Ross Bjork dishes on factor OU, Texas moving to SEC played in dismissing Jimbo Fisher

The Texas A&M athletic department decided to do what had been rumored for quite some time on Sunday morning. They fired their head football coach Jimbo Fisher, and they’ll be on the hook for his monstrous buyout — which costs a record-setting amount north of $77 million.

On Sunday, Aggies athletic director Ross Bjork held a press conference to discuss the decision in-depth.

Ross Bjork on the reasons for dismissal and whether or not Oklahoma and Texas coming to SEC played a role

With Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC in the fall of 2024, one of the reporters at the press conference wanted to know if that happened to play a role in the dismissal of Jimbo Fisher.

“Here’s how I looked at it. Everything impacts the next year. But as we sit here, we finish the season hopefully strong. The transfer portal’s coming and going. Signing Day. A bowl game. Maybe we hire some new assistant coaches and do those kinds of changes,” Bjork began.

“I wasn’t confident in that plan, which then would have impacted the 2024 season. So it’s not about transition of SEC. It’s all about can we go through those next eight weeks and have the right plan and succeed in that environment? To build for [2024]? I didn’t see a pathway to then lead into 2024,” Bjork said.

Texas A&M fires head football coach Jimbo Fisher

The Aggies will have to pay out a record $77 million plus buyout to Fisher on the way out after starting the season 6-4. Previously, Gus Malzahn held the record buyout paid to a college coach at $21.45 million by Auburn. For reference, last season 15 schools paid a collective $72 million to buy out their coaches’ respective contracts.

Fisher arrived in College Station back in 2018 after an impressive tenure at Florida State and was expected to bring the Aggies back to national prominence. After all, he had a championship under his belt after leading the Seminoles to a national title in 2013 — but never achieved the same heights with Texas A&M.

In just under six years as head coach, Fisher coached the Aggies to a 45-25 record, including being 27-21 in SEC play over that time. Compare that to Texas A&M’s previous coach, Kevin Sumlin, who finished his six-year tenure in College Station with a 51-26 record, but was far behind Fisher’s SEC record going 15-17 in conference play.

The timing of Fisher’s release is interesting as the news comes as his Aggies defeated Mississippi State 51-10 in what is arguably the best win of the season for Texas A&M — it even made them bowl-eligible for the first time since 2021. But that’s the issue.

Texas A&M had incredibly high hopes for Fisher in College Station. Aside from finishing the COVID-shortened season 9-1 and finishing No. 5 in the final College Football Playoff Rankings, the Aggies never achieved any great accolades under the now-former head coach.

It’s unsure whether Fisher’s firing will have any lasting impact on the Aggies’ upcoming 2024 recruiting class, which ranks No. 7 nationally, according to On3’s Team Recruiting Rankings. However, the transfer portal is another topic.

The writing on the wall for Fisher’s departure began last season when Texas A&M was upset at home against Appalachian State 17-14. Despite being ranked as high as No. 6 in the preseason poll just two weeks before the loss — the Aggies would finish the season 5-7 only two years removed from a near CFP berth.

Despite improving his team from last season to deliver a 6-4 record through 10 games, it is still below the standard that Texas A&M expected from Fisher when they hired him in 2018.

As the Aggies look to move on from the Jimbo Fisher era, they still have a game to be played this week against Abilene Christian before rounding its regular season with a road trip at LSU.

Kickoff is scheduled for Noon ET live on ESPN+.

On3’s Barkley Truax also contributed to this article.