Jimbo Fisher’s Lack of Coaching Tree a Key Indicator of Problem

Jimbo Fisher’s Coaching Tree is Lacking

Coaching tree is an underdiscussed issue with Jimbo Fisher when it comes to the conversation of how good of a coach the man actually is. I have previously been bullish on Jimbo, and think he is indeed one of the brightest minds in college football, but there are certainly some issues; namely, the ability to communicate the full vision of his offense to players and his unwillingness to adapt or dumb things down for his roster. The beauty of his system fully realized and with the right talent operating it is that it is completely unstoppable; the issue is that such a scenario is exceedingly rare.

One thing that coaches are often judged on is how productive they are, not on the field, but of other quality coaches. Jimbo himself is a product of the Bobby Bowden coaching tree, coming into his own while under the tutelage of the legendary FSU coach. But when we look at Jimbo’s coaching tree, some issues begin to make themselves clear. With a few key exceptions, Jimbo Fisher’s coaching tree is somewhat bare—and the biggest success stories come from the other side of the ball.

The most recent example of a quality coach who came from under Jimbo Fisher’s tutelage is Mike Elko, who has been tearing it up at Duke. Durham is a hard place to win in, and Elko has the Blue Devils nationally ranked for the first time in a long time. Of course, Elko is a defensive guy, and Jimbo’s main involvement has been with the offensive side of things—not to take any credit away from Jimbo, of course, as he identified and gave a huge role to Elko immediately after arriving at Texas A&M, but it’s worth mentioning.