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Fisher Locked In For Future

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By SCOTT CARTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Much like the plan in place for when Florida State coach Bobby Bowden retires, offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher followed Bowden to the podium Monday during a news conference to announce the head coach-in-waiting agreement.

Wearing a garnet tie and neatly pressed gold suit, Fisher looked the part of FSU's head coach. When he officially will replace Bowden remains uncertain, but whenever that day comes, Fisher is determined to make his own mark on a once-fledgling program Bowden built into a national power and is now trying to rebuild before ending his Hall of Fame career.

"You don't ever replace an icon," said Fisher, 42. "You remember them, and you learn from them, and you try to be yourself. I can't be Bobby Bowden. There will never be another Bobby Bowden. What Coach Bowden has done here, we'll remember, and when my time comes, I'll try to do the best Jimbo Fisher can do.

"As I'm standing up here, I'm still pinching myself a little bit at the realization that this is coming true."

As Fisher spoke, Bowden sat a few feet away listening to the man FSU President T.K. Wetherell anointed to replace him. Bowden, who said he first met with Wetherell and interim athletic director Bill Proctor "seven or eight days ago" to discuss his own extension - talks that eventually led to his approval of Fisher's agreement - used his trademark humor and charm to publicly endorse Fisher on Monday.

"He'll still call me sir - I think," Bowden said when asked if their relationship would change. "I think it's a great plan. I imagine there are a lot of schools that couldn't pull this off, but we were able to. For the last 10 years I've had to defend my age. So I've had to fight that daily and really, when you're 78 and I'm trying to convince a kid I'll be here 10 more years, you know, I think this is more realistic."

Proctor said Bowden's one-year extension, worth approximately $2.5 million, and Fisher's reworked three-year deal, one that is expected to pay him a base salary of $625,000 plus incentives, won't be finalized for several days. As part of the succession plan, there is a multimillion-dollar buyout for both sides should FSU not replace Bowden with Fisher, or should Fisher leave for another job before Bowden retires.

All indications point to Fisher, linked to several head coach openings the past two seasons, hanging around until Bowden retires and becoming the ninth head coach in school history. He came to FSU in January after spending seven seasons as offensive coordinator at LSU.

"We wanted it to be the right place," said Candi Fisher, Jimbo's wife. "This is the right place for us. Our family loves it here. Our kids are happy. We like the school system. We love our neighbors. It's all been great. The people here are so generous and kind and have been so welcoming to us."

Fisher's relationship with the Bowden family dates back more than 20 years when he played quarterback for Bowden's son, Terry, at tiny Salem College in West Virginia. Fisher then transferred to play for Terry Bowden at Samford, and spent six seasons as an assistant on Terry Bowden's staff at Auburn. When his father was looking for the right person to hire as FSU's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach last winter, Terry Bowden highly recommended Fisher.

"He is very confident in who he is and what he wants to accomplish," Terry Bowden said of Fisher on Monday. "I'm very pleased. He is a great individual."

FSU players Andre Fluellen, Christian Ponder, Bert Reed and Ryan McMahon also attended Monday's 35-minute news conference, providing support for FSU's current and future coach.

"I think everyone is pretty excited about it," said Ponder, a redshirt freshman quarterback who worked closely with Fisher this season. "They think Coach Fisher will make a great head coach. They have confidence in him. Everyone is a little shocked that it happened so early in his time here, but it's something you've got to do to hold onto a guy like Coach Fisher."

As Wetherell began working on Bowden's contract extension in recent weeks, he determined it was time for a succession plan to be finalized to remove doubt and speculation about the program's future. And with Fisher's name hot on the coaching carousel, he quickly acted to keep Fisher in town.

"If you look around at other institutions of higher education that are in football coaching searches, they go through all kinds of gyrations," Wetherell said. "Some of them, the most popular and most prominent in the nation, still can't tell you who's going to be the coach next year. At Florida State University, we know what our future is, and we know what our past is. I can't think of someone more eligible, more capable of taking over the helm following a man like Bobby Bowden than Jimbo Fisher."

Bowden reiterated Monday what he has said many times, that he plans to continue coaching as long as he is healthy and can win enough games to satisfy the administration. Fisher said that's fine. He isn't planning on going anywhere.

"Right now, my job is to be offensive coordinator here at Florida State," Fisher said. "I'm in no hurry. I know what this program is and what it can be. I'm content to wait; when we take it over, it will be in great shape."

Reporter Scott Carter can be reached at (850) 294-3088

or scarter@tampatrib.com.

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