Inside College Football: NIL, Rivalries, and the Pressures of Coaching - Jimbo Fisher

Introduction Jimbo thank you for being here my friend glad to be here buddy yeah it's it's football season such a fun time of year isn't it it is it's it's an exciting time of year that's for sure so what a year like this year like how are you approaching the fall like are you you know looking for different opportunities are you just kind of going to lay low this year what what I tell you what I'm doing right I'm I'm seeing how I how I feel about things and and where I'm at and where the game's going and the different scenarios that are going on and I'm kind of just learning I I guess I'm setting back because sometimes as a coach you're always so busy and you have your moments during the year where you'll re search and do but now I'm just all right how's that guy doing how's this is there things out there that you want to do and just kind of observing and enjoying it for once I mean sitting back I'm I'm not as tense right now I'm not worried about who's starting at left guard and who's going to be my quarterback and and it's it's become it's fun right now but I'm just kind of watching how everybody's handing their business I was going to say is probably really fun for you to not have all the stress that normally comes I mean you're you know it's a year round job as a a head college football coach or even an assistant coach but even this time of year is it's got to be just Madness normally oh it is because it's it's it's the accumulation accumulation of everything you've put together all year to make the right decisions and in college football I tell you what the playoff now has actually helped a little bit because back in college football before one loss you're done yeah so I mean all your decisions at the beginning of the year better be right I mean they have to be now but at least there's a little bit more leniency and a little more leadway about getting in a playoff that has changed probably for college coaches but what with the nil and the transfer portal it's taken up so much more time of coaches now I said in the last three years our job changed as much as it ever had in my 35 years of ever being in a business well I was going to say you probably did that as well as anybody I mean you really took advantage of the N roles and being able to get the best players in the nation to come to Texas A&M and you know and also when you were at Florida State but how much did that How NIL changed coaching change your focus maybe go into that a little bit talk about the difference as a head coach trying to now that the P players are you know being paid versus just being recruited well and you're well here's the other thing people constant recruiting your players so I mean the guys on your team which you always had relationships with but you got to be it's like you're recruiting them over and over and then what's their future where do they fit in where are they going to play I mean it's like I think of every Pro Player had a had an open free agent contract he could he could leave every time that's what college players are right now that's awful as a coach that's got to be exhausting it is and the other part is is the the official visits in this the visits in the spring now have totally used to be a couple months they weren't down months but you had normal weekends you're getting home at 5: and 6 in the evening those days are over I mean it's 36 I mean the time it is almost doubled for a college coach right now and it is very strenuous very nerve-wracking and because somebody is visiting your campus every day wow every weekend plus all right now I'm trying to coach I'm trying to practice I'm trying and as a head coach what it did to me a little bit those last years it took me away from the ball part a little so much more because either dealing with something with our own team or in a recruiting base that is going it's a continual cycle and not just one but you're in three and four classes at a time you're all the way back to freshman I didn't get offered when I was a sophomore I don't want to come you didn't like me I mean the amount of knowledge and the amount of people you had to have in your uh organization to evaluate freshman evaluate sophomores evaluate Juniors evaluate transfers evaluate I mean it was just a constant you're meeting talking making decisions on that part let not talking about the X and no the ball well not even just trying to keep your own player though you do have to be looking at every other team's players as well right like who's not happy who could be a possible trade C who who who is out there right I'm want to you know act I say right now everybody's making list you know next year we've got some really good young tackles but this guy's not going to be ready we need to find the experienced left tackle we need to find an experienced Corner we need to find an experienced linebacker so then you're listening the portal who's trying to get in a portal who's I mean all the all you know everything that's going on out there so it is I mean it's magnified well then you've got I mean also though you you have to dis players differently you have to play them differently guy might not be ready yet but if you don't play him he's gone so you got a festar Recruit come in did did you guys run into that problem managing time I mean you know right what's my development plan and well it's not fast enough and it's fast