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Saturday, July 19, 2025

Texas A&M’s $86M Cost To Buy Out Jimbo Fisher

  • Fisher is making $9 million this season as part of his fully guaranteed contract.
  • Texas A&M is reportedly the first college football program ever to follow a No. 1 recruiting class with a losing season.
Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Turns out money doesn’t always buy wins in college football — whether it’s through NIL deals or coach contracts.

Following Saturday’s 13-10 upset loss to Auburn, Texas A&M dropped to 3-7 on the season — guaranteeing its first losing campaign since 2009 and becoming the first team in the SEC to miss out on bowl eligibility.

Texas A&M is reportedly the first college football program ever to follow a No. 1 recruiting class with a losing season.

Much of the blame will fall on the expensive Jimbo Fisher — the nation’s sixth-highest-paid head coach in 2022 at $9 million. He signed a fully-guaranteed extension in 2021 that will keep him with the program through 2031.

If the university were to fire them this season, it would cost them $86 million to buy out his contract.

In the spring, Nick Saban said that “A&M bought every player on their team” to get the top recruiting class.

Fisher notably recruited the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for 2022 — and possibly of all time — and all of his classes since 2019 have ranked eighth or better.

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It led to the Aggies having all the hype (No. 6 in the preseason AP poll) — which they didn’t get close to living up to.

  • The Aggies are the highest preseason ranked team to miss bowl eligibility since No. 5 Texas in 2010.
  • Their 3-7 record is the worst through 10 games by a preseason top six since Alabama in 2000.

Texas A&M’s 2023 recruiting class currently ranks as only 23rd-best in the nation.

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