Paul Finebaum 'firmly' believes Texas A&M does not want to fire Jimbo Fisher

Paul Finebaum has no doubt that Texas A&M administrators don’t want to fire head coach Jimbo Fisher, as evidenced by the addition of new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.

Petrino has his own checkered past when he was the head coach of Arkansas, but the seemingly reformed former SEC coach is Fisher’s right hand man this season. He was brought in to fix Fisher’s offense and help A&M get over the hump.

Finebaum chalked it up to Fisher knowing what he had to do: he had to make a change if he wanted a longer leash to chase success at Texas A&M.

“Jimbo is smart,” Finebaum said to Matt Barrie on ESPN’s YouTube channel. “And I think he realized he didn’t have many cards to play. We spent all of our last year on Sunday morning talking about would they buy him out. It’s pretty obvious they did not want to buy him out and I still don’t think they do. This gives them a chance to make it and it’s a dangerous move, but I don’t think Jimbo Fisher can worry about that. I say dangerous because it’s easier to fire Jimbo Fisher now that you have somebody who’s able to take over.” 

Fisher originally signed a 10-year, $75 million deal in December of 2017 when he left Florida State.

The two sides re-upped for a 10-year, $94.95 million deal that went into effect in 2022. It seems like he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

But if Petrino is successful in his role, don’t think the Aggies don’t know they have a potential backup plan right in their back pocket, so says Finebaum.

But, Finebaum made it clear he doesn’t think the school is actively trying to get rid of its head coach.

“You know this isn’t just some garden variety offensive coordinator,” Finebaum said. “I firmly believe A&M does not want to fire Jimbo Fisher. I think they want him there. And the people with whom I’ve spoken to that or part of that program, say so far it’s gone well.

“Now that doesn’t mean anything, that means Bobby Petrino has got his parking spot. He went through orientation with the HR people and it was probably needed. Beyond that, they had a pretty decent spring without any controversy.”

Since 2017, Fisher is 39-21 with Texas A&M, including a 9-1 season during the 2020 shortened campaign. That seemed to be a breakthrough, but the Aggies went 8-4 and 5-7 the last two seasons.

Fisher is 122-44 overall as a head coach and won the BCS National Championship in 2013 with Florida State.