Bobby Petrino: Jimbo Fisher wanted to 'keep his terminology' in Texas A&M offense

When Bobby Petrino took over as Texas A&M offensive coordinator this past season, the question was how he and Jimbo Fisher would work together. Fisher had called the plays during his entire tenure with the Aggies, and bringing in someone like Petrino raised some eyebrows.

It turns out Fisher wanted to put his stamp on the system, Petrino said.

Petrino — who’s now returning to Arkansas as offensive coordinator under Sam Pittman — discussed the relationship with Fisher and his involvement in the offense on Hogs Plus. He had to stay up learning Fisher’s terms and how he wanted things called, which made for some long nights.

“This past season, I went into A&M and Jimbo wanted to keep his terminology,” Petrino said. “And I didn’t sleep for months. It was hard. It was studying every night trying to figure this out. ‘Why are we calling it this way?'”

As he gets settled back in with Arkansas — a program he coached from 2008-11 before his firing — Petrino said it will be his offense. The goal will be to get the players up to speed quickly, and it’s going to be easier than what happened at Texas A&M this past year.

“But I have an offense that I’m very familiar with and understand inside and out,” Petrino said. “Calling it will be much easier and going quicker. The players are going to have to work hard at understanding it. But we’ll have a processed approach to installing it and learning it. We’ll get it installed three times. Psychologists say if you learn something three times, you’d better have it. So we’ll expect them by kickoff, to have it down and have it ready to go.”

Bobby Petrino’s offense wasn’t enough to keep Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M

Under Petrino’s watch, Texas A&M ranked eighth in the SEC in total offense and fifth in the league in scoring after the struggles under Fisher in 2022. But the Aggies still opted to make a change, firing Fisher late in the year and eventually bringing in Mike Elko to replace him.

That opened the door for Petrino to return to Arkansas and try to resurrect an offense that stalled in a big way in 2023. The Razorbacks ranked 13th in the conference in total offense and 11th in scoring with 26.6 points per game.

Pittman’s seat heated up throughout the year, but Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek made it clear he’d be back next season. That led to a big swing by bringing in Petrino as Pittman looks to turn things around after Dan Enos was let go after less than a full season as offensive coordinator.