Jimbo Fisher rips rampant 'cheating,' tampering in college football: NIL has 'made it worse'

Jimbo Fisher is taking some time away from college football after being fired at Texas A&M last season, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t opinionated regarding the issues plaguing today’s game.

During an interview with College Sports on SiriusXM, Fisher elaborated on his love for college football, but he pointed out some of the top reasons why the sport is in trouble, specifically singling-out tampering, and the need for a commissioner and revenue sharing. It’s evident Fisher believes the game needs to evolve moving forward.

“College football is — I complain about it, it’s still the greatest game. As much as I love NFL, and I’m crazy about it, and I respect it, but college football, man, you don’t know — 18, 22 teams, you don’t know what you’re going to get. I mean, it’s still so — I love college basketball, all those things, I love all college sports, but college football man, we need a commissioner,” Fisher stated. “We need revenue sharing. We need a salary cap, for all schools, and if you’re caught — and the other part of this, the tampering that other schools do with players, is utterly ridiculous.

“I mean, the big schools are going and getting players constantly from other schools, and it’s being done illegally. Those guys are developing players, and all of a sudden their guys, you know, that team shouldn’t have an advantage, financially, to be able to take care of a guy that another school doesn’t, and it’s wrong.”

While Fisher’s Texas A&M teams, for right or wrong, became the poster child for what you can do with NIL during his time in College Station, the former Aggies leader continued to pan the way it’s changed the game, and how it’s made cheating more prevalent throughout college football.

“I’ve had multiple discussions with players I’ve had, teams calling them and offering money. ‘I’ve got NIL, I’ve got this offer here, I’ve got this,’ and you’ve got to sit down with them, their parents and go through it all. Power 4, within our own league, with the things that go on,” Fisher added. “I thought, really, when NIL came in, we thought it would be good, because some of this — there were teams that were doing NIL before NIL was popular, okay? … I thought NIL would at least make it fair, take the cheating out of ball. It’s made it worse.”

It remains to be seen when Jimbo Fisher will return to college football, but it’s obvious he believes the sport needs to evolve, and it’s tough to argue with his sentiment. Time will tell if some new guidelines are developed and put into place, but NIL and tampering issues won’t be going away unless things change.