I was surprised, like most of the Aggie nation, to see that A&M had fired head football coach Jimbo Fisher.
And, I have to confess that no one at the school asked for my opinion, despite my long experience of observing Aggie football coaches come and go over the decades.
Why, I remember my ardent Aggie booster parents talking about the tragedy of legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant leaving A&M for Alabama in 1957.
My brother was at A&M at the time and, even then, my Christmas presents usually included something maroon and white.
With the Bear’s departure, the feeling among Aggies everywhere was funereal.
From there, the Aggie coaching carousel kept spinning in the late 50s and early1960s – James A. Myers, Henry Foldberg and Gene Stallings, who became coach in 1965.
Most of my career at A&M in the late 1960s and early 70s saw Stallings as head coach.
Now Stallings was the closest we could get to Bryant – he played for the Bear at A&M and he was later an assistant to the Bear at Bama.
Stallings instilled an Aggie and Bear flavor at first.
He had a great season in the fall of 1967, my senior year in high school, winning he Southwest Conference and defeating Alabama in the January 1968 Cotton Bowl.
There’s a famous photo of Stallings carrying Bryant off the field in his arms.
Alas, that was Gene’s only successful year.
When I was a freshman at A&M there were car bumper stickers that read, “Gene Stallings for President.”
By 1971, my senior year, the bumper stickers read: “Go Gene Go, Go Anywhere, Just Go.”
He was fired in 1972, as A&M shifted to former UT assistant coach Emory Bellard, who is credited with creating the wishbone offense at Texas.
Emory was forced to leave after a few decent seasons, and was followed by Tom Wilson, Jackie Sherrill, R.C. Slocum, Dennis Franchione, Mike Sherman, Kevin Sumlin and now Jimbo.
It’s worth noting that Slocum and Sumlin were the only ones to earn Coach of the Year accolades – Slocum in the Southwest Conference and Sumlin with the SEC.
So here we are with Jimbo’s farewell and the lively talk about his successor.
After seeing so many coaches at Aggieland, all my hopes are pinned on someone who’s successful and there’s the rub.
I just want them to win – a lot.
Is that too much to ask?
