Jimbo Fisher

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**Jimbo Fisher**
School as a player
Date of birth	October 9, 1965 (age 41)
Place of birth	Clarksburg, West Virginia
Sport	Football
College	Florida State
Title	Offensive coordinator
Record with Team	0-0
Overall Record	0-0
1985-86 1987	Salem College Samford
Position	QB
Coaching positions
2007-present 2000-2006 1999 1993-1998 1991-1992	Florida State (Offensive coord./QBs coach) LSU (Offensive coord./QBs coach) Cincinnati (QBs coach) Auburn (QBs coach) Samford (Offensive coordinator)

Jimbo Fisher (born October 9, 1965, in Clarksburg, West Virginia) is an American college football coach and former player who was the NCAA Division III National Player of the Year as a senior . He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at LSU from 2000 until 2007. He is currently the offensive coordinator at Florida State University.

1 Biography
- 1.1 UAB Controversy
2 Coaching résumé
3 References
4 External link

[edit] Biography

Born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, Fisher attended Liberty High School before going to Salem College (now Salem International University) in Salem, West Virginia where he played quarterback under head coach Terry Bowden from 1985-1986. When Bowden left for Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, Fisher transferred with him to play his final season for the Bulldogs where he was named Division III National Player of the Year.^[1] Fisher still holds multiple school records at Samford. ^[2]

In 1988, he played one season in the Arena Football League. He then rejoined Bowden at Samford as a graduate assistant coach working with quarterbacks from 1988-1990 and was subsequently hired as the fulltime offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. After two seasons, Fisher moved with Bowden to Auburn University where he coached quarterbacks alongside offensive coordinator Tommy Bowden. While at Auburn, Fisher coached several successful quarterbacks including Patrick Nix, the current offensive coordinator for Miami.

Fisher continued at Auburn until the hiring of current Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville in the wake of Bowden's 1998 mid-season resignation. He then coached quarterbacks for one season at Cincinnati before joining Nick Saban's new staff at LSU in 2000. When Saban left for the NFL's Miami Dolphins Fisher remained at LSU to continue his role with Les Miles. He has guided several well-known quarterbacks in his tenure with the LSU Tigers including Josh Booty, Rohan Davey, Matt Mauck and JaMarcus Russell. Fisher left LSU after the 2006 season, and signed a 3 year contract to become the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Florida State University. He will be receiving a base salary of $215,000 with incentives increasing the total package into the low $400,000 range. ^[3].

[edit] UAB Controversy

Following the 2006 season, Fisher interviewed for the head coaching position at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The school was prepared to hire him as the head coach, with a salary of $600,000, half of which would be paid by two Birmingham area business leaders. However, the Alabama Board of Trustees vetoed the contract offer, with one board member claiming it was a matter of "fiscal responsibility". This even though the $300,000 share that the school would be responsible for paying was no more than they had paid the previous coach, Watson Brown.^[4]

Interestingly, the same Board of Trustees authorized a $4,000,000 buyout of University of Alabama head coach Mike Shula, then offered a 4 year, $12,000,000 contract offer to Rich Rodriguez, until eventually giving Nick Saban $32,000,000 over 8 years, reportedly the largest salary ever for a college football head coach.

This has lead some to allege that the Alabama Board of Trustees (especially Paul Bryant Jr., the son of the legendary Alabama coach) has a vested interest in keeping the University of Alabama at Birmingham's football program weak, as a strong program could be a threat to the recruiting efforts of the University of Alabama.^[5]

On the other hand, the University of Alabama athletic department had a profit of $7,109,599 in the 2005-2006 fiscal year, while the University of Alabama-Birmingham athletic department had a profit of only $320,211 over that same time period, according to the US Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education.