Two Future Big 12 Coaches Emerge in Texas A&M Coaching Search
As rivalry weekend gets underway across college football, some programs are already in offseason mode, including Teas A&M, who is searching for it next head coach. The Aggies fired Jimbo Fisher early this month after going 45-25 through 70 games as head coach in College Station.
So where are the Aggies searching for their next head coach? A new report from ESPN‘s Pete Thamel suggests two future Big 12 coaches, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham and Arizona’s Jedd Fisch, are names that A&M is strongly considering in their coaching search.
Thamel reported that A&M wants to have their search wrapped up this weekend. A name that will emerge this weekend is Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, with Thamel saying, “the next 24 hours will be critical for his candidacy.”
Thamel then added. “Other names on the Texas A&M radar, Duke coach Mike Elko, Kyle Whittingham of Utah, Jedd Fisch at Arizona and Jeff Traylor at UTSA. One source cautioned me that things are fractured at Texas A&M. A lot of people put up a lot of money to pay out Jimbo Fisher, so don’t expect this to be a linear search to the finish.”
Kyle Whittingham and Jedd Fisch are set to lead their programs into the Big 12 next season, and both will have their programs in a place to be very competitive for conference championships comes 2024. Arizona has been one of the top surprises in college football this year, with an 8-3 record heading into a very winnable game against Arizona State on Saturday. Meantime, Utah has long been a staple atop the Pac-12, as the Utes won the Pac-12 Championship last season, but have disappointed by their standards this season with a 7-4 record overall, including 4-4 in league play.
While the money in College Station is likely to entice any coach, it’s been a career-ending job for every coach dating back to the heyday of R.C. Slocum. We’ll see how the next 36 hours play out.
