Schoffel Column: Jimbo Fisher absolutely must not coach Saturday
With all signs pointing to Jimbo Fisher accepting the vacant head coaching position at Texas A&M, the big question facing Florida State is who will coach Saturday's game against Louisiana-Monroe.
Earlier this week, when people asked me that question, I said I could envision a scenario where Fisher could coach that game. I thought it could offer some nice closure to his successful eight-year tenure as the Seminoles' head coach.
No matter how you feel about this disappointing final season and these ugly final weeks, Jimbo Fisher's tenure at FSU was an unqualified success.
He brought home the school's third national championship. Won 29 straight games. Lured some of the greatest players in school history to the program. Helped usher Seminole athletics into the 21st century by pushing relentlessly for improved infrastructure and resources.
But man, oh man, oh man ... I'm not sure I've ever been as wrong about anything as when I said Jimbo Fisher should be allowed to coach this Saturday.
I kind of knew I was wrong by Tuesday, when the acrimony between Fisher and other FSU officials came to light publicly for the first time. Then we saw the manure-fest that was Fisher's weekly call-in show Wednesday night, and it had to be clear to everyone involved that Fisher cannot be on the sidelines this Saturday.
The university's reputation received a black eye nationally when one of the school's marketing representatives grabbed the microphone away from an audience member who had the audacity to ask Fisher about his loyalty to the school, and then physically shoved the fan out of the room. That story, with the embarrassing accompanying video, made the rounds on ESPN and countless other websites.
Imagine the hostility that will be palpable on Saturday if Fisher were to run out onto the field with the players he will be leaving just hours later. The boos might outnumber the cheers. The television cameras will focus on Fisher as much as the game.
What was supposed to be a game that would give FSU's players one more chance to play in their home stadium and give them an opportunity to maintain the school's 35-year bowl streak, would suddenly not be about them at all.
And there is a very real chance it could get extremely ugly.
Heck, Fisher was challenging fans to come out of the stands and say things to his face back when he was still planning to be the Seminoles' head coach. How's he going to handle it when hundreds or thousands of fans are heckling him and he's got his bags packed before kickoff?
* COACHING NUGGETS: The latest scoop on the Fisher and Texas A&M situation
No, there is just no way Jimbo Fisher should be coaching Florida State on Saturday.
The question, of course, is how can FSU officials make sure that doesn't happen. And that's a Texas-sized question.
Even if Texas A&M's Board of Regents makes it official today that the Aggies can officially offer Fisher the job, that doesn't mean he has to accept it today. He can wait until Saturday or Sunday, which would mean he would remain head coach at Florida State through the ULM game.
And as long as he's under contract, I'm not sure what legal recourse FSU can take to prevent him from coaching. He would, by law, still be the Seminoles' head coach. And they're certainly not going to fire him without cause, because that would mean Florida State would be on the hook for the nearly $40 million remaining on his contract. And they would get none of the much smaller buyout that should be coming to them from Texas A&M.
So what are FSU's options? Could they suspend him for conduct detrimental to the program? Could they try to fire him "with cause," pointing to comments from recruits who are saying he and his assistants have largely been ignoring their duties on the recruiting trail for weeks?
That would be for the university's general counsel to decide. Neither option sounds clean or painless.
So, here's hoping Florida State doesn't have to do anything at all. Here's hoping Jimbo Fisher solves the problem by stepping aside for the good of the players he recruited, and for all parties involved.
While I'm sure Fisher likes the idea of coaching his players one more time, and I'm also sure he'd rather have a 6-6 record for 2017 on his bio page (as opposed to a 5-6 and his only losing season), Fisher needs to do the right thing.
He can be mad at the university's administration for not giving him everything he wanted. He can be mad at the fans for not understanding how hard it is to win at the highest levels of college football. He can be mad at the media for asking tough questions and writing critical articles.
But these kids didn't do anything wrong.
They came to Florida State to follow you and your vision, Jimbo. They came to play for the coaching staff you assembled. They came to represent Florida State University.
They came because they wanted to be Seminoles.
Let them do it on Saturday without all of this ugliness.
These young men have helped you become a very rich man. It's the least you could do to repay them.
------------------------------
Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council