Category: Data Skrive

Last weekend, CBS Sports personality Josh Pate, host of the famous “Late Kick with Josh Pate,” took to the airwaves to discuss a topic that every casual college football fan lives to debate in great detail: Jimbo Fisher’s future at Texas A&M.

Opinions from the public are useless whenever Fisher is presented as a topic of discussion, as pre-conceived biases make their way to social media in droves; Pate’s recent tweet asking, “What is your opinion of Jimbo Fisher” sparked some of the funnier responses in recent memory, but none of this moves the needle when attempting to predict how Fisher’s future with the Maroon and White will pan out.

On Tuesday morning, Pate made an appearance on TexAgs radio with host David Nuno to discuss the 2023 CFB season, including his recent visit to Miami., but of course, the tweet concerning the national perception of John “Jimbo” Fisher took over the conversation, starting with the overwhelming negative to positive ratio the public forum presented, as Pate felt that after asking the same question about Clemson Head Coach Dabo Sweeney, Fisher was the apparent choice to replicate the question:

“Someone said I should do that about Jimbo Fisher. So I did it. It was about 90 to 10, negative. There were several reasons given, but when you boil it down, it’s what you said. He doesn’t do what people want him to do. I listen to what comes out of Jimbo’s mouth, and that’s a lot, by the way. I listen to the takes about him nationally. It’s like having a Nick Saban attitude but not Nick Saban’s record. The difference is Saban has multiple trophies in his trophy case. You cannot question Saban’s methodology. Whereas with Jimbo, he may say the same things, just a little faster, maybe with different nomenclature, but the same messaging, and it’s ‘Who is this dude to talk to us like this?’ Especially nationally.”

Pate hits the proverbial nail on the head with this comparison based on vocal opinions juxtaposing success on the field. Jimbo Fisher and Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban are cut from the same cloth coaching-wise in many aspects of their general methodology.

Yet, Saban’s history of delegating responsibilities, such as play-calling, has yielded seven National Championships. At the same time, Fisher’s need to sustain full power on offense has finally let him down during the 2022 season, leading to what many have coined as a “hail mary hire” amid the 5-7 record turmoil.

“Let’s go down that road for a second. Let’s say Bobby Petrino is the guy who ups the level of offensive production. What, 15 percent? A&M lost five or six games by six points or less. It doesn’t take a quantum shift in the trajectory of the program. Just fractional changes here and there. Let’s say they are in the thick of it in mid-November. Let’s also say Fisher has kept his end of the bargain, delegated playcalling duties, and the offense is humming along good enough.

Then, all of a sudden, the country does what it shouldn’t do and realizes A&M has a ton of talent. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but it will. Imagine it’s not Alabama or LSU. It’s A&M that’s in Atlanta, representing the west come December. Hit the pause button right there. What that country is saying? They are saying, ‘Wow, Jimbo Fisher! Took a little longer than we would have liked, but he finally hit the right buttons.’ They would sound the same way about him as they do about Mike Norvell right now. ‘Good for them for having patience. Look at finally paying off.’ As hypocritical as that may be as a national narrative, that would happen. People would look at Jimbo in a different light. You add back in the same jovial attitude that he takes into the press conferences, and all of a sudden, people see that for what it is. Then Jimbo becomes that dude I used to hate, but now, I kinda like him. ‘He’s grown on me.’ What changed? They won.”

And there it is, the hypocrisy all of us have been screaming our collective heads off about, as many of us have predicted a significant rebound in 2023 and know how the general narrative will pan out, as the Aggies’ chances of, let’s say win 11 games and make it to Atlanta for the SEC Title match are highly improbable, but so was TCU’s historic run in the College Football Playoff Championship less than a year ago. Ultimately, winning and winning consistently changes perceptions, plain and simple.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

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