Jimbo Fisher pushes back on narrative surrounding Texas A&M's 2022 signing class NIL numbers

When Jimbo Fisher signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the 2022 cycle, some believed at the time that Texas A&M spent roughly $35 million to get that group on campus. The former Aggies head coach has since cleared the air.

“I want to clarify that one,” Fisher told ESPN. “We spent $35 million on a class? Are you kidding me? At that time, the whole A&M team, the NIL fund, wasn’t even $1 million.”

NIL has changed in a big way in the years since 2022. Now, institutions can directly pay players through the historic House Settlement, which distributes $20.5 million to power conference school to divide (unevenly) throughout its athletic department.

Back then, the Aggies’ NIL fund was still growing. Though, the reports that Texas A&M was rolling in dough even got back to parents at the time.

“I wanted people to realize we didn’t have that,” he said. “I had parents call me, ‘Wait! We didn’t get all this money!’ They’re saying he got this and that. The families are calling me. It’s just not fair to them. That’s why I did it. I thought I had to set the story straight. The biggest part was protecting the players.”

That type of money was sitting around College Station, but it was used for Fisher’s buyout rather than to recruit players to the program. Toward the end of the 2023 season, Fisher was fired which led to the Aggies will have to pay out a record $75 million-and-change buyout to Fisher on the way out.

In just under six years as head coach, Fisher coached the Aggies to a 45-25 record, including being 27-21 in SEC play over that time. Compare that to Texas A&M’s previous coach, Kevin Sumlin, who finished his six-year tenure in College Station with a 51-26 record, but was far behind Fisher’s SEC record going 15-17 in conference play.

Fisher has stayed away from the coaching industry in the two seasons since receiving his lucrative severance package. However, he has emphasized his desire to return to coaching college football in the near future.

“I never got into coaching for money,” Fisher said. “Well, I’m not going to get out of it because I’ve got money.”

Several Division I openings are going to be available this offseason. For now, it remains to be seen how interested programs such as Penn State, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, UCLA, Virginia Tech and Florida, among others, will be interested in bringing in the former national championship-winning head coach to lead their program.