enough and you got one ahead of them and building depth is one of the hardest things I think it's going to be quality depth even though you got players and transfer but they haven't been your system all right and even if they're good athletes do they know the scheme which allows them to use their athletic ability and then if the ones that do know they've been there a couple years of developed and you got two or three guys well I'm not getting enough playing time so I'm leaving so I think depth is going to be one of the big even though that your numbers are still very similar I think quality depth in the game as it goes is getting to be more much more challenging than it ever was so you probably built you know the pipeline with uh the boosters and everybody else as well as anybody ever has to be able to get them to buy in to get the right players there how did you do that as a coach I think it's again I always say this knowledge if if people going to invest just like if you want to go invest in a company and you're hard-earned money why am I investing what's my what's the give back what's my reward and what's the whole purpose of this whole thing and I think it's just con it was constant explanation and meetings and why it was so important that we be able to do this and I think those meetings again those are meetings you used to not have to have so you're having you're talking about meetings with the boosters oh the boosters and the people that all right this is why we have to change this is why we have to do it this way this is why we need this this is why we need this is why I got to hire 15 more people you know this is why I got to have a Personnel department now that's so big that you know why do you need all those other folk because somebody and then the other thing is and you know this in recruiting you want to be talked to if they're not calling me they're not interested well you know the amount of people you're recruiting at one time that and the amount of people you have to have to be in constant contact with those people every day to be able to make that communication I mean so that's why the the expansion of people people resources nil money all those things had to grow so quick and so fast and people wait a minute CU people were having a hard time saying why is this changing so fast and it was just you had to explain why and how to get ahead of it well you're I mean you're basically running a Fortune 500 company that point how many people did you have directly you know underneath you there was I don't know the exact I hate to say that the exact number now but you're in the hundreds really yeah I mean when you're talking about from uh recruiters to to management people to coaches to uh staff underneath I mean everything there was there was 100 there was at least 100 people so you were really good at getting people if you could get them on campus for the recruiting trip you won them over a lot people that nobody else could beat you came in and you won those guys over what would you do on recruiting trips to help guys what was kind of your magic formula you know I think at the end of the day people want people who are honest and genuine and don't be like all right I come into something and we're going through the I call the dog and pony show all right then at the end fin you're going to say all right all this is gone what's the nuts and bolts of what's going to happen and why it's going to happen how you going to help me what your what has been your track record in the past who have you coached who have you developed who of you and we luckily had a great track record of developing people our whole career whether as an assistant or as a head coach and what is my plan and then we had the resources and the people in place to be able to do it and put the staff in place to be able to do it and and I think just the honesty and then I think proven all right that's name them they'll say all right you're GNA say what somebody track record all right here's a list of names a disposition here's a list of names of disposition here's a list of all right I mean and if you want to call them you know what I mean I think once you've proven yourself I think your history and the honesty and and the openness that there's nothing I'm hiding and to try to let them get that communication with those people and to see what you've done in the past how much did it change the entitlement because I know that's what Nick Sabin you know what pushed him out of the business essentially he said I just I can't deal with how much these kids care about the wrong things now basically how much did that you see that change when they brought in nil and the players unbelievable see cuz here's the thing but here's the thing I think they're missing and I really believe to me the new Jordan commercial is the best commercial everything in the game has changed except what makes you actually win I mean when you go back to it it doesn't matter you still got to get on that Court you got to get on that field you got to get on that baseball field so whatever it may be you got to perform and having the the the traits the habits the skills and the mindset and determination to win always and everybody's thinking now well I'm going to get money but this isn't life-changing money no it's a great start don't get me wrong and I understand people that you know come from poverty I grew up as a as a middle class you know my mom was a teacher my dad was a coal