FSU Football: Messy ending tarnishes legacy of Jimbo Fisher with Noles

FSU football had a lot of great moments in the eight years Jimbo Fisher was their head coach – but the last week has ruined much of what took place.

For just the second time in slightly over four decades, FSU football is in the market for a head football coach after the decision by Jimbo Fisher to move on from Tallahassee and become the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. Unlike when Fisher took over after being named the coach in waiting for legendary head coach Bobby Bowden, the school will have to actually conduct a search.

For Fisher, it was an ending that didn’t have to happen the way it did – the coach spent much of the last month of the season dodging rumors he was leaving for College Station while almost daily driving off more and more people from his side on the matter.

Florida State Seminoles Football

Increasingly, thanks to the way Fisher wouldn’t answer questions and – according to some recruits – stopped doing his job to help FSU football for the 2018 season, it became apparent that this marriage was ending too.

With Fisher’s departure for the Aggies and the SEC and more money and a football only facility he coveted, the now former Seminoles head coach has ruined what legacy he had built in eight seasons in Tallahassee. Fisher probably won’t lose any sleep over it, but his name is no longer golden within the Florida State family because of how things went down.

Before the remaining Jimbo apologists in the FSU football family jump down my throat, let me remind them this is the same man who preached loyalty from a fan base that still came out to watch this team drop six games before the middle of November – before bolting for the afore mentioned rise in a pay check and a variety of professional and, likely, personal reasons.

When Fisher first took over before the 2010 season, I had no hopes that he was going to be like Bowden and spent nearly three and a half decades in Tallahassee. Those days were over and we all knew Fisher would one day move on, so the issue is not with him no longer coaching the Seminoles.

The issue is how this whole thing went down – and while some may want to blame the university for how this went down, it completely falls in the lap of Jimbo Fisher.

We all know the reasons why Fisher was quiet toward the end – he was taking the job in Texas A&M the second it was offered to him but he had to be quiet on the subject as a way ensuring he got his paycheck before bailing on the Seminoles when things got a little bit tough. Hopefully, fans of the Aggies realize that’s what they are getting in their new coach.

No one will take away the fact that Jimbo Fisher finished his FSU football career averaging over 10 wins a season and brought the Seminoles back into competing for ACC and national titles – but when the 2013 national title team is talked about, the focus will be more about the talented players instead of the coach who happened to take advantage of the situation.

Next: Jimbo not answering coaching questions is a bad look

Fisher can use whatever excuses he wanted to for bolting – not getting his way with all the athletic department’s money going to football, personal beef with administrators or even the fact he won’t reach the legacy status of Bowden in the eyes of many fans. But the bottom line is the reason why he just dropped several pegs in Seminoles Nation is staring at him in the mirror.