AD: Fisher fired because Aggies ‘stuck in neutral’
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork on Sunday night said it was his decision to fire football coach Jimbo Fisher earlier in the day, saying that the program was “stuck in neutral.”
Bjork said he called interim Texas A&M president Gen. Mark Welsh after the Aggies’ loss to Ole Miss on Nov. 4 and asked to meet.
“The assessment that I delivered was that we are not reaching our full potential,” Bjork said at a news conference. “We are not in the championship conversation and something was not quite right about our direction and the plan.
“We should be relevant on the national scene.”
In Fisher’s first three seasons in College Station, the Aggies were 26-10 and finished No. 4 in 2020 — the second-highest ranking ever for the program, after the 1939 national championship. Over the past three seasons, Texas A&M is 19-15, including an active nine-game road losing streak that is tied for the program’s longest since the AP poll began in 1936.
Since Fisher’s first full recruiting class in 2019, Texas A&M has signed 70 ESPN 300 players, the fourth most in the FBS, behind Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State, who have each played in at least one national championship game over that span. The Aggies were credited with the No. 1 recruiting class in 2022.
“There was something just not clicking to provide confidence for everyone in the program,” Bjork said. “You have to adapt, you have to evolve. I’m not going to say whether he did or didn’t, but it didn’t work.”
Fisher’s A&M tenure ends with a 45-25 record over six seasons and no appearances in the SEC championship game.
Bjork said he and Welsh met with Fisher inside Kyle Field just before 9 a.m. Sunday and informed the coach that they were making an immediate change, as well as dismissing Mark Robinson, Fisher’s associate athletic director for football.
Bjork said the conversation was “quick and cordial.”
Steps toward removing Fisher began in a board of regents meeting Thursday, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. An executive session included a four-hour discussion, much of which was dedicated to Fisher’s future.
“I’ll just say [there was a] robust conversation and I’ll just leave it at that,” Bjork said. “But there was no vote. This was my decision to the president and Chancellor [John] Sharp. And that was the end of our decision-making process.”
Defensive line coach Elijah Robinson, who Bjork said has the respect of the players, will serve as the interim coach, with coordinators Bobby Petrino and D.J. Durkin continuing their roles.
“I expect them to really rally around Coach Robinson and finish the season strong,” Bjork said.
Fisher’s dismissal is expected to cost the school more than $76 million to buy out his contract, nearly triple the highest known previous coaching contract buyout at a public school. According to his contract, Fisher is owed $19.2 million within 60 days and then $7.2 annually through 2031. There is no offset or mitigation on those payments, and the annual payments start 120 days after termination.
Bjork said the athletic department and the 12th Man Foundation, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization that is the university’s fundraising arm for athletics, will cover the costs.
“The finances are monumental,” Bjork said. “Let me be very clear in this next part: Texas A&M athletics and the 12th Man Foundation will be the sole sources of the necessary funds covering these transition costs.”
When asked if he expected to be on the hook for the entire buyout, Bjork said there were “different parameters” in the contract language.
“Those mechanics will be worked out as soon as we touch base with his representation,” Bjork said, referring to Fisher’s agent, Jimmy Sexton.
Fisher was initially given a 10-year, $75 million fully guaranteed contract in December 2017, when the Aggies hired him from Florida State, where he had won a national championship following the 2013 season. His buyout is so large because he was given a four-year extension in August 2021 that raised his annual salary from $7.5 million to $9 million and pushed his contract through 2031.
“That’s an institutional decision, but I take responsibility,” Bjork said. “I knew what was coming in the marketplace later that fall [when LSU gave Brian Kelly a 10-year, $95 million deal, among other large contracts]. So I knew that it was the right decision at that time because that’s the information we had. Clearly it didn’t work out. We’re going to learn from that and make sure that we don’t make those same mistakes again.”
Bjork said his athletic department will be responsible for making the yearly payouts to Fisher.
“We have a lot of new revenue coming our way too, but we also have to manage expenses,” Bjork said. “There’s a lot of things within even the football budget that we’ve got flexibility on where we can still be at a high level, but we can also spend a lot less, but we can be a championship-funded program. We’re going to adjust all that.”
There is a set list of traits that Bjork said he’s looking for during the Aggies’ search for their next coach. He said it includes someone who has a program identity, great interpersonal skills, a track record of player development, commitment to academics and a strong recruiting background with solid organizational skills.
With the transfer portal opening Dec. 4, Bjork said that will be a key date as the program transitions to a new coach.
“It’s not ideal,” Bjork said. “But also not unique in the modern day of college football, especially given [the] transfer portal world, signing day and all those dynamics that played into it.”
Bjork, who has been in College Station five years, said he’s not deterred in his goals of making the Aggies into a national title contender.
“The ingredients for a championship are here,” Bjork said. “Aggies want to do it the right way and deserve excellence in everything that we do. … Onward we go.”
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Eli Lederman
North Carolina and coach Bill Belichick are working toward hiring Bobby Petrino as the program’s next offensive coordinator, sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday.
Offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens was fired earlier this month after the Tar Heels ranked 131st nationally in total offense (288.8 yards per game) in 2025.
