Jimbo Fisher's Texas A&M Extension Includes Largest Buyout In History

When Texas A&M signed head coach Jimbo Fisher to a contract extension before the season, we knew that Fisher would be in College Station for a long time.

10 more years exactly, as Fisher added on four years to the 10-year, $75 million deal he signed in 2018. It increased his annual salary from $7.5 million, to over $9 million, placing him in the top five of highest paid coaches in college football. It also came with a steep buyout, the largest one given out to any coach in history. That figure would be $95 million, which the school would owe Fisher if he was fired without cause, per USA TODAY. Fisher, however, can still take any other job if he wants to without owing a dime.

With a $95 million buyout, Fisher is the first head coach to have one north of $50 million. Only three other coaches have buyouts of $30 million or more, Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Alabama's Nick Saban and Ohio State's Ryan Day.

That's some kind of flexibility for the 56-year-old 2013 National Champion head coach, who is still looking to bring the success he had at Florida State, to A&M. Last year he was close, guiding the Aggies to a 9-1 record, finishing fifth in the polls, one spot out of the College Football Playoff.

Then came this season. High expectations were doomed with a 20-10 loss to No. 17 Arkansas and a 26-22 loss to Mississippi State, but last Saturday provided a glimmer of hope for the Aggies. That was the 41-38 win over then No. 1 Alabama, which is easily the biggest win of the Fisher era, perhaps the biggest since Johnny Manziel's heroics in 2012.

With the buyout in place, it's highly unlikely that A&M looks to fire Fisher, barring a program collapse in the next few years. That or Fisher takes another job, perhaps just east at LSU, where Ed Orgeron sits on the hot seat.