While the Texas A&M Board of Regents met Thursday night to discuss the hiring of a new head football coach, Florida State's Jimbo Fisher told reporters he plans to coach the Seminoles' rescheduled game against Louisiana-Monroe. Multiple reports have Fisher as the Aggies' top target, and while he has refused to comment on any other jobs -- even as fans awkwardly confronted him on his weekly radio show -- it is looking more likely by the day that this saga ends with a move from Florida State to Texas A&M.
The Associated Press reports one source familiar with the situation has indicated that Florida State expects Fisher to take the Texas A&M job if formally offered. That doubles down on previous reporting from multiple outlets that Florida State officials began vetting candidates to replace Fisher at the beginning of the week, including Oregon coach Willie Taggart. Oregon, likely in response to the interest, has reportedly offered Taggart a new deal worth "a little more than $20 million over five years."
Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp told ESPN on Thursday following a board of regents meeting that the board is expected to reconvene in short order in order to approve a coaching hire. "Sharp indicated a short timetable for the process, saying the meeting could be called as early as Friday," Sam Khan Jr. reports, "meaning the regents would have identified whom they intend to hire."
Fisher has been connected to jobs in previous coaching cycles but always ended the coaching silly season right where he started -- at Florida State. One thing that makes this cycle different has been the reports coming from Texas A&M, where a certain confidence in Fisher's interest has led not only Florida State fans but Seminole commits on the recruiting trail -- FSU had three prospects from its 2018 class decommit this week -- to believe the national title-winning coach has decided to close this chapter of his career in Tallahassee and start a new one in College Station, Texas.
As the AP points out, Fisher would be just the fourth head coach in history to win an AP national championship at a school and leave it to immediately take a job at another college program. Johnny Majors was the last to do so, moving from Pittsburgh to Tennessee in 1977. Majors won the 1976 national title with the Panthers and went on to lead the Volunteers to three conference titles but never a national crown.
Reported figures for a Texas A&M-Fisher marriage are estimated at $7 million per season for the coach to potentially make the move from Florida State.
