Texas A&M football: Anonymous coach has high praise for Jimbo Fisher

Texas A&M football has to be happy with Jimbo Fisher as their head coach, but it’s still nice to hear unbiased opinions on the matter.

It’s hard to realistically expect Jimbo Fisher to have done much better than he did in year one as head coach of Texas A&M football. He took over a team that finished 7-6, added Clemson — which would go on to win the whole dang thing — to their schedule, finished 9-4, beat LSU for the first time since joining the SEC, finished second in the SEC West for the first time and won their final four games after years of struggling in November.

The 2019 schedule doesn’t get much easier. In fact, it gets astronomically harder. The Aggies play Clemson, Alabama, LSU and Georgia and all but Bama are on the road this season. Now that you’re done double-checking the schedule and confirmed that is correct, you may be willing to forgive Fisher if he doesn’t compete for a national title in year two.

This was always going to take a couple of years. It took Fisher until his fourth season at Florida State to win the National Championship. The Aggies finished No. 18, No. 13 and No. 17 in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 recruiting classes. They finished No. 4 in 2019, which was Fisher’s first full recruiting cycle. Be patient.

The Fisher hire was not without criticism. His critics pointed to the fact that Fisher left Florida State with a poor record in his final season. Though, they still finished 7-6 in 2017 and he won 10+ games in six of seven seasons (and five in a row) prior to that. He’s a good football coach.

It’s always nice to receive praise from your peers. Fisher’s critics had to take a back seat to some anonymous SEC coaches talking up the Aggie head coach in Lindy’s Sports College Football Preview magazine.

"“I think Jimbo Fisher is as good a coach as they come. The biggest difference in the program from the first to the second year is to set the culture. I have a high level of respect for the way Jimbo runs his program. He did a helluva job with that kid Kellen Mond, he really did. I didn’t think (Kellen) Mond would be that good. That son of a gun was really good.”"

While I would caution patience for Aggie fans expecting the team to be in the thick of the College Football Playoff hunt, one coach believes beating Alabama at home could be the key to making a run.

"If A&M gets Alabama at home, they’ve got a chance. It will be a barnburner and an expensive ticket. I think A&M has enough talent and a good staff."

That road game against Clemson is the second game of the season again. That will go a long way in deciding Texas A&M’s fate. If they are able to defeat the national champs on their home field, it will give them all the confidence in the world they can beat anyone else on their schedule.

Here’s hoping they start the season off by shocking the world.