Tampa Bay Times: perhaps time for Jimbo to leave

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Fisher ran through his previous midseason turnarounds earlier this week to show why a fifth consecutive 10-win season is still possible.

Fisher would be wise to look to the past again in the coming weeks as he ponders his future and the potential allure of returning to LSU. If he's honest with himself, history will guide him to a tough conclusion:

It might be time to leave Tallahassee.

Midway through his seventh season, Fisher has reached the point where programs begin to plateau.

Since the dawn of the BCS, only eight of the 36 teams that reached the national title game were led by coaches with more than seven years' of experience at that school. Only six of the last 25 Associated Press national champions had coaches who were that tenured.

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The 'Noles vowed to start faster after facing four double-digit deficits in 2014, but they were still a second-half team last year. After FSU overcame a 22-point hole against Ole Miss, Showtime's cameras showed Fisher asking his team why it must get embarrassed to start playing hard. Two weeks later, the 'Noles fell behind 35-10 to Louisville at halftime … then fell behind 21-0 to North Carolina two weeks after that.

"The lessons," running back Dalvin Cook said after Saturday's loss to UNC, "we can't keep learning them."

But the 'Noles aren't learning them. And that's the problem — and perhaps a sign that the message, or messenger, has gotten stale.

Whether it's because of communication, complacency or something else, programs start to stagnate or slip if coaches stay too long. It happened at Florida under Urban Meyer. It happened at Miami under Larry Coker. And with only seven wins over its last 12 games, it might be happening at FSU under Fisher.

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Maybe he's right. Maybe injuries and a little bad luck make the drop seem steeper than it really is. Maybe Fisher doesn't need to leave for LSU to chase championships. Maybe he can emulate his old boss, Saban, and be one of the rare coaches who can sustain long-term success at one program.

But history suggests otherwise.

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