Petrino, the former head coach at Arkansas, returned to the Razorbacks in 2024, where he served as offensive coordinator for the past two seasons. He took over as interim coach after the program fired Sam Pittman on Sept. 28. He’s also served as head coach at Louisville, Western Kentucky and Missouri State and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
UNC sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that there are still multiple steps remaining before any potential hire is announced. No announcement is imminent and other candidates remain engaged in the process.
The move back into the top job at Arkansas marked a full-circle turnaround for Petrino, who was fired by the Razorbacks in 2012 for misleading officials about an extramarital affair with an athletic department employee. The Razorbacks went 0-7 under Petrino’s leadership this fall en route to a 2-10 finish, and Arkansas hired Memphis‘ Ryan Silverfield as its head coach on Nov. 30.
The Tar Heels are seeking to revamp their offense following a 4-8 season in 2025. Only five FBS teams finished this past season with fewer yards per game than North Carolina, which also ranked 121st in scoring offense (19.3 PPG) and 124th in rushing (105.3) in Belichick’s debut season at UNC.
Under Kitchens, the former Cleveland Browns head coach, the Tar Heels scored 15 points or fewer in six of their 12 games.
Petrino has built a reputation for turning around struggling offenses throughout his career.
As a head coach, he led Louisville from 2003 to 2006 before one season with the Falcons. At Arkansas, he went 21-5 in the final two seasons before he was fired in December 2012.
Petrino spent the 2023 season as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M prior to joining Pittman’s staff at Arkansas in 2024. With Petrino calling plays, the Razorbacks improved from 107th to 10th nationally in yards per game (326.5 to 459.5) last year. Despite going winless in its final 10 games in 2025, Arkansas closed the regular season ranked inside the top 25 nationally in both scoring (32.0 PPG), total offense (454.8 YPG) and rushing (191.9 YPG) among FBS programs.
Each of the previous two head coaches Petrino has worked for — Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Pittman — have been fired within two seasons. If a deal is finalized, Petrino will arrive at North Carolina ahead of a pivotal season under Belichick, who went 2-6 in ACC play in 2025.
The Tar Heels’ intention to hire Petrino was first reported by On3.
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Jake Trotter
Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he will take over calling offensive plays in the Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff opener on New Year’s Eve against Miami.
Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, who had called plays this season, is balancing responsibilities, having recently taken the head coaching job at USF.
Day added that Hartline will focus on coaching Ohio State’s receivers in the CFP.
“We wanted to take [playcalling] off of Brian’s plate because he’s got so much going on with what he’s trying to do,” Day said Monday. “Ultimately it will be my decision what calls go into the game.”
As head coach, Day called Ohio State’s offensive plays until last season, when he relinquished those duties to Chip Kelly. After the Buckeyes won the national championship, Kelly left to be the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders and Day promoted Hartline from receivers coach.
Under Hartline, the Buckeyes rank 17th nationally in scoring, averaging almost 35 points per game, though they scored only 10 in their Big Ten championship loss to Indiana. The Buckeyes twice drove the ball inside the Indiana 10-yard line in the second half but failed to come up with any points.
Miami knocked off Texas A&M 10-3 on Saturday in the first round to advance to face the second-seeded Buckeyes at the Cotton Bowl.
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Adam Rittenberg
Michigan interim coach Biff Poggi described the program as a “malfunctioning organization” after a series of high-profile scandals, one he hopes to “fix” if he has the interim tag removed.
Poggi, who has interviewed with athletic director Warde Manuel for the job, told reporters Monday that Michigan must conduct a “massive self-examination of what’s happened in this building.”
The school on Dec. 10 fired coach Sherrone Moore for cause for having an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Moore subsequently was charged with three crimes, including felony third-degree home invasion, after allegedly confronting the staff member at her home. He spent several nights in the Washtenaw County Jail before being released on $25,000 bond.
Michigan in 2023 went through the signal-stealing scandal involving former staff member Connor Stalions, which led to the Big Ten-imposed suspension of coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three regular-season games, and other penalties. The program had a separate recruiting violations case that yielded penalties for coaches, and also endured other scandals, including the firing of former offensive coordinator Matt Weiss, who faces a federal indictment for allegedly hacking into the computer accounts of college athletes to access intimate photos and videos, while working inside Michigan’s football building.
“It’s been five years of a malfunctioning organization,” said Poggi, in his third stint on the Michigan staff after working under both Moore and Harbaugh. “Let’s call it what it is: It’s happened every year. The athletic director doesn’t want any more of that.”
Poggi will lead Michigan against Texas in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31 in Florida. He said Monday that Manuel told the team that he expects to hire the next long-term coach before the game. The transfer portal opens Jan. 2, and Michigan is hoping to retain quarterback Bryce Underwood, the nation’s No. 1 recruit last year, and other notable players.
The 65-year-old Poggi worked as a hedge fund manager before entering coaching, spending most of his career as a high school coach in Maryland before first joining Harbaugh’s staff in 2016. He returned in 2021 as associate head coach before landing his only FBS head coaching job at Charlotte, where he was fired before the end of his second season after going 6-16. Poggi came back to Michigan this season.
Asked why he would be a strong choice for the long-term job, Poggi said, “Because I know what the hell I’m doing. … I want to fix this program.”
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