'College Sports Is Not Fair!' Ex Texas A&M Aggies Coach Jimbo Fisher Opens Up About NIL

Former Texas A&M Aggies head football coach Jimbo Fisher didn't exactly leave the program on the best terms, regardless of the $76 million buyout he received from the school.
Nov 11, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher reacts to a
Nov 11, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher reacts to a / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports
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Former Texas A&M Aggies head football coach Jimbo Fisher didn't exactly leave the program on the best terms, regardless of the $76 million buyout he received from the school.

Whether he ever coaches college football again is strictly up to him, but based on recent comments he made during an appearance on "Off Campus," it doesn't sound like he very interested in being a part of it again anytime soon.

Nov 11, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher reacts to a
Nov 11, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher reacts to a / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

“I’m going to be honest with you: College sports is the most unfair thing we do. College sports is not fair, because there’s haves and have-nots,” Fisher said. “You think about how it’s set up.

“Each commissioner, Greg Sankey has done an unbelievable job for the SEC. Big Ten commissioners have done an unbelievable job for them. There’s only so many pieces of the pie, so they’ve taken them and they’ve hurt the ACC and the Big 12 and of course, the Pac-12, who ended up folding. “

The introduction of NIL in recent years had turned college sports on it head.

It's changed the game and made it almost unrecognizable from just 10 or 15 years ago, and that seems to be the point Fisher is making. The big conferences have access to more money - even through the largely unregulated NIL - and the other leagues just can't keep up or compete.

“We have to find a way to come together and get ahead of college football, where everything is balanced,” Fisher said. “I don’t like the inequities that are going on. It’s not fair, but it’s never been fair to a point.

“You say the NCAA was the governing body; no, because each individual conference operated with [autonomy] to itself. They operated on their own part to make each conference the best. And that’s where we’re missing the boat because I know one thing, the salary cap in the NFL is the same across the board.”


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Timm Hamm
TIMM HAMM