Texas A&M Firing Jimbo Fisher, Paying $76M Buyout

UPDATE (11/12): Texas A&M officially announced Fisher’s firing. This story has been updated to reflect the development.

The Jimbo Fisher era in College Station will be a costly mistake for Texas A&M.

TAMU is has officially fired its head football coach; TexAgs.com’s Billy Liucci was the first to report on Fisher’s departure.

Texas A&M’s Board of Regents reportedly decided to part ways with Fisher during a meeting on Thursday but is only taking action on it Sunday. 

The buyout on Fisher’s contract is worth at least $75 million and could be as much as $76.8 million — more than 15 programs paid in buyouts combined last year — but the transaction will likely be even more expensive for the university.

Besides the outrageous buyout price, TAMU will have to buy out Fisher’s entire staff and pay the next coach and the staff when a deal is reached. That means the dismissal could cost the Aggies anywhere between $100 million and $150 million.

The language of Fisher’s contract also won’t be doing Texas A&M any favors: His deal requires 25% (about $19.5 million) of the buyout to be paid immediately and contains no offset language — meaning TAMU will be paying Fisher regardless of whether he ends up signing with another school, per Darren Rovell.

Assuming this is indeed the end for Fisher, he’ll leave College Station with a 45-25 as the head of the Aggies after generally underwhelming with the program’s enormous resources: Last season, Texas A&M became the first known program to record a losing season after attracting the nation’s top recruiting class.

The 58-year-old earned $9.1 million per season — good enough to make him the eight-highest-paid head coach in college football.