Paul Finebaum predicts national championship winning coach will return to college football

ESPN's Matt Barrie and SEC Network star Paul Finebaum waited until the end of their weekly college football recap episode on the Matt Barrie Show to throw out some delirious coaching ideas that just might break college football.

The two had discussed a pair of coaches in peril down in the Sunshine State — Mike Norvell at Florida State and Billy Napier at Florida, who was dismissed from his post just hours after the episode aired — and while still on the topic of FSU, Barrie wondered about Jimbo Fisher's job status. Of course, Fisher once coached the Seminoles and led their 2013 national championship squad.

Fisher more or less betrayed Florida State a few years after the championship season and absconded to Texas A&M for an exorbitant contract, but failed to muster proper success, resulting in a midseason firing and historic payout of a $77 million buyout directly to Fisher... to not do his job. What a dumb world we live in, right?

"I’ll leave you with this — with respect to Florida State, what if I told you that Jimbo Fisher doesn’t have a coaching job?" Barrie asked Finebaum, to which he answered...

"Yeah, I think Jimbo Fischer will have a coaching job at the end of the year," Finebaum predicted.

Remember, Fisher is getting paid a sum the size of Tuvalu's annual GDP to not be the head football coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. But Finebaum believes that competitive fire is still there and Fisher may itch to get back to a sideline soon.

Jimbo Fisher, Dan Mullen have flipped perception

Paul Finebaum dryly noted that "none of us have memories" in the modern era of college football when it comes to coaches, pointing out Bobby Petrino's pretty unbelievable return to Arkansas and Rich Rodriguez' remarriage to West Virginia. He even suggested Lane Kiffin returning to Tennessee someday! Perhaps Florida State and Jimbo Fisher could be next.

"I was just thinking about that yesterday," Matt Barrie told Finebaum as part of their FSU chat. "Who had Florida State in a high spot? Well, Jimbo Fisher. What's he doing?"

He's collecting three-quarters of a 100 million bucks to do whatever he wants, play golf or white water raft, maybe stop by the occasional TV set. But Paul Finebaum argues guys like him and Dan Mullen, who were fired from SEC jobs but have proven themselves as coaches in the past — are getting and going to get more opportunities.

"You know, one more thing," added Finebaum. "Jimbo Fisher and Dan Mullen right now are hotter than they’ve ever been."

"Right," confirmed Matt Barrie. "And months ago, they couldn’t coach according to the people."

Mullen is obviously remodeling his persona over at UNLV, where he's off to a successful start to 2025 and in the hunt in the Mountain West. Perhaps Jimbo Fisher will join him as a fellow FBS head coach once again soon.

Jimbo Fisher, Dan Mullen have flipped perception

Read more on College Football HQ