miner I mean to get $300,000 would be life I mean it is it can start you but it's not going to change your life no I mean I still think getting the right opportunities but getting somewhere that can develop because you know the money doesn't make you you make the money and eventually your performance is what's going to win out and if you're going to go to the next level and really make I call true money and life-changing money to be able to get in Pro Sports now that it's what's starting to come out and I think that's where everybody's is I think they're missing the boat I understand the the immediate this guy's giving me 300,000 this guy's giving me 350 well at the end of the day $50,000 is a lot but it ain't changing your life once you get out there and real now when I was 19 years old you'd probably had a hard time telling me that I I I get it where they're coming from but at the end of the day it's still going to be how you play and I think that's what I hope at the end of the day we can get back to and these kids got to perform and the more they jump the less likely they're going to have to be successful in my opinion how does it work if you pay a guy a certain amount of nil money and he decides to transfer after a short amount of time do you have to do you get pay do they have to pay it back or does it even matter it just depends on how the contracts are set up and then but then once you find out you know and people try to say well we still own your rights you still if you get this you got to pay us this money and and those things happen but at the same time if once those things get out there how you ever going to sign somebody you know what I'm saying I'm not going to enter into that contract it's like having a buyou it's like Co it's like us coaches man I don't want I was lucky enough you know at the end of my career after after we had a lot of success I didn't have a buyout you know what I'm saying and and and we got guaranteed contracts with no no offset and things like that I mean it but I think your quality of player gets you that way but you know I think you know it's it's going to be challenging for him and I think here's the key you're getting so many different people that are giving them information and thoughts that have never dealt with this and I think that's the other part you're dealing with too on our side that what's truth and what's not truth I think you know the way that it's set up this year would have really favored a team like Texas A&M because being in the SEC it's just such a gauntlet right I mean when you were at Florida State you had two big games a year you beat Clemson you beat whatever you know maybe Miami that year whoever it might have been or maybe florid you win those games though and you there's a good chance you're playing for you know the national title whereas you know in the SEC I mean you can go beat the number one team in the nation and next week you're playing the number four team oh yeah how do you how do you think that would have affected you as a player or excuse me as a coach and how you would have set it up with your players knowing that you know 12 teams were going to have a chance at that well you know when we were at Florida State at that time believe it or not we had the run for about when we were we won it and were winning championships Believe It or Not That was the only year the ACC passed up the SEC in players that was the one year that the most draft picks came out of the ACC and we had Clemson Miami of course we always played Florida and we always went and played one M we always had Notre Dame we always had uh we opened up with Alabama one year so we always had some more we I tried to set things up when I was there CU I was at Auburn for years and we had lot six we had a 20- game win streak there LSU we won national championships had great players and structurally within my organization I try to set things up like an SEC program and to be able to take the where and tear each and every week and it where it gets to and people don't really understand it's UPF front yeah the guys who put their hand in the dirt when you're in the SEC you're in C of certain legs I call it a grown man's leg well they just look different you see them on TV you're like these defensive linemen for you know for Florida and foris year like my goodness you I mean and that's the way we were when we were at Florida State and our hay that's what we look like and I always say this listen when a truck has a wreck you knock the den out when a car has a wreck you put in the junkyard you know and then I know that's a b that's an analogy the size and speed in power and it it makes a difference what you're doing each and every the South becomes so dominant because there's so many players and there's so many defensive linemen that come from the south I mean it's just yeah it just it's a fact of life and that's where everybody goes down and try to recruit them you know and and you go back to USC when they were in their greatness out here they were getting players from all over the country Y and they had those types of guys when they won those championships yeah so are you excited to see how it plays out with having a playoff this year what's your take on on how it's going to it's going to be interesting it really is I mean I the thing I don't like about what's happening in college football that two leagues are having distinct advantages College football today MH because we're going