Why Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher would fit at LSU

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher has given zero indication that he’d leave College Station or even entertain the LSU opening, and his current contract with the Aggies — which was recently extended through the 2031 season and came with a raise up to $9 million in base salary alone — would make it difficult to leave.

But Fisher has built an intriguing resume in four seasons at the helm of Texas A&M, plus another eight years of intriguing experience while at Florida State, which makes him a possible candidate at LSU. Fisher in 2018 was hired to take over a Texas A&M program that hardly, if ever, broke the eight-win threshold in recent years, racking up no more than eight in the four years prior. In his first three seasons, Fisher tallied nine, eight and nine wins, not only breaking that threshold but winning all three bowl games: the 2018 Gator Bowl, 2019 Texas Bowl and 2020 Orange Bowl.

This year, at Texas A&M, Fisher has taken it a step further; the Aggies are 7-2 with three regular-season games on schedule, and if they can win out — while Alabama suffers an upset, which might be unlikely — Texas A&M could very well find itself in the SEC Championship game, representing the best division in the best conference in the country. Given what he’s done at Texas A&M, Scott Rabalais, a local columnist for The Advocate, appeared on The Paul Finebaum Show Thursday to say Fisher could be a good fit at LSU.

“I agree, and I think a lot of people agree that [LSU athletic director Scott Woodward’s] top target is Jimbo Fisher,” Rabalais said. “They kind of came up together professionally. Jimbo of course was Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator here when (Woodward) arrived at LSU in 2000. Scott Woodward was working for Mark Emmert, who at the time was LSU’s chancellor, as a director of external affairs on an academic side of the university. And of course Woodward hired him at Texas A&M and there’s a relationship there. And I think Jimbo still has an affinity for Louisiana. He did not say he was not leaving Texas A&M. He didn’t say he would come, obviously, when he was asked about it recently. And contrary to what some people have said, he did not say he would definitely stay (at Texas A&M). He said, ‘I plan on fulfilling my contract,’ which is not exactly the same thing. I’m not saying he would leave A&M, but I think if there’s any place he would leave for it’d be for LSU.”

Rabalais added that LSU has three favorite candidates in Fisher, Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker and Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley. Worth noting, however, that Rabalais then clarified and said LSU could very well have additional candidates it’s pursuing; those three, however, remain the favorites.

“There’s a couple of things (at play). Like I said, there is a history here, there’s a history with Scott Woodward. And what’s going to happen in a couple of years? Texas A&M is going to have to deal with Texas again in their backyard in the SEC,” Rabalais said. “You’re going to be forever the big school in the state of Louisiana, a smaller pond, admittedly, than Texas, but a big state school with a lot of talent here that you can recruit to. And you don’t have to worry about Texas coming and grabbing some of it. So there are some reasons (for Fisher to leave for LSU). There are plenty of reasons for him to stay, (but) there are some for him to want to go. And I think he’s the one that is going to have to tell Scott Woodward ‘no’ before he moves on to somebody else in my opinion.”