The 2023 College Football Season is still nearly six months away, but to prepare for what should be a very entertaining season, prognosticators like myself will begin to release an abundance of pre-season rankings, but nothing will top the great Stewart Mandel’s recent Top 25 College Football Coach list, and yes, the great Nick Saban is near the top, just to save you some time.
The real question of course is just how much Texas A&M Head coach Jimbo Fisher is still respected among the sports writers community, especially after his worst season yet with the program after the horrific 2022 season, going 5-7 and 2-6 in the SEC and missing out on bowl eligibility for the first time in 14 seasons.
However, due to Fisher’s recruiting prowess while being one of five active Head coaches with a National Title (2014), you can pretty much guarantee that Jimbo will be coaching somewhere until retirement finally calls his name somewhere down the line. So, where did Jimbo Fisher end up and Mandel Top 25 and list him in the Top 10 just one year ago? No. 23, below the likes of new Auburn Head coach Hugh Freeze (No. 22) and even current Ole Miss Head coach Lane Kiffin (No. 19), so let that sink in. Mandel, proving my point of avoiding complete overreaction with Fisher’s recent debacle, proved why he’s still one of the best Head coaches in the country.
I know folks are going to laugh at this one, but dropping a guy from the top 10 to off the list entirely after one losing season feels like a prisoner-of-the-moment overreaction. A&M finished No. 4 in the country just two years earlier. And he’s still got that national title ring.
But look, if anyone deserves some dirt in their eye to maybe, just maybe motivate them enough to coach like their job depended on it, it’s Jimbo Fisher, because the 2023 season for the Aggies is critical in deciding the direction the program is headed towards under Fisher’s control. Buckle up folks, it’s going to be a wild ride in Aggieland in 2023.
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