into a money issue with getting players I mean that's like for instance Ohio State said they had 20 well more power toio state I'm not blaming them but when two teams because of the TV contracts right now that's what kills me about the Big 12 and I mean we just destroyed the Pack 12 right right I mean when I grew up watching the Rose Bowl and USC and Washington and Don James and all I mean even those those schools I mean they're gone now that that's a shame to me and and and the Big 10 and SEC have such distinct advantages right now that I think that's what scares me there's no there needs to be a a zar or whatever you want to call him of college football that has college football and because I get listen both both uh Commissioners and all these Commissioners they're trying to do what's best for their own conference which is what they should be doing but nobody has college football because it's such a distinct Advantage because when you're talking about this team's getting 90 million from TV contracts and this groups getting 40 and you're talking about playing 20% of your you know 20% of your um Revenue back to players well that's a distinctive think if the NFL didn't have a sour C or the same oh yeah well it's like major league baseball right youan and go exactly I mean and that's that's the part that's got me to but as far as the excitement of having 12 teams it gives a lot of other teams a chance now yeah because before it didn't well you guys had it you know you would always play those big games early on you know it's a fun thing to do and you want to get your team pumped but you lose one of those games how hard was it to keep your team motivated after losing a big game early it was tough and and you had to come back and I think that's what this being a 12 team playoff or 14 however we go into it is going to be a lot better and I think you'll get more of those games to be able to do that because guys are going to want to test their teams yeah to find that Avenue you know what I'm saying so I think that's going to be the best part that one loss doesn't end there and right now maybe two doesn't you know you're two necessarily depending on who it was or what other quality wins you have so I think that's going to create a lot more and here's the thing at the end of the year you had what six eight teams that were really significant for the playoff MH you're going to have 20 yeah 22 25 so the quality of games are really going to matter at the end of the year and I think you're going to get even more excitement from you know people and fans that my team's still in it this game still really means I'm not just going to the Orange Bowl now or I'm not just going to a which is it's kills me too cuz I'm a traditionalist m to go playing the Orange Bowl or the sugar bow or the whatever you know you know certain bowls each year have the Championships but others were just bowl games we've kind of pushed that away and I'm kind of excited to get a little bit of that back for the playoffs and something that goes on but here's my scare of this what I think what I think is one of the BS for the bowl games coming up once people in that first round get a taste of a home game and a playoff game are they really going to want to go play a bowl game in the second one and I'm going and I'm talking about two three four years down the road from after we get a taste of home games I think people going have a hard time giving up yeah no it's going to be it's we've never seen it right we've never had it but that's my prediction coming up that that'll be the next push well we don't need that's why doesn't because right the team that sets out yeah who's number one in the top four think about this they never get a home game it's going to be the top ranked team of the first eight teams that play oh that's true so they so you I mean even being a top team you don't get a home game yeah oh they're going to say that's not fair cuz you know what league they're going most of those leagues are going to be in yeah they'll be in the two main who got all the money yeah so there's going to be some interesting things com out of this I love it so are you going to be wanting to get back into coaching or where you at as far as like you know what's the next for you I'm not going to say that I'm not going to say I will but I'm going to say I I definitely am one to look and in the right situations and I can say I'm still young 58 years old and still have a lot a lot of it left and and feel very good and and as I'm sitting now how I feel but I'm I'm most likely I think I will I mean I do and want to get the right job and the right opportunity and and to get back in it but we'll wait and see and play it by ear and see how it goes is there game that you're most proud of from your time as when you were a coach you know that's that's a hard question people ask me that what's your favorite game of all time what's your favorite it's like when you say well what's your favorite player who's your favorite kid right yeah who's your favorite kid I mean you know you do look at him like that and you know some of the games that people may I think some of them are early in my career before the first taste I ever had of Big Time football you know what I mean uh I remember my first Alabama Auburn game when I was coaching at Auburn Alabama was defending national Champions and we beat him in Jordan Hair We w we won my first 20 games at Auburn we were 20 and0 your call plays