Usually, a coach gets fired mid-season after an embarrassing loss or a train wreck string of ineptitude and obvious regression. But something strange happened last Saturday. 

2 SEC teams played; the score was 51-10, and both coaches were fired following the game. 

Put another way:
Texas A&M beat Mississippi State 51-10 and following the game both Jimbo Fisher and Zach Arnett were relieved of their head coaching duties.

Jimbo Got Paid

Jimbo Fisher got a $76.5 Million parachute to stop working. 

Jimbo Fisher had possibly the greatest contract of any head coach ever at Texas A&M. After 2020 (the COVID Season) the Aggies feared Jimbo would bolt for the LSU job. So, they gave him the mafia offer. 

10 years – 100 million (ish) – fully guaranteed. With a very important kicker, if he takes another job (after getting fired) he can double dip; his contract is still guaranteed. That’s very rare among college contracts. 

Jimbo is the only coach in the history of ever to have 3 different teams start in the AP Top 6 and finish the season unranked. One of today’s highest paid coaches went 8-4, then 5-7, and this year 6-4 before the University gave up on him. It was time to give up, but at what cost? – oh yeah, $76.5 mill.

I guess when your school runs on oil money, there really is no price that’s too high to pay.

Zach Was a Placeholder

Zach Arnett got the Mississippi State job after the untimely passing of coaching legend Mike Leach last winter. It was too far past the recruiting window deadlines to make drastic changes, and most high quality coaching candidates (Rhule, Fickell, Brohm, etc) had found a home already.

Zach was a promote from within hire that never had the full support of his university. They gave him a shot, but he was on a very short leash. He would need to win in year one to hold onto the position.

Mississippi State is not winning. Zach wants to run a pro-style, balanced offense, but Leach left him with a roster full of Air Raid players. The blend has resulted in a 4-6 season with 1 SEC win. 

That’s how 2 coaches can get fired after 1 game. That brings the total number of power 5 vacancies to 4.

• Texas A&M
• Michigan State
• Mississippi State
• Northwestern

Edit: Northwestern interim HC David Braun will have the ‘interim’ tag removed. He has earned the NW head coaching job after being hired as DC just last winter.

Who will be shown the door next?

Want more Walk On Fan? 

Check out Tuesday’s piece on why the B1G race isn’t over yet.

This article was written by Cole Tollison and edited by Hayden Breene