Paul Finebaum slams Jimbo Fisher hire, calls extension 'malpractice'

Frustrations are boiling over in College Station. Texas A&M has lost three games in a row, including a 30-24 defeat at the hands of South Carolina in Week 8. After the latest loss, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum had strong criticism for Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher.

Finebaum joined ESPN’s Matt Barrie on Sunday to recap all of the Week 8 action, and the conversation took a familiar turn towards the struggles from Fisher and Texas A&M.

For Finebaum, the most puzzling part of the situation at Texas A&M stems from a decision made by athletic director Ross Bjork last year. Bjork and the Aggies decided to give Fisher a 10-year, fully guaranteed contract extension that is worth $95 million through the 2031 season. The buyout makes moving on from Fisher nearly financially impossible for Texas A&M.

“So now, the one thing that has been established is that Jimbo is assured of an 8-4 season at the minimum and he would be very lucky to finish 8-4,” Finebaum started. “I don’t know how else you can characterize this. If the predicate of every sentence is, ‘But he won’t be fired because he has an $86 million buyout,’ then what’s the subject? The subject is this has been a bad hire. What’s even worse than that – and we’re talking about athletic director malpractice here – that was giving him an extension last year.

“I mean the hire was fine, everyone thought it was a great idea. But what had Jimbo Fisher done to encourage Ross Bjork to give him an extension that made it impossible to fire him? Well why did he get the extension? There were rumors that Jimbo might have been looking at LSU… I mean you have to look, at least in the short term, at that being one of the worst decisions an athletic director has ever made. To lock this guy down – and he only had one season that was above water and that was the COVID year where they had a 9-1 regular season and still lost to Alabama by 28 points.”

Finebaum: Jimbo Fisher will be on the ‘hottest seat in the history of hot seats’ at Texas A&M next year

As Finebaum noted, moving on from Fisher after this season would cost Texas A&M nearly $86 million. After the 2023 season that number drops to nearly $77 million, and drops to around $67.5 million after the 2024 season.

Texas A&M has four home games remaining, with matchups against No. 15 Ole Miss, Florida, UMass and No. 18 LSU. The Aggies also hit the road for a matchup with Auburn. To hit eight wins this season, Texas A&M needs to win out. But even if that happens, the fire under Fisher’s seat isn’t going to get any cooler.

“I know that’s a long preamble to where we’re at with Jimbo Fisher,” Finebaum added. “I’m assuming he’ll be back next year… He’s going to finish 8-4, 7-5 or 6-6. He’s going to be on the hottest seat in the history of hot seats next year. I don’t know how else to put it.”