against the team that just won the national championship and they' been they'd won 28 or 29 in a row or whatever it was and you know there was game we played some great Florida games in and when I first went LSU some of my favorite games before we won the national championships when we were building a program the first year we had a game against Tennessee I'll never forget we uh had lost to UAB oh two weeks before about to fourth game Nick was a head coach they wanted to run us out of town you know what I mean and we come back and beat upset Tennessee in overtime and and and they were number eight or nine in the country and and we then we started to win you know and end up having a really good year it was a Mississippi State game in that year that happened Florida State Games I mean every Florida game you played every Miami game those rivalries you know we were seven and one my eight years there as a head coach which was when you beat your Rivals that's always good and they were good but of course the national championship game the AC but there so many I've been fortunate to be a part of how did I mean you were a part of so many of the rivalries right Texas Texas A&M Auburn Alabama Florida Florida state which of those three was the biggest rivalry well we didn't get to play Texas when I was A&M you guys didn't actually play him when you were there no that's this year has been the first year that's one of the things I hate you know were you at A&M when they moved to the flid I was Florida State then yeah I was at Florida State Florida state Florida was mag magnet Florida State Miami you know it's funny it's and that's almost two different rivales of Florida State how they look that's an interesting Clemson became a bit our game whoever won that game years was playing for national championships for and winning it every year Alabama Auburn is that the others are great wins Auburn Alabama Auburn all he said was relief that your own people didn't get you you know what I mean if you lost it I mean and that that game was was so intense but I mean to me that that's to play in those great rivalry games to say which one was the greatest whichever one I was involved in at the time sure and I think that's always way Rob looks one one thing that's really beautiful about being a college football coach I think more than every other sport the college football coach probably has more say in the outcome of The impact of the right coach on the outcome of the game that game you're like a 12th player because you're calling the plays you really do make such a difference to the outcome of the game I mean the coach then gets a lot of Praise but also gets a lot of you know the the the people that are criticizing and things like that but as a coach maybe tell us like how did you prep for games how much work went into prepping for each week for for the games oh for me it was tremendous because I did the recruiting part I called the plays and then up until my last year or so I did I called the games and that was I mean that was very demanding the amount of time you had to spend with your players getting them ready getting in and you still and you still hey I got to go over and set in the defensive meetings I'm involved in special team and then but calling the game man it as a head co when you don't call the game it is a it's not a huge relief but the time constraints on you is not close to what it is when you're actually calling a game plus doing all the other things I mean it becomes uh very strenuous very uh and you got to have and then you got to have a guy or two that you really trust because there's going to be times you can't be in there to do certain things that you got to make sure get done but that when you called the game man it was it was a true grind yeah it really was I can only imagine I mean you're literally you know it's you can tell that the teams that well you have that chance I mean it's almost like playing poker or chess right like you trick the opponent you you figure out their weakness and you exploit something that maybe nobody else saw and that is that you put that effort in you get that reward out of that and the ability too in a game too sometimes that have a game plan but we always taught and we always went into things very conceptually and it was easy for us to change gears we never said okay this is what we're doing this game it was all right these are what we're featuring our you know our shots our trick plays this how we want to run the ball these are the formation we have but the way we set things up offensively we could transition out he we wer going to be in two tight ends and one back or one tight end one tight and all of a sudden realize you know and we would throw formations out in those first 15 plays and get in full wides and say they didn't prepare for this but we could transition into that so quickly because of Concepts that really didn't change they knew how to do it we would do that quite often I mean and then all of a sudden you know go there and then come back to what we had had and once they made the adjustments back to that so I think that that was the fun part that was the fun part of football for me you know what I'm saying I mean because you grew up doing it and as an assistant coach that's what you spend all your time when you're recruiting but you're you know your position you coached or if you were in OC as a head coach man it was hard I still love that part of it yeah as a