Former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher is back in the ACC. Sort of.
The ACC Network announced Tuesday that Fisher had been hired as an analyst for the 2025 college football season. Fisher will appear on “ACC Huddle” and serve as a studio analyst for the network.
“I’m looking forward to joining ACC Network and the ‘Huddle’ team this season,” Fisher said in an ESPN statement. “I’ve always had tremendous respect for this conference, and I’m looking forward to breaking down the action each week with such a talented group.”
ESPN also announced that its “ACC Huddle” show would travel to a top ACC game every weekend. The studio show will be at Clemson in Week 1 as LSU visits the Tigers in prime time on Aug. 30.
Fisher has been out of college football since he was fired at Texas A&M with two games to go in the 2023 season. The Aggies paid more than $75 million to get out of Fisher’s contract after the school had extended him through the 2031 season early in his time in College Station. As part of the buyout, Fisher makes over $7 million per year through the 2031 season.
If he wants to get back into coaching, a stop as an analyst for a season or two isn’t the worst idea. Former Florida coach Dan Mullen was hired at UNLV ahead of the 2025 season after working for ESPN following his stint with the Gators. And Urban Meyer worked for ESPN for a season after he left Florida before taking over at Ohio State.
Fisher spent nearly six seasons at Texas A&M after he infamously left Florida State at the end of the 2017 season as the team scuffled through a disappointing season. Fisher was hired as Bobby Bowden’s successor in 2010 and the Seminoles won at least 10 games in six of his first seven seasons with the team. That stretch included an undefeated 2013 season as Florida State won the final BCS title in a 34-31 win over Auburn.
The Seminoles made the four-team College Football Playoff the next season after going 13-0 in the regular season, but lost to Oregon in the Rose Bowl. That loss snapped a 29-game win streak that dated back to a Nov. 24 loss to Florida during the 2012 season.
Overall, Florida State was 83-23 in Fisher’s time with the school. At Texas A&M, the Aggies were 45-25 and failed to win 10 games in a single season.
