FSU Football: Is Jimbo Fisher The Most Disrespected Coach In Football?

A recent poll ranked FSU football head coach Jimbo Fisher as the seventh best in college football despite all he has done in his six seasons.

Even the most diehard fan or alumni of Florida State University will admit that the six season period between 2004 and 2009 was some of the worst times in program history since before Bobby Bowden’s arrival in 1976. FSU didn’t sniff a national title, won the ACC just won and twice needed to win their bowl game just to avoid a losing season.

Needless to say, the six years that Jimbo Fisher has been the head coach of the Seminoles has been a complete 180 degree change. Five times, FSU football has had double digit wins (including three years of 12, 14, and 13 wins from 2012 to 2014) to go along with three ACC titles (and another divisional crown) and the school’s third national title all time.

During the six seasons he has been coaching the Seminoles, Fisher is one of just four coaches who has won a national title, joined by Alabama’s Nick Saban, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and former Auburn coach Gene Chizik. Yet, even while being in elite company, Fisher doesn’t seem to be getting the same respect as other coaches.

A recent poll by Athlon Magazine ranked Fisher not as one of the top three coaches in the game right now…not one of the top four coaches…no, not even won of the top five coaches:

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Okay…let’s take a deep breath after seeing that. I know there are plenty of FSU football fans who, like us here at Chop Chat, thinks something like that is hilarious to look at considering what has taken place the last six seasons.

Being realistic, Saban has the top spot locked down simply because he has over half of the national titles in the last seven seasons of college football. We can even give Meyer some credit at the number two spot since he actually won a national title within the past few years.

After those two, there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why Jimbo Fisher shouldn’t be in the third spot. If we are talking about on-field performance, there is not one of the other four coaches in front of Jimbo who hold a candle to what Fisher has done.

Jim Harbaugh is in the spot for the off-field antics and how he has seemed to rile up the SEC with everything he says or does. A 10 win season at Michigan was great (and we liked watching him destroy the Gators), but he hasn’t yet proven that wasn’t a one hit wonder in Ann Arbor.

Mark Dantonio and Bob Stoops are coming off playoff appearances in 2015 where they lost by a combined average of 29 points each. Oklahoma has three Big 12 titles, but also has a five loss season and has lost three bowl games by an average of over 27 points a game. Michigan State has two Big Ten titles, but Dantonio also has three seasons with six or more losses and a losing bowl record.

As for Gary Patterson, TCU was the darlings of the college football world in the last decade, but went a combined 11-14 in their first two seasons of Big 12 play (2012 and 2013). During those two seasons, Fisher went 26-2 with two conference titles, two BCS bowl wins and a national title.

Anyone with half a brain when it comes to college football realizes that Jimbo Fisher is one of the top three coaches in the whole game, if not needing to be ranked higher. His “rebuilding year” was a 10-3 season were the ‘Noles finished second place in the conference and went to a New Years Six bowl. None of the other coaches listed No.’s 3 through 6 can say that.

If FSU football brings home the school’s fourth national title in the last 24 seasons (and Fisher’s second in the last four), will that finally get him the credit he deserves? It’s hard to believe Jimbo Fisher has to do much more to finally convince people of his greatness.