football coach how often are you how much time are you spending watching your former players in the NFL do you even have time to watch you know you have so many great players come through that you coach man I man I've been blessed I mean some of them out here this you know I was good out here Derwin and all those guys out here they are playing right now but you I was blessed to have so many of them I never got if I happen to catch a minute on Sunday cuz Sunday was such a work day sure but I always had people report to me I always say how' our guys do we always always had list of our ex players how they do or is anybody hurt is anybody in trouble as far as they're going to get cut they're in a bad because in that occasion you'd like try to call them stay in tou with them because they were like your kids you want them to have success and I tried to keep track I didn't get to watch the games as much but I tried to keep track of how they were doing and what they were doing I gota yeah I think as a as a former coach also the more you can stay in touch with those guys the more they help you recruit future players and things like that they do and I say even even things hey coach it give you a kind we're doing this up here this is cool I mean it even transitions in the game and things that people in pro ball were doing you know that will translate down into college football and I tell you what that may be even more so now than ever yeah what coach did you learn the most from when you were an assistant I'm G to say uh Bobby B see I grew up around the B I played for Terry and Jeff and Tom and Coach with all of them but I was around I was exposed to Bobby even when I was still a player in college the ball really took me in and I played for Terry was a quarterback for him I always said uh it was funny when I was in college Terry like Bobby didn't realize he didn't ride the team B he always rode with a State Trooper in his car well Terry did the same thing when he was a coach well he used to make me ride with him I wouldn't ride the team bus I was a quarterb on road trips and he would set and go over the game plan with me inside now it made me learn football I had know I knew what the line did I knew because back then I used to you know you could fix the problems in there but they really took me under their wing and then I learn I was so fortunate at the young age not only to work with him but even we went to Florida State to visit right when I got out of coaching I would we would stay at coach Biden's house and go watch him practice he went to B when I first became the OC at Sanford University I was 20 what was I I was 23 oh wow 24 whatever I can't whatever it was right there you know they were playing bowl games so I they took me the bowl game put me in the hotel kept put me up and I sat Terry and I sat and Coach B and I sat in the back of his meeting room that's when he was still calling place as a head coach and this is how they game planned this is he organized this is how he thought was and in certain game like a couple games when he would get down there in the bowl game I would set in the head in the box with a headset on not no mouthpiece and just listen to him communicate with his coaches listen to him call a game so I got exposed to a lot of things at a young age of how to organize structure which was very important to me and then how he of course Coach B was the we talk about recruiting Coach B could walk in a house you guys remind me of each other a little bit you're just so personable I mean you can see like when you sit down with a kid you know you could mean I mean Bobby B just feels like your grandpa that's just the nicest most loving said this when two minutes you felt like you knew him for 20 years and and was genuine he was always honest he never had an agenda and he made me feel that way and maybe I don't know if that's why or my but that was kind of how I did it now of course I was with uh Terry his son who modeled every a lot of things after learned there Nick learned tons of things off Nick I mean structure discipline organization schemes I mean you know we go and practice I mean we because he CU even though he wasn't a d-coordinator he was a d-coordinator he he let gu call it but it called what he wanted cuz I'm going tell you what CU if you call something he didn't he let him know fast so you're on offense and all of a sudden in practice he'd be gigging you and doing something so I would chain some you can't beat you and we and it but it made me he attacked you so much that it made me have to we carried our volume of offense and defense when I was LSU was tremendous but it's because much as to get through practice but the knowledge then we would do things to them back and forth and it grew and it made me grow as a coach that way you know what I'm saying and then but I was around those two guys but Bobby had the great influence because he could recruit he could do it all Nick did too they but they were different how is Nick different as a recruiter I've always wondered because I can see you meet somebody like you or Bobby bow and I can go oh yeah of course that's that guy's gonna win me over Nick seems so serious it'd be hard for me to want to go play for a coach that's that serious but Nick had a different side he had a personal side to him he just had to get there but it was so he had so much success and he was so matter of fact and could get the points across to you you could see why you