Jimbo Fisher details why he wanted Bobby Petrino on Texas A&M's staff

This offseason, Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher brought in Bobby Petrino to become the Aggies’ next offensive coordinator. It was a move that caught a lot of people’s attention, as the former head coach has had success producing great offenses but has had controversies in his career.

As Fall Camp gets going, Fisher explained why he wanted to add Petrino to his staff.

“He’s been very productive, as a head coach as an offensive coordinator,” Jimbo Fisher said. “And, also, philosophically, a lot of things he believes and how he looks at the game and the way we did, like I said, we’ve known each other a long time. I mean, and we studied each other’s film a long time.

Bobby Petrino was set to join UNLV as an assistant before jumping on the chance to coach at Texas A&M. Prior to that, he was the head coach at Missouri State.

“Scheme, schematics, run game, and he has balance. I mean, it’s not just all throw, not it’s all pass. It’s a balanced attack that attacks and can use different weapons and has done it in times. He’s had great tight ends, used big backs, very similar in philosophical nature, and a very proven guy who has a great mind for the game and does a great job teaching and getting great production. I mean, I’ve always had a lot of respect for him. We’ve been knowing each other for a long time.”

The hope is that Bobby Petrino can breathe new life into Texas A&M’s offense. However, it’s been unclear just how large a role he’ll play in it and who is going to be calling the plays.

At SEC Media Days, Fisher was cryptic about that situation.

“I’m not going to get into that. Bobby was hired for a reason. Tremendous guy. Tremendous football mind. Hopefully, he’ll call the game & have suggestions,” Fisher said. “When you get to [play] calling, and you get on a roll, you need a guy that can do it, and I think Bobby can definitely do that better than anybody in college football. And I have great respect for him. We’ve had great admiration for each other for a long time.”

Bobby Petrino on his relationship with Jimbo Fisher

While there has been a lot made about the relationship between Bobby Petrino and Jimbo Fisher, Petrino has a clear idea of what his role is. It’s to keep Fisher happy.

“[Jimbo] is the boss, alright,” Petrino said. “My job is to keep him happy and make sure everything works the way he wants it to work.”