Past John Thrasher (FSU Pres) Comments Re: Jimbo

Nick Saban basically gets whatever he wants at Bama with little to no restrictions. Obviously he is a great coach, but when your employer is more than willing to give you every advantage you ask for, that certainly helps. Hell, you could argue that LSU's turning point as a football program is when they decided to give, "coincidentally" Saban everything he felt he needed to build a championship level program at LSU.

Obviously Fisher sits in the same geographic footprint as Bama, LSU, other SEC powers and sees what those schools give their football programs. I don't think there is really any question that he thinks he should be afforded the same things at FSU. That's why last year and, sorry, this year both seem like nothing more than power-plays by Fisher. The LSU job is his leverage. Because LSU is a power program who has proven they are willing to do what it takes to win, FSU has to take the threat seriously. The power-play wouldn't work if it were say Georgia Tech, or Arizona St. purportedly looking to hire Fisher.

For their part I suspect the FSU brass feels like Fisher won a national title and competed for another there with his "inadequate" resources, why does he need anything more? It's been proven he can reach the ultimate prize with what he's got.

Therefore, I think this just the ultimate game of chicken between Fisher and FSU. Unfortunately, the LSU job is the chess piece for Fisher. It's a question now of who blinks first. Is Fisher REALLY going to leave a great program to come to another great program, but one where the path to success is probably much tougher (Bama, AU, Florida, etc aren't moving to the ACC)? Is FSU REALLY going to let their championship coach walk because they don't want to give him more resources?

My opinion is that Fisher doesn't LOVE the LSU job nearly as much as his camp wants us to believe. I think his ultimate goal is to remain at FSU, but force them to give him what he wants. I go back to the fact that we did this song and dance last season. If Fisher REALLY wanted to be the coach at LSU, he'd already be the coach at LSU. He had the opportunity and obviously turned it down for a reason.

Maybe Fisher and FSU each call each other's bluff and Fisher ultimately ends up at LSU. However, if I had to bet, I think what happens is that Fisher gets some (most) of everything he wants from FSU and he remains their HC.