would play for him got it you understand then when you got to know him of course everybody you know loosens up and all that but he is very more businesslike this is I can get you here I can get you the NFL we can get you to do this we can get you to do that we're going to have he is more much differently like that but he had his way of getting it across do you feel like at A&M there seemed like and I don't know if this was part of that entitlement thing or whatever it seemed like there was a little bit of like you ran into some discipline problems sometimes with some of the guys just getting them to do the thing you feel like that was you know is not anywhere that it wasn't anywhere else just it things get magnified more because of social media got you you just had big names there too you had guys that were obviously they wanted to make you know a story in the paper about it did but you know Florida State we did too but it just we never we never had crazy any craziness Sil it was more a nitpicky day-to-day things that college kids do that used to not know about yeah well the thing about a football team is I mean you got 90 guys and with social media yeah so yeah so it's social media you're seeing everything right and so it's like back in the day hear about the Miami teams or even the Florida state teams and it was like oh it's probably a lot more back then to deal with as a coach you just didn't have social media to have to worry about it was I always say this people say how can you not get them off all right you got five kids they're not all right four of them are really good one of them is a knucklehead yeah or half a goofball am I right it's always so you got the same dad same mom same school same preacher same church same everything and you can't get them to how am I supposed to get 120 but you do I mean it's all part of it and it gets magnified sometimes sometimes it doesn't but at the end of the day they're still kids and and and I I always learned this from Coach B if everybody threw everybody away for every mistake they made nobody would do anything he believed in second chances he really did he believed in second chances and I did too not because I was trying to give them a break but they're human yeah with their kids kids they're 18 think of all the things you when you're 18 to 22 a lot of times when you're watching them on TV you forget that they're kids and then you sit down and have a conversation with them and you're like oh that's a child oh when they take their helmet off yeah you go man he's a baby I mean you know I know he's 6 foot6 and 310 pounds but that body you know what I mean that face is like a it's like a 15year old I mean we get so enamored that we want uh I call instant Justice you know what I'm saying for thing well kids learn and grow you got you got to give them time now there's certain things you can't from and and there's different punishments but that's one thing Coach B always believed and and I I always I guess I came from that tree you know what I'm saying was trying to baby him I'm just trying I'm not trying if everybody threw everybody away who would have a chance in this world no it's really a beautiful thought well you you know watched all these guys that are going to be playing this year you recruited a lot of them you're very Predictions on the season familiar with the Personnel on each team um who do you think is going to end up in those final two or four games who would you guess I guess will be the top two teams at the end I mean Georgia is still very talented they're well coach I know K Kirby was on St I mean Kirby does a great job Ohio State's extremely talented I mean Ohio state has has great great talent great player I think I think they just now announced the Howard kid from Kansas State's going to be their starter I just saw that as I was coming across it flashed across ESPN as I was walking out of the room that I mean think about that I don't mean to go their guy went 11 and one he lost to Michigan in a tightly game who threw for 3,000 yards and 20 some touchdowns as a sophomore and he got but that's not good enough I mean I mean where are we at but but I think those two teams are there uh you know yeah in the SC somebody's going to emerge out of that thing you know I mean uh whoever's young listen schedule quarterbacking Texas has got a good team I I'm G tell you what Texas A&M's got a good team if they Right Things Fall their offensive Line's good if if their quarterback stays healthy they're going to be good yeah uh Old Miss should have a good they've got a good group of transfers come in they should have a really good team of course Michigan's defending Champion Penn State's always going to be close and they're saying Oregon I I I don't see much of them but was it hard to coach against all these guys that you had coached with you know Kirby Smart and Steve sarkeesian and Lane ke I mean you guys were all friends you guys all coach together and then you all ended up becoming against each other you do it your whole life everywhere I mean just just become sometimes you may remember something they like to do key situations but and go that way yeah well it's really an honor to be able to sit down and talk with you about this um as a you know somebody who's been at the highest of high levels in coaching what advice do you give to younger coaches or guys that are trying to work up and and get where you've been best advice I ever got I asked coach balet