What's next for Texas A&M?
The Fighting Aggies of Texas A&M are facing a massive reset with the failure of the Jimbo Fisher era and installation of a new staff.
I think a lot of people underestimated the impact of Jimbo Fisher’s failure at Texas A&M.
The famous message board “TexAgs,” which has a near monopoly on A&M coverage and readership, is currently filled with posters suggesting their days of donating and investing in Aggie football are likely coming to a close. Some of it is probably venting, Aggies have a knack for rebounding in order to another pounding, but then the investment by Aggie alumni and donors over the last decade has been at a much higher level than it was previously. It is not ahistorical for them to see a major dip in enthusiasm from where they’ve been as the sole Texas team in the SEC for the last decade.
The coming of Texas is major undercurrent in the story of A&M football for the Jimbo era. Texas A&M really worked hard to maximize the window in which they were the sole SEC Texas team and could build an identity outside of the shadow of the University of Texas.
Texas A&M went all-in on Jimbo Fisher with the exorbitant contract and eventually the massive NIL funding of an already strong recruiting operation. Their fans and many believed that A&M money was endless and they could absorb a failure should Jimbo not work out, but they failed to overlook the blow to morale if the project should fail. There’s still plenty of funds around the program and the new coaches are making big time money, but the investment isn’t going to match what it was for Jimbo without a big morale boost.
The Athletic Director tried to hire Mark Stoops for another pile of money and was rebuffed, they settled back on Mike Elko (Duke head coach and former defensive coordinator for Jimbo), and 16 of their players have already entered the transfer portal. Those 16 include seven guys who were either starting or likely to start. Quite a lot.
The legendary 2022 class, which was the highest ranked of all time and provoked the ire of Nick Saban, included 28 high school recruits. Of those 28, 10 are already out of the program with potentially more to come.
So…what now?
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