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Texas A&M University’s governing board agreed Sunday to pay $75 million to buy out the remaining years on the contract of Jimbo Fisher, the football coach it fired after winning 45 of 70 games over the six years he was its coach.
“After very careful analysis of all the components related to Texas A&M football, I recommended to President Welsh and then Chancellor Sharp that a change in the leadership of the program was necessary in order for Aggie football to reach our full potential and they accepted my decision,” the athletics director, Ross Bjork, said in a statement on the website of the athletics department. “We appreciate Coach Fisher’s time here at Texas A&M and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Texas A&M signed Fisher to a 10-year contract in 2017 after he led Florida State University’s team to the national championship. It extended that contract in 2021 to cover another 10 years, at $9 million a year. The contract was fully guaranteed, which means the coach will receive about $75 million not to coach through 2031.
University officials told media sources that donor funds, and no public money, would be used to pay Fisher. Several media reports indicated Fisher’s buyout is by far the largest ever in college football.