when I was I was coaching at Sanford for his son Terry and he would come to the B see the B there pton you know those Manning acmy where that came from was the balen had an academy and I was the number one quarterback instructor for that even when I played my senior year in college and we had I had Payton Eli we had them all in Camp had them for years and they designed and I was sitting there to Camp with him one day and I said coach what do I need to I want you know I want to get to Florida State I want to get to this I want what do I need to do he said he buddy you know how coach Biden is old in that old twang he'd say give you the best piece of advice I ever had do a great job at the one you got somebody will notice and you'll get another one he said I never he said I never got a job I applied for and every promotion I ever got I wasn't looking for wow he said make sure you do a really good job you're honest you're trustworthy if you're supposed to recruit recruit your tail off be a great recruiter be a great do a great job at where you're at he said you'll move in this business quicker than you ever did and that is the honest I never every job I ever went to and what I did people come and ask me and it was because hey I saw you do a good job and I remembered that and and because I see guys jump and they're always hey so and so's got that job hey hey hey you know I you know I coach with coaches they got a line job over there and am I trying to weigh it to make $10,000 more dollars I never worried about the money and I never worried about the next job if if the job I got this is the one I got forever that's the one I got forever and I want to keep it and do the best job possible and all of a sudden opportunity just start in my in my lap well you you became the highest paid coach in history at one point I believe right how hard was that to leave a school like Florida State where you had so much history to go take the people have no idea how much it it gutted me and the opportunities and and the ad there Scott wward at A&M was one of the big reason and just different scenarios and some of the things that were going on in the ACC now I knew was coming and I got into it with the head commissioner of the ACC then and said we were making mistakes and they didn't want to listen and I think which has hurt the ACC now and and put him behind and different and and there was you know a couple other things but it was cuz I grew up cuz I was a Bobby Balin fan I grew up a Florida State fan wow it was extremely hard and difficult it really was well you're smart though I mean anybody that was if you were paying enough attention and you were just so in the thick of it you knew look the ACC is going to it's going to be a separation and if you had stayed there you would have been you know you would have had all these disadvantages that you didn't have at A&M I mean you did have but I think Florida State's still one of those places though you still w you still get it there when it's a very unique place and I know hey I&M has a great year and I hope Florida I think Florida state will have a great year I think both of them I think they'll both be very successful what did you think the last question for you here we won't get rid of you here or get you out of here but what uh what did you think about Florida State last year getting left out of the playoffs I think it was wrong I listen I I'm not that you went undefeated and won a major conference I don't care what the SC in every scenario what do you teach kids overcome every adversity you have they did mhm I I don't care if it was saying well my quarterback there and they're justifying it and George no they deserve to be in I mean here's my thing everybody was griping about Alabama getting in why did Texas get in over them yeah I didn't think either one of them should have been they went undefeated in a major conference and played Major Games should have been in the playoff now you want to pick between Alabama and Texas on the next one that's what should have happened and I think it goes back to what the power they have of what's going on in college football right now I'm not saying whether they want you don't know they'd lost who said Ohio state would have lost was the third team quarterback it's true how State won a championship in 2014 y yeah at that game when they beat Oregon I remember they uh put the third string guy out there and I remember thinking like oh man this guy hasn't even played he he was the MVP of the game because when teams go in to feed there's something special about that that didn't happen man I've been you a ball a long time and have been on very few of them been on a couple of them that whatever magical can happen happens and I thought it was wrong I don't because and to me it takes away from the Integrity of what you're doing as the game and that so it goes back to opinion so we're ice skating now I'm a judge that's what you turned into you didn't look pretty enough yeah the game used to be decided on the field that was one of the great things about football yeah the score of the game and I thought it was wrong I really do yeah well thank you for your time and I sure appreciate you Jimbo no it was great it was great interview look forward to to watching you when either I I think you need to take a TV gig or do something because you're too personable not to be at least in front of the camera in some way or another I appreciate that thank you thank you