John James “Jimbo” Fisher Jr. is back — not in Bryan-College Station or college football for that matter — but the BCS Championship-winning head coach ended his silence this week more than a month after being fired by Texas A&M.
Fisher was interviewed on the “Pardon My Take” podcast, hosted by Eric Sollenger and Dan Katz, which is a part of the Barstool Sports media network. The former Aggies coach chatted with “PFT Commenter” and “Big Cat” for about 45 minutes and covered plenty of topics.
The interview, which can be viewed in its entirety on YouTube, starts at about 1:35:51.
John James explained the origin of his nickname and how he became Jimbo.
“My dad was called big Jim, I had an uncle Jim, Jimmy Lee. My aunt one day, this is a true story, I was in the first grade and every school teacher calls you by your real name. The first month of school, I got whipped and put in the corner every day for about three to four weeks.
“My aunt, who actually named me Jimbo, was the secretary to the principal at the school. My school teacher went up to her and said, ‘Juanita, I think your nephew John is either defiant and won’t listen or he has a hearing (problem). I think he truly has a hearing problem, he will not communicate with me.’ My aunt just kept working and she said, ‘Juanita, I’m talking to you,’ then she said, ‘Who are you talking about?’ ‘Your nephew John, he won’t listen to me.’
“She said, ‘Try calling him Jimbo,’ so she started calling me Jimbo and I never got in trouble again. I never knew she was talking to me. I had no idea she talking to me, that’s a true story. She named me Jimbo when I was 2 and it just stuck.”
In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Texas A&M was left on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff. In Fisher’s opinion, the Aggies were much better than No. 5, 4 or 3.
“I always say this, I thought in 2020, we were truly the second-best team in the country. We were the only one-loss team in the history of the SEC to never make the playoff with an all-SEC schedule. We ended up being ranked fifth and they let Ohio State in with six wins and Notre Dame, who lost the conference championship just like Georgia did, and got out.
“I said going into the playoff this year, if you want the best four teams, Georgia is still one of those teams. Florida State should’ve been in the playoff. I’m an advocate of they went undefeated, they deserved to be in it. … You put two one-loss teams ahead of an undefeated team (that’s) an ACC champion. Whether if they won or not, they earned the right to be in it.
“The BCS and the computer was better than what we have now because it’s turned into an opinion poll. To have five conferences and four guys get in the playoff, what sense does that make? It was flawed from the get-go.”
With the introduction of the NCAA transfer portal, the college football landscape has changed forever and Fisher seems like he’s not a fan.
“The last two to three years of this thing, there has been more change in college football than ever. It is unbelievable how this has transformed. In February, you can’t have kids on campus and (in) July you can’t, that is an NCAA rule. Every other weekend of every other month of the year, you are working seven days a week every day.