Former Hogs' Coach Will Get Along Fine on Jimbo Fisher's Staff

They won't agree on everything, but as long as head coach retains veto all if okay

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Jul 17, 2023 10:56 PM EDT
Original:
Jul 17, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Despite what a lot of the talking heads and experts think, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher and former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino will get along fine. Ignore any arguments you detect or suspect. That's normal.

Did you think coaching staffs are particularly friendly things once the season starts? Before writing this, I contacted multiple coaches (some retired from championship teams), and every single one of them laughed when the impression people have of coaching staffs was mentioned. They actually belly-laughed.

As one put it, the team he was with "even had the occasional fist fight" between defensive assistants in meetings during the season. They won 11 games that year. The coaches, both retired now, are best of friends.

"Have you ever been in any staff room that doesn't have arguments or disagreements?" Fisher asked at one point at SEC Media Days on Monday in Nashville. "Every coaching staff in America has an argument or a disagreement. That's part of it."

The key point is everybody remembers who's in charge and who makes the final decision. At the end of the day, Fisher's the one that has to answer about wins and losses. Fans and the media can speculate all they want, but this isn't the same Petrino as the one in Fayetteville over a decade ago. He probably enjoys having one press conference a year (in August) and not having to deal with boosters and the 9,348 other things head coaches do every week that don't involve actual coaching.

"No, I'm the boss, we're the boss, we'll do it at the end of the day, but you listen to everybody's opinion," Fisher said. "I want guys with opinions. I want guys who have knowledge. I want guys who make you think. I want guys to create different narratives that brought to the table that can help us. I think it's the best thing you have."

Right now everybody is hung up on who's going to call the play. Here's a hint: Play-calling is the most over-rated thing in football. Execution is much more important. Some of the "greatest" play-calls in football history never should have worked because a defender fell down or an official missed an obvious foul behind his line of vision.

It is a convenient excuse for everybody, though. Coaches have used it to have a sacrificial lamb to blame when things don't work while others have turned to it as a last-ditch effort to save their jobs. The key used to be avoiding coaches who would stab them in the back, but the big buyouts these days have even changed the narrative on that, particularly when they pass a certain point in life.

"It's a more of a collective thing than people want to give it room for," Fisher said. "When you get to calling and you get on a roll, you've got to have a guy that can do it. Bobby can definitely do that and does it as well as anybody in college football."

Petrino's has always handled that aspect as well as anybody in football. He's had a higher rate where most of those surprising plays that catch defenses off guard. From the people I've talked to, he's very good at making his guys believe it will work, and that's the biggest part.

But what Fisher said about a "collective" is true. It sounds like complete chaos at times, and there's a point where somebody has to make a call, and the guy with the veto either over-rules it or lets it ride. After the play's over we all know if it worked. That is unless the quarterback changed the play at the line of scrimmage or after the ball was snapped.

Besides, after the game, finding out who called the play just opens the door to not be sure whether what you're finding out is what actually happened. Unless you're on a headset and know the plays getting all the hand signs, you don't know how that final play developed. But, we do all know how the final execution went, and that's really the only thing that matters at the end.