state, the culture, the people and the traditions and all that. But it’s a matter of, to what extent does the head coach of the program have to truly “get” the place that he’s coaching at? How important is it that the head coach is also a cultural fit there? A&M is one of those places where it’s extremely important, in my view.

One more thing I will say: just because there’s a lot of money at A&M doesn’t mean it’s an easy place to win. Obviously the history of the football program has proven that to be the case. But I was watching a press conference by Mike Gundy from earlier in this week, and one of the reporters asked him his thoughts on Jimbo and the situation at A&M–not like asking Gundy if he’s been offered the job or anything, more like “Care to comment on the shitstorm in College Station?” 

And Gundy had a pretty thoughtful answer, where he basically said, Look, I don’t know anything that’s going on down there, it’s probably not even fair of me to comment, but I do know that money can cause a lot of problems–not just in college sports but also in marriages, businesses, and anywhere else you can think of.

It made me think a bit about how maybe all that money floating around down there in “Aggieland” makes things more difficult for a head coach. I’ve always imagined A&M as being run by essentially a shadowy group of rich, eccentric oil executives (shadowy in the sense that I and most other casual observers have no idea who they are). And these rich boosters all have their own visions for the program–how it ought to be run, who ought to run it, etc. But they’re not always on the same page with one another, and so I feel like there’s a lot of “Game of Thrones” going on–alliances and factions between some of the boosters and against others, backstabbing, underhanded maneuvering, jockeying for influence.

And I feel like the head coach is often pulled in multiple directions by these different booster factions, making it virtually impossible to please all of them. For example, these boosters want you to hire this guy to be the defensive coordinator, but another group of boosters want somebody else; this group of boosters really wants X recruit and think resources should be devoted to signing him, but this other group of boosters wants Y recruit and want all the energy focused on him, etc.

The Athletic article cited above had this to say about the complex network of boosters:

There’s also the task of dealing with Texas A&M’s multiple fundraising arms: the 12th Man Foundation, the primary athletics fundraiser; the Texas A&M Foundation, the primary academic fundraising entity; and the Association of Former Students, the school’s alumni organization. All three have their own boards, independent of the university. Loftin said the analogous organizations at Missouri, where he was chancellor following his A&M tenure, fell under the university’s umbrella and reported to him.

The independence of these types of entities at other schools can vary. At Georgia, both the academic and athletic fundraising arms are part of the university and the athletic department, respectively. Texas’ “Longhorn Foundation” and the “Red Raider Club” at Texas Tech are both part of their respective athletic departments. But at LSU, the Tiger Athletic Foundation is independent of the school. Clemson’s athletic fundraiser, IPTAY, is also classified as independent.

At Texas A&M, Loftin said, “every day was a negotiation.” Asked how possible it is to get everyone on the same page, Loftin said, “it’s possible but not easy or likely.”

I knew it. It’s Game of Thrones down there in Aggieland. They’ve got three massive fundraising arms (i.e. booster networks) all operating independently from one another, and independently from the school. And you’ve got to try to please all of them at the same time. It doesn’t seem like anyone has been able to do it.

This is why I keep coming back to Urban Meyer: because he’s one of the few guys out there that could actually stand up to the boosters and say, “Listen up and listen good: you need me more than I need you. I’ve got money. I’ve won championships. I’m Urban Fucking Meyer, bitch. We’re going to do things my way and you’re going to say, ‘Sounds great, coach!’ And when I ask for more money, you’re going to say, ‘How much do you need, coach?’ Because I’ve won three national championships. I’ve won in the SEC and the Big Ten. And you guys haven’t won jack shit since 1939. I’ve got National Championship rings and all you have are your silly little Aggie graduate rings. So either I’m the dictator here or I walk and you’re on your own.”

I don’t even know if that would work, though. Rich boosters typically have tremendous egos and think they know everything. They don’t like to be talked to like that. They don’t like to be lectured by anybody.

And shit, Jimbo Fisher had a National Championship ring and he couldn’t figure it out. Obviously Jimbo Fisher is no Urban Meyer, but the guy still won a Natty. I’m sure it bought Jimbo plenty of leeway–at first. They were willing to do things his way, and trust that he knew what he was doing and would get them to where they wanted to go. But when the 8-4 seasons started piling up, Jimbo probably lost much of the credibility he had and the boosters found their opening to start clawing back some of that influence and decision-making power.

I really don’t have the answer here. I believe Dan Campbell could, and would, win at Texas A&M. He’s a square-jawed sonuva bitch who isn’t afraid of Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. With his NFL background combined with A&M’s NIL warchest, the dude would knock it out of the park in recruiting. But he’s not going to be available anytime soon. He’s not a realistic option right now.

The only name I can give here is Urban Meyer, but I don’t think he’s likely to coach there. I don’t think it would be a slam dunk even though on paper it should be just from the perspective of him having won a whole heck of a lot of games everywhere he’s been (except the NFL). But he’s not from Texas, he doesn’t “get” Texas A&M, he’s not well-suited to glad-handing with boosters and kissing their asses, he’s never coached college football in the transfer portal/NIL era–I don’t think Urban is the guy. I just can’t picture him there, and I don’t know if he could picture himself there. I think the only way Urban comes back to coaching is if Notre Dame opens up, quite honestly, but even that might be a longshot the more time passes.

If A&M doesn’t get an Aggie to be their head coach, then what they need is a guy who will be almost like a politician and ingratiate himself with the locals–go out of his way to show that he appreciates them and their way of life down there. Not pander–it’s got to be genuine. It can’t be like Brian Kelly going full Hillary Clinton and adopting an obviously fake Southern drawl. 

The guy has got to be able to make it clear that even though he didn’t go to school at A&M, he’s super excited to be there and be one of them, and all he wants to do is make Aggie Nation proud. It would probably help to say “Gig ‘em!” anytime there’s a camera around. But it’s got to be genuine. You might think it’s weird at first, but just dive in and try to embrace it, fake it til you make it. It will show that you are trying, and that goes a long way. Fans fucking love it when the head coach gives a little nod to their little slogans and mottos. Like when Ryan Day said, “It’s Ohio against the world!” after the Notre Dame game? The Ohio State fans ate that shit up. They fucking loved it.

At the very least, the next A&M coach has got to be a man of the people. Jimbo Fisher never really struck me as a “man of the people” type of guy. I don’t think Urban is that kind of guy, either.

I don’t know who among the candidate list is, but you just can’t treat A&M like any other job. It’s a highly unique school, fanbase, culture–you have to be aware of that and embrace it. You have to build up that goodwill among the fanbase because it’s a lot easier to be head coach somewhere when everyone likes you. Obviously you have to win, but I feel like A&M is one of those jobs where a head coach that doesn’t make deliberate efforts to ingratiate himself with the locals has no chance at success.

That’s really all I can say about the A&M head coaching vacancy. I don’t know who’s going to fill it, I don’t want to pretend like I know.

All I know is that whoever gets the job had better be cognizant of the fact that there’s a whole political and cultural aspect to the job that cannot go unaddressed.