Jimbo Fisher
Jimbo Fisher is the second coach on this list that has won a national championship. Unlike Lou Holtz, I can’t say that I think Jimbo Fisher is a good coach. At best, he is a decent recruiter that got lucky a few times.
The first time he got lucky was when he was named the ‘coach-in-waiting’ at Florida State. It’s debatable whether that was justified. He was the offensive coordinator at LSU when Nick Saban won his first national championship, but otherwise the best head coaching job he had been offered was UAB, and the University of Alabama BOT vetoed the contract that was originally offered to him.
The second time was when he got a commitment from from Jameis Winston. Say whatever you want to say about Winston, but he was a gamechanger. He is the reason Fisher won a national championship.
The third time was when the COVID season happened. Fisher took advantage of the weirdest season in college football history to make it appear like he was earning his paycheck at Texas A&M.
Some of us predicted that he would run the Aggies into the ground the way he did with the Seminoles. Between the A&M’s fifth place finish in 2020 and some of the FSU drama that became public, Fisher was actually seen in a positive light for a minute. It almost made those of us predicting doom look bitter and vindictive.
Then he did run Texas A&M into the ground and it turns out we were right. Fisher just isn’t that good of a coach. The ego far exceeds the ability.
Next: Mike Carey