Five Reasons for Jimbo Fisher to Stay at FSU

All indications seem to be that Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher will depart FSU for Texas A&M. It is not a done deal, and nothing has been totally confirmed yet.

But the growing consensus among media and sources alike is that Fisher’s time in Tallahassee has come to a close. It might only be a matter of time.

But if Fisher were to return to FSU, what would his reasons be? Truthfully only he could tell us. That being said, there are five main reasons that could entice Fisher to remain where he is. This is the first part of a two articles where we examine the pros and cons to Fisher leaving for Texas A&M:

5. System Already Implemented
Fixing a team where your system is already in place has its advantages. The personnel are all there for you to shift around and utilize. There’s no dearth of talent that your offensive system needs to work smoothly. It’s simply a matter of coaching up your available players and getting them to buy into what you’re selling. That requires more of a message change rather than a whole restructure. You’ve already seen what it can do when it’s firing on all cylinders, or even when it’s firing on most cylinders. Might as well stay and work with what you know.

4. Easier Path to Success
The SEC West might be the toughest division in all of college football. Nick Saban and Alabama are a machine, Gus Malzhan and Auburn are the wrench in the machine, LSU is a recruiting powerhouse, and then the rest don’t really matter unless you like seeing inter-southern conflict. Still, the existence of three major programs who you directly go against is a tough job for any coach to handle. Just look at the playoff rankings — you might match up with, at minimum, three potential playoff teams in a year.

There’s also the fact that A&M is in a state where its main rival,the Texas Longhorns, are the premier program. Recruiting will become that much harder as Texas head coach Tom Herman and his staff begin to settle in to their new home in Austin. If Herman begins to produce, then he effectively got a 1-year head start on Fisher.

In contrast, the ACC is not that top heavy. There is certainly a good argument that top-to-bottom, it is the tougher conference. But in terms of playoff contenders and truly constant threats, the ACC just has Clemson. Miami can become one if it repeats seasons like 2017, though Florida State still has a talent advantage that will be hard to close. Fisher can make a playoff push much easier in the ACC than the SEC.

3. Legacy
Jimbo Fisher at his core is a coach concerned about legacy. Everyone wants to win, but not everyone wants to be regarded as the best in their field. That’s not the case for Fisher. He has commanded respect at every stop in his career and been successful at it too. He understands how history views the greats before him and those he learned under. He also understood the task at hand when replacing Bobby Bowden and his enormous legacy. Fisher can boost his by staying at FSU in the long term and becoming, in some ways, a second Bowden.

This season further complicates the point. If Fisher were to bail after his worst year yet, there is almost no positive way it could be spun. The narrative would become one of cracking under pressure: Fisher couldn’t handle the tough season, so he decided to run away and start anew. Fans have already declared how moves like that can negatively impact perception (Urban Meyer going to Ohio State for example). In the long run, staying might be the best option for his legacy.

2. Increased Commitment from Boosters
Nobody will try and convince you that Fisher and the boosters have a good relationship right now. That being said, boosters would certainly prefer to see Fisher stay at Florida State and put aside any talks of leaving. While they certainly deserve some criticism for how they’ve handled various situations over the past few years, the boosters do have a good point in being upset with Fisher.

They’ve provided pretty much everything that Fisher requested. There are a few things that are behind schedule, but by and large, every time Fisher has propositioned them, the boosters have given in to his demands. If Fisher departs, there’s no guarantee that his next stop will show this same commitment. Meanwhile Florida State has been at least receptive to everything that he approached it about. Why risk that somewhere else? Start putting results on the field and it becomes clear that winning soothes over a lot of disagreements.

1. Familiarity
This point encompasses everything from personal life to Fisher’s job. Obviously the first thing that he would need to worry about with a new job would be family and the logistics of moving to an entirely different state. It would take a readjustment period and would likely involve some legal wrangling.

Then he would have to get familiar with his new workplace, new superiors, new team, and more. At Florida State he’s much more in tune with where he mainly recruits and the areas his players are coming from. He’s been doing it for the past 10 years. Even in situations like the one he’s found himself in, he still knows who he is talking to and what their desires and expectations are. That’s something that cannot truly be learned in a month or two. It takes years of building that relationship, which is what he has done in Tallahassee.

If it wasn’t clear enough already, the fear of change is a real factor. Especially change that might not be totally necessary to achieve your goals. At the end of the day, that same fear and the familiarity he has at FSU might just be what causes him to stay.