Aiming to elevate its football program to national prominence after securing only one conference title in the past twenty years, the Aggies made headlines by offering a record amount to recruit one of the country’s top coaches. While this move was celebrated as a significant achievement, it raised doubts about the university’s financial priorities.
A professor of mathematics from Michigan called this a “tragic reflection of American society,” while a Wisconsin faculty member warned of a potential faculty uprising if a similar contract were proposed at their institution. The athletic director at Arizona expressed his disbelief, stating, “I just wonder how they can do that.”
An A&M representative explained to The New York Times, “It comes down to market conditions; hiring a top-tier football coach costs that much.”
This situation arose in 1982, when the Aggies signed Jackie Sherrill to become the first college football coach to secure a contract valued over $1 million, enticing him from Pittsburgh after he achieved three consecutive 11-1 seasons.
Fast forward to December, 36 years after Sherrill’s groundbreaking deal sparked controversy, the Aggies committed to a guaranteed $75 million over ten years for Jimbo Fisher, one of only four active coaches with a national championship, luring him away from Florida State. Once again, this marked the highest contract ever awarded to a college football coach.
At Texas A&M, the tradition of investing in top-quality coaches is deeply ingrained.
When athletic director Scott Woodward dismissed Kevin Sumlin, who had a record of 51-26 during his first six seasons in the SEC (though he had a 25-23 conference record), the Aggies paid him a $10.4 million buyout. Coupled with Fisher’s annual salary of $7.5 million, this caused a stir among college football fans nationwide.
The Aggies accomplished the impressive feat of hiring a coach from a program where he had just won a national title for the first time in 40 years (since Johnny Majors transitioned from Pitt to Tennessee in 1976). Many questioned how Fisher, who had an impressive 83-23 record at Florida State, won three ACC titles, and consistently ranked in the AP top 10, would leave for A&M—a school that hasn’t won a conference title since 1998 and has not ranked higher than fourth in the SEC West over the past five seasons.
The response? It’s simply what the Aggies do.
This has been their approach for over six decades, showcasing a notably ambitious record when it comes to hiring coaches, perhaps more so than any other school in the nation. However, there’s a distinction between ambition and success, and these two elements have seldom aligned during A&M’s coaching searches, some of which have been as tumultuous as those of Tennessee.
