Jimbo Fisher recalls being on staff for Nick Saban at LSU

Nick Saban‘s coaching tree is enormous. With coaches like Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian and Jimbo Fisher having coached under the college football legend, Saban’s impact on the game is immeasurable. During an appearance on the Trial to Triumph podcast, Fisher reflected on his time under Saban at LSU.

“He was a defensive guy that took care of the defense and he wanted to play a certain way on offense,” Fisher said. “He and I had a great relationship, and I have great respect for him. Learned a lot of football from him. Learned a lot of organizational things.”

Fisher was LSU’s offensive coordinator from 2000-06. He came in with Saban in 2000 and stayed at the program two years after Saban left for the NFL.

Fisher and Saban enjoyed no shortage of success together. The pair led the Tigers to a 48-16 record over five seasons. Most notably, LSU posted a 13-1 mark in 2003 and brought home a national championship.

Fisher’s offense was routinely one of the best in the nation. In 2007, Fisher moved on from LSU and joined Florida State, where he served under another legendary head coach: Bobby Bowden.

Bowden boasts the fourth-most wins as a head coach in college football history. In his three seasons under Bowden, Fisher learned a different type of leadership and was able to compare it to his experience with Saban.

“I had Bowden and I had Nick,” Fisher said. “They were two different people entirely… As I always say, there’s two different ways to skin a cat. You could do things a different way. But I kind of took the best, I thought, of both. But I always had to make it my own.

“What made both of them unique and successful? They were themselves. They weren’t fake. Bobby did it one way, Nick did it another. Kids and people won’t follow people who are fake or try to be somebody else because it eventually it bites you.”

Fisher put the lessons he learned from both coaches to work when he got the chance to take over for Bowden in 2010. In eight seasons at the helm of FSU, Fisher amassed a 83-23 record, three conference championships and one national title.

From there, Jimbo Fisher moved onto Texas A&M, where he coached from 2018-23. While Fisher didn’t have as much success with the Aggies, he still led the program to several solid seasons and was able to implement his previous experience.