Is It Fair to Call Jimbo Fisher an Enabler?

It’s unfair to judge Jimbo Fisher too harshly for his alleged stance on the most recent Jameis Winston suspension. After all, his job depends on winning.

Chances are if you’ve followed the Jameis Winston saga over the past week you’ve heard some TV talking head or national columnist label Jimbo Fisher an ‘enabler.’

As in, Jimbo Fisher is enabling Jameis Winston to behave poorly.

That is — on its face — an interesting critique that comes across as if Fisher is somehow complicit in the mistakes made by his Heisman trophy winning quarterback. To hear some tell it, it was as if Fisher was the guy holding the door for Winston at Publix on that now infamous day.

It’s becoming a common trope — largely in part because of the silence of FSU’s AD on this most recent matter — that Fisher’s unwillingness to take his best player off the field is enabling Jameis Winston’s bad behavior. We’ll never know exactly how Winston’s most recent suspension was decided on. Nobody at FSU will talk about it. But based on how it played out publicly — in light of the two FSU press releases that didn’t include Fisher’s name — it certainly appears as if Fisher wasn’t completely on board with the punishment.

And that has opened the doors for the national media to label Fisher an ‘enabler.’

But that critique misses one very salient point: a college football coaches’ job security is entirely incumbent upon winning.

Sure, it’s nice to have principles and ethics and to make sure that the boosters feel good about the behavior of their program. But make no mistake about it, the moment a head coach stops winning those same boosters will boot him out of town. They want trophies in glass cases and banners hung in stadiums– not some feel-good story about how many of the players graduate.

That’s the hypocrisy in all of this.

Jimbo Fisher wasn’t brought to Florida State to protect the image of the university. He wasn’t hired to make sure that players stayed out of trouble. He wasn’t made the head coach because of his ability to improve the lives of the young men he oversees.

That Fisher even cares about those ideals is, frankly, a nice bonus for the school.

No, Jimbo Fisher was hired to win. He was hired to restore a once proud program to its place atop college football. He was hired to field the best team possible. Jimbo Fisher’s main priority — understandably, considering his job quite literally depends on it — is to win football games.

Why are men who have spent their entire careers associated with college football suddenly so surprised that a coach at a major program is most concerned with winning games?

So why all the naiveté about that?

Why are men who have spent their entire careers associated with college football suddenly so surprised that a coach at a major program is most concerned with winning games?

This is why schools have athletic directors. Because the motivations of the head coach and the best interest of the university are sometimes at odds with one another. And instances like this past week are why strong leadership from a competent AD are so important.

But asking a college head coach to make a decision that goes against the best interests of his own career and his own ambitions, and then faulting him when he doesn’t appear to be overly inclined to make it– that’s lunacy.

Sep 20, 2014; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston (5) talks with Florida State Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher as he warms up in pads during pre game before their game against the Clemson Tigers at Doak Campbell Stadium. Winston was suspended for Saturday s game against Clemson pending an investigation into some alleged lewd comments he made on campus. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Keep in mind, Jameis Winston has never been arrested. Mel Kiper and the national media like to bring up Winston’s “six incidents.” But combined, those six incidents have accounted for one citation and zero arrests. That isn’t a defense of Winston, that’s a fact.

We wouldn’t fault a lawyer for making that argument on behalf of Winston. That’s in that lawyer’s best interest. So we just go along with it because that’s his job. Jimbo Fisher’s job is to put the best possible team on the field each Saturday and to win. But somehow, if he makes that same argument on behalf of his QB — which is, again, in his own best interest — he’s enabling Winston?

But Jimbo Fisher just won a national title so his job is safe, you say.

Sure. But look at Larry Coker at Miami. Look at Mack Brown at Texas. Look at Gene Chizik at Auburn. This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of world. The second the wins stop coming, the tired old complaints about Jimbo as a play-caller come back. The questions about his long-term prospects resurface. Jimbo Fisher, at the end of the day, is still like any other college coach. String together enough losses — or hell, just disappoint enough of the fanbase — and you’re out.

But look at Charlie Strong at Texas, you say.

Sure. But let’s not pretend that cupboard was filled to begin with– if it were, Mack Brown likely would still be coaching there. You can afford to kick nine players out when you’re revamping and you were already expecting to drop a few games this year. FSU is not in that position. At FSU it’s national title or bust.

Nobody is saying Jameis Winston should or shouldn’t have been suspended. And nobody is saying that Jimbo Fisher was even right in, allegedly, not wanting to suspend his QB in this most recent instance. That’s not even all that relevant to this discussion.

What is relevant is that Fisher being vilified for trying to ensure he has the best chance to win is misguided at best and embarrassingly naive at worst.

Jimbo Fisher wasn’t hired to be an ambassador of Florida State University. He was hired with one singular purpose in mind: win.

So let’s not act surprised if — at times — that seems like his primary focus.

After all, it’s not like his job depends on it or anything.