Former Texas A&M Coach Jimbo Fisher Recalls Experience with Nick Saban

If you are a fan of college football, you know the name Nick Saban. Saban, the College Football Hall of Fame coach, spent 17 seasons at the University of Alabama as the head coach, bringing back six national championships to Tuscaloosa and one to Baton Rouge.

Saban has a large number of coaches that he has coached with in his 28 seasons as a head coach, including former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher. The two coaches worked together from 2000-2004, securing a national championship for LSU in 2003.

During this time, Saban worked as the head coach with Fisher serving as the offensive coordinator, as they led LSU to a 13-1 record, with their only loss coming against Florida. The two worked well together as they were so successful that season, bringing back some memories for Fisher.

“He was a defensive guy that took care of the defense, and he wanted to play a certain way on offense,” Fisher said. “He and I had a great relationship, and I have great respect for him. Learned a lot of football from him. Learned a lot of organizational things.”

Fisher was hired as the offensive coordinator for the Tigers in 2000, the same season that Saban was announced as the head coach. As an offensive coordinator, Fisher helped revive the Tigers' offense, especially that 2003 season when they outscored their opponents 475 to 154.

Although they started together at LSU in 2000, Saban left after the 2004 season to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, as Fisher stayed for two more seasons as the offensive coordinator.

Over five seasons of work, Fisher and Saban managed a 48-16 record for LSU, including the national championship season in 2003, where the Tigers only dropped one game. Fisher had a legendary offensive mind that he used at both Florida State and Texas A&M later in his career.

He spent time at Florida State under coach Bobby Bowden, where he learned a lot and eventually landed himself the head coaching job for the Noles in 2010. He served as the head coach until 2017, where afterwards he began his tenure at Texas A&M.

“I had Bowden and I had Nick,” Fisher said. “They were two different people entirely… As I always say, there are two different ways to skin a cat. You could do things a different way. But I kind of took the best, I thought, of both. But I always had to make it my own."