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Ironic: Jimbo Fisher has strong thoughts on NIL, rips tampering and ‘cheating’

Irony is a funny thing, especially when it comes to former coaches and their thoughts on the sport once they are no longer professionally involved.

Of all the people who you wouldn’t expect to weigh in with a negative opinion, former Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher joined College Sports on SiriusXM and ripped the current state of college athletics, NIL, tampering, and cheating.

“I love all college sports, but college football man, we need a commissioner,” Fisher said during the interview. “We need revenue sharing. We need a salary cap, for all schools…the tampering that other schools do with players, is utterly ridiculous.”

“I mean, the big schools are going and getting players constantly from other schools, and it’s being done illegally. Those guys are developing players, and all of a sudden their guys, you know, that team shouldn’t have an advantage, financially, to be able to take care of a guy that another school doesn’t, and it’s wrong.”

Fisher’s rant is ironic because while he was the Aggies head coach, he was the gold standard example for how a mediocre coach can recruit at a high level with unlimited financial resources. Of course, things didn’t work out the way fans had hoped because Fisher’s staff couldn’t develop the talent when they got there, but he held onto his job for longer than the average coach would have solely because of the level he was bringing players in at.

Famously, Nick Saban spoke on Texas A&M ‘buying’ their whole roster and accidentally started a feud between himself and his former offensive coordinator at LSU when Fisher lost his mind over the comments.

Fisher may very well coach in college football at some point again — and for all he complains about the current system — he will almost assuredly continue to exploit it for his gain.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.

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