After the University of Texas lost 37-31 to Washington in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff on Monday night in New Orleans, comparisons began running wild across X.
One of the most popular juxtapositions posed by Texas A&M fans was how Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian stacks up against former Aggies leading man Jimbo Fisher. The latter was fired in November after six seasons in Bryan-College Station without a CFP berth, which is something that Sarkisian and Texas accomplished last year.
Just for fun, let’s compare Fisher and Sarkisian through three seasons as a Power Five head coach in the Lone Star State. When it comes to conference & overall records and top 10, bowl, & New Year’s Six wins, Fisher has the advantage.
John James was 26-10 overall through three years while Sark (25-14) has one less victory in three more games. The SEC is certainly better than the Big 12 as a whole, yet, Fisher (17-8) had the same amount of conference wins as Sarkisian (17-10) in two fewer contests.
The ousted Texas A&M coach tallied two top-10 wins while Sark had one, which came earlier this year at Alabama. Fisher led the Aggies to a 41-27 win against North Carolina in the 2021 Orange Bowl and Sarkisian has yet to win an NY6 matchup.
Fisher signed a 10-year, $75 million contract with Texas A&M in 2017 before signing an extension in 2021 for 10 years and $94.95 million fully guaranteed. The annual value of Sarkisian’s six-year, $34.2 million deal is $1.8 million less than the first contract that Fisher signed because he won a national championship at Florida State to cap off the 2013 campaign.
Both Texas programs have paid preposterous amounts of money to their respective coaches and ultimately have nothing to show for it without a CFP trophy on display. Perhaps the Longhorns learn from the Fisher failure and take precautions before giving Sarkisian an extension, despite the success of the 2023 season.
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