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After firing Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M should target Oregon's Dan Lanning with an offer he can't refuse

On3 imageby:Jesse Simonton•11/12/23•

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After eating a record $75 million to fire Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M should target Oregon head coach Dan Lanning as its top candidate.

Texas A&M finally embraced the sunk cost fallacy, making the unprecedented move to eat a record $75 million in buyout money to fire Jimbo Fisher after six disappointing seasons with the Aggies. 

Fisher was just 45-25 with Texas A&M, and since signing a $95 million extension after the 2020 season, the Aggies were just 12-14 against Power 5 teams. He hasn’t won a true road game since beating Missouri in 2021. He recruited as well as Alabama and Georgia but delivered results akin to South Carolina. His archaic offenses and Waffle House play sheet became the butt of jokes, and while the Aggies show nominal improvement under OC Bobby Petrino this season, it wasn’t enough.  

The timing — the day after Texas A&M scored 51 points on Mississippi State in its best offensive showing against a FBS opponent since Fisher’s first season in College Station — was poetic, though. 

There will be plenty of words spilled as to why Texas A&M decided to make the move now. What went wrong during the Jimbo Fisher era and why he failed to meet expectations. 

But in the immediate aftermath of today’s shocking news, let’s gaze forward first. 

The Aggies (correctly in my opinion) ultimately decided they’d passed any crossroads with Jimbo Fisher, and had reached an inevitable path. The buyout was going to be a record today, tomorrow and three years from now. So cut bait and move forward. 

The entire cost of this decision — firing Fisher and his staff, plus paying a buyout for the next coach and hiring another staff — will be well north of $100. It’s Monopoly money at this point, and no one is better at passing the hat than Aggies oil baron boosters. 

So where should Texas A&M turn its sights? The Aggies — with a roster stacked with Top 5 recruiting classes, a NIL war chest and fantastic facilities — immediately become the most attractive opening on the market. It’s a complicated job because Texas A&M hasn’t won anything of substance in over 80 years, but the potential is there.

Mike Elko, Jonathan Smith and Jeff Traylor are all interesting candidates. Lane Kiffin will no doubt be rumored for the job. Other names will surface, too.

But Ross Bjork would be smart to aggressively target Oregon’s Dan Lanning first. 

Lanning has a $20 million buyout that would be prohibitive for most other schools, but Texas A&M wouldn’t have fired Fisher if it wasn’t ready to bite the curb again. You don’t pay four Gus Malzahns to then go cheap on the next hire.

Oregon’s coach would be the dream candidate for the Aggies. 

Lanning, 37, is a young, charismatic coach who worked under Kirby Smart, Mike Norvell and Nick Saban. He has an aggressive philosophy, and he’s quickly proven he does it his own way. In short order, he’s built the Ducks into a budding powerhouse. 

He recruits as well as any head coach not named Smart or Saban, and he’s assembled the best staff in the Pac-12. He’s smartly used NIL and the transfer portal to his advantage.

He’s 19-4 in just under two seasons and has Oregon on the doorstep of playing for a conference championship and a College Football Playoff berth. Many have whispered that Lanning could be the heir apparent to Saban at Alabama, so striking first would be a major win for Texas A&M. He’d build a staff that would win in a new-look SEC.

And yet, it’s not a slam dunk Lanning would even entertain an offer. 

The timing is messy, and as attractive as the Aggies’ opening is, there certainly is the case that Lanning already has a better and more stable job. 

With Lincoln Riley flailing both on the field and the recruiting trail, Lanning is the king of the West Coast right now. Oregon will go to the Big Ten next season with the second-most talented roster in the league. 

So it’s a long shot.

But that hasn’t scared off the Aggies before. Make Dan Lanning an offer he can’t refuse. And if he does, then turn to other candidates.