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Fisher Says He Considered Offer For Family's Sake

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By SCOTT CARTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 27, 2007

Updated: 12/27/2007 11:56 pm

NASHVILLE - With his wife and two young sons already visiting relatives in Alabama for the Christmas holidays, Jimbo Fisher spent Sunday home alone in Tallahassee, tossing around in his head one of the biggest decisions of his life.

Thirteen days after being named Florida State coach Bobby Bowden's eventual successor, saying "this is the place I want to raise my kids, want to raise my family," Fisher faced a choice so absorbing that he didn't bother showering or brushing his teeth all day.

Finally, following an intense day of conversations with FSU President T.K. Wetherell, family and friends - and finally, calls to FSU recruits to tell them the news - Fisher released a statement Sunday evening saying he was staying at FSU rather than pursuing an opportunity to return home to his native West Virginia and become the Mountaineers' head coach.

On Thursday afternoon at the Opryland Hotel, where the Seminoles are staying for their trip here to face Kentucky in Monday's Music City Bowl, Fisher spoke publicly for the first time since making his decision known.

"It wasn't about money," he said. "It was about one thing: family. I wanted one day to think it through and to come to a conclusion about what I wanted. Because that opportunity doesn't present itself again, probably never will again.

"I still have the same affection for Florida State. This is a dream job. What I said I meant. I love raising my family here. If I'm wrong for considering West Virginia, I apologize if people didn't understand it, and for the ones who do, I appreciate it. I'm just human."

Fisher's mother, Gloria, and his brother, Bryan, live in Clarksburg, W.Va., where Fisher grew up and left in 1987 to pursue a career in coaching. The small farming and coal-mining community is only about a half-hour drive from West Virginia's campus in Morgantown.

When West Virginia officials first started talking to Fisher's agent, Jimmy Sexton, late last week to see whether Fisher was interested in replacing Rich Rodriguez, Fisher's first thought was to the past, not the future. He remembered being an assistant at Auburn in 1994 and telling his family that he planned to come home that spring to visit and catch up. However, before spring football ended and Fisher could get home, his father, John James Fisher, died of a heart attack.

Fisher's mother is now 71, and he sees her only once or twice a year. His grandmother is 91. He knows they aren't getting any younger. But on Sunday as he weighed his options, Gloria reminded her son of why he left Clarksburg in the first place.

That helped Fisher make up his mind to stay at FSU and finish what he just started.

"Florida State is where I always wanted to be," Fisher said. "This is why I left 20 years ago. A lot of people sacrificed for me to do that - my mom, my dad, my grandma. I was one of those kids - we never had a lot - but no one ever missed a game."

As Fisher talked about his decision Thursday, he seemed a man content with his choice, a man who probably didn't lose too much sleep after making his call. He praised Wetherell, who orchestrated the deal to name Fisher FSU's coach-in-waiting, for listening and understanding his personal dilemma.

"West Virginia is a great job. It's a great place, Fisher said. "No one in my family ever lived more than two miles away out in the country. That's the way we grew up. I didn't want to say no real quickly."

Fisher said FSU's current academic cheating scandal played no role in his flirtation with the idea of leaving after only one season, and that he is confident in the direction of the program.

He wants FSU fans to know he is fully committed to the Noles, and hopes they understand why he at least considered leaving.

"I don't believe in hiding and deceiving," he said. "I didn't want to go against what I had said earlier. That's what kept sticking in the back of my head. I wanted to be a man of my word."

Reporter Scott Carter can be reached at (850) 294-3088 or scarter@tampatrib.com.

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