Is FSU’s Fisher Running Out of Time to Win a Second National Title?

In his fourth season as head coach, Jimbo Fisher reset the bar for Florida State football.

During the 2013 campaign, Fisher’s Seminoles, led by Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jameis Winston had one of the more dominant seasons in college football history. FSU scored more points than any FBS team ever, en route to going a perfect 14-0 and winning by an average margin of six touchdowns on the way to a national championship. The FSU defense that season, also led the nation in fewest points per game allowed.

Since then, FSU fans have been hungry for more. The Seminoles made a run the following year before being bounced in the Rose Bowl — the first ever national semifinal — by Oregon. Over the last two seasons, FSU has managed to appear in a pair of New Year’s Six bowls, but has been out of the ACC and national championship races by early November.

Expecting Florida State to compete for the national championship however, has again become common. The Seminoles have started in the top 10 in each of the last three seasons and are expected to begin there again in 2017. After putting together the top class in the ACC for an eighth straight year this last recruiting cycle, few question whether or not FSU has the talent to make another national title run.

Having the talent to win another national championship and actually doing it however, don’t always go hand in hand. In fact, recent history shows that once a head coach wins a national championship, getting a second one needs to be done rather quickly.

Since the 1980s, seven different head coaches have won multiple national championships. None have gone more than six years in between titles. The coaches are:

*-split, ^-vacated

The last coach to win multiple national championships and have them come more than six years apart was Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer, who won a title in 1975 and not again until 1985. The only two coaches on the list who have national championships to their name more than six years apart are Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, but neither have gone more than six years in between.

Those two are overwhelmingly regarded as the best two coaches in college football. The longest either went in between national titles was six years, but during those stretches, each stepped away from the game and switched schools.

Saban won the 2003 title at LSU before leaving the following year and spending two years with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. He left South Florida for Tuscaloosa in 2007. Meyer won national championships at Florida in 2006 and 2008 before resigning after the 2010 season to take a year off. Meyer went to Ohio State in 2012.

There will always be an exception to the rule, but the window for winning national championships has traditionally been small and for someone like Fisher, winning one only increases the expectations that others should follow. Teams like Bobby Bowden had at FSU from 1987-2000 with 14 straight top-5 finishes are largely a thing of the past. Even then, Bowden only won two titles and they came six years apart.

College football has gravitated toward a culture of “what have ya done for me lately?” and sometimes the ultimate prize is seen as the only prize. Auburn’s Gene Chizik was fired just two years after winning the national championship as his Tigers finished 3-9 in 2012. As long as Fisher continues to win 10-plus games a season, beat rivals and get FSU to major bowl games, he isn’t going anywhere, but there will be a segment of the fan base that won’t be satisfied without more national titles.

There are however, great coaches like Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops who win 10 games and play in major bowls year after year, but just haven’t had luck getting back to or winning the big one again. After winning his first national title in 2000, Stoops led his Sooners to the title games in 2003, 2004 and 2008, but couldn’t get the victory. The closest he has come since was a national semifinal loss to Clemson in the Orange Bowl in 2015. Despite this, Stoops’ name is still mentioned among the nation’s best and rightfully so.

Assuming the national championship trend must hold true, which isn’t the case in actuality, Fisher would have three seasons to win another national championship. Looking at the talent he’s managed to accumulate over his time in Tallahassee, that’s far from unrealistic.

Excluding redshirt seniors, the current makeup of Fisher’s roster includes recruiting classes that ranked fourth, third, second and sixth nationally, per the 247Sports Composite rankings. This season, Fisher brings in four 5-star recruits capable of playing right away. He also returns nine starters on defense and his starting quarterback Deondre Francois, who was the ACC’s Rookie of the Year last season.

Given Fisher’s track record and all the talent on the roster, FSU looks to be in position to be a football power for a long time. To get back to college football’s pinnacle however, history suggests that FSU needs to do it sooner than later. Regardless of what history says, Fisher like most coaches, tends to focus on the present. With that said, he’s got to like what he sees.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson