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How Jimbo Fisher combined the best of Bobby Bowden and Nick Saban to build a new champion in Tallahassee
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On Jan. 4, 1999, Florida State lost the first-ever BCS Championship Game, to Tennessee. The Seminoles were without Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Chris Weinke, who had gone down several weeks earlier with a neck injury.
Florida State would go on to win the 2000 title game and lose it in 2001.
On Jan. 6, 2014, Florida State claimed the last-ever crystal football, with another Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Jameis Winston.
Florida State opened and closed the BCS era playing in championship games. But it is the 12 years between, and the rebuilding job done by Jimbo Fisher that made the win so satisfying for Florida State fans.
Florida State would go on to win the 2000 title game and lose it in 2001.
On Jan. 6, 2014, Florida State claimed the last-ever crystal football, with another Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Jameis Winston.
Florida State opened and closed the BCS era playing in championship games. But it is the 12 years between, and the rebuilding job done by Jimbo Fisher that made the win so satisfying for Florida State fans.
THE LOST DECADE
In 2001, legendary coach Bobby Bowden named his son Jeff the replacement for outgoing offensive coordinator Mark Richt, Georgia's new head coach. The move did not work.
On Sep. 22, 2001, Florida State was blasted, 41-9, by a North Carolina team that would finish the season 8-5. Sure, the Seminoles had been blown out a few times during the dynasty run that saw them finish in the Associated Press Poll top five a record 14 straight times between 1987 and 2000. But FSU dropped three other games, by margins of 24, 22, and 14. It was the first time in 20 seasons that Florida State had lost four games by two touchdowns or more.
Considering the team's freshman quarterback, new offensive coordinator and turnover at several key positions, many, including the media, gave the program a pass for 2001. The AP pegged the Seminoles at No. 3 to open the 2002 campaign, and the Coaches' Poll had them at No. 4.
The voters' faith would not be rewarded. While Florida State did face a brutal schedule featuring seven teams that finished the year ranked in the Coaches' Poll, it lost five games on the season, including a double-digit loss to Richt's Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl and an embarrassing loss to Louisville in a Thursday night ESPN game. All was not right in Tallahassee.
The next seven seasons would bring 33 losses, more than the Seminoles suffered in the dynasty run that spanned twice that time. They also brought an embarrassing academic cheating scandal, sanctions, probation, complacency, a lack of qualified coaches, poor recruiting and a disinterested fanbase.
The program was being lapped by many in the SEC. Bowden was asleep at the wheel.
In 2007, Bowden hired offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, a Nick Saban protege who won a ring as LSU's OC in 2003. Fisher was able to make major improvements to one of the ACC's worst offenses. In 2008, behind the youngest offensive line in the country, Florida State produced one of the ACC's best rushing offenses. In 2009, the offense was the best in the league, dragging the worst Florida State defense in a quarter-century to Bowden's final game, a Gator Bowl win over West Virginia.
Fisher had been named head coach in waiting, an arrangement that did not go as smoothly as anticipated. Bowden did not want to leave. But legends rarely get to both hang on too long and exit gracefully, and at 80 years old, there was little hope that Bowden could right the ship.
The relationship between Fisher and Bowden was complicated, but at its core, was one of respect and friendship. Fisher had coached for Bowden's son Terry at Auburn in the ‘90s and had spent quite a bit of time with the family. His coaching style might be more similar to Saban's, but he has personable qualities that are distinctly Bowden.
As he'd waited for the head coaching position, Fisher made the most of his opportunities. He took stock of all the areas where the program had fallen behind the program he had left in Baton Rouge -- the one Saban and he had had modernized just a few years earlier. Fisher learned which people inside the program he could trust. Having already brought in an offensive staff that was heavily focused on recruiting, with South Florida recruiting aces in Eddie Gran and James Coley, he evaluated the coaches on the defensive side of the ball, choosing to keep only one -- defensive tackles coach Odell Haggins, an FSU legend with major ties to the program. Underscoring the issues on the previous staff, the coaches Fisher did not retain have not since coached another game in a BCS conference.
Knowing Florida State's defense needed a confidence boost and a rebuild of fundamentals, Fisher brought in defensive coordinator Mark Stoops of Arizona, whose defenses were renowned for disciplined play. Fisher was showing he would not fit the stereotype of an offensive guru head coach, one who regards defense as an afterthought. Having coached under Saban and seen how Bowden's dynasty teams were built, Fisher is the rare coach with an offensive background who emphasizes defense just as much.
Also important was the trust that Fisher had established with his offensive players, who sold the defenders on his abilities as a coach. He won defenders over by eliminating things like team buses grouped by offense and defense. One team, one heartbeat, he said.
Fisher also had to reach out to the boosters and the administration. To catch back up to the SEC, Fisher needed a football army of nutritionists, strength coaches, non-designated football staffers, mental conditioning coaches, sports psychologists, and so on.
"Empowered, confident athletes are winners," he said. "My goal is to get the structure, the staff and the support resources in place to facilitate a winning plan and get players into the structure and start effecting change. Now."
And that took money. The message was clear: Want to compete with the SEC teams for whom your co-workers root and bring Florida State back to the forefront of college football? Pony up the cash. The Saban plan doesn't come cheap.
That took some adjusting for Florida State, which had done things the Bowden way for three decades. But it also took an adjustment for Fisher, who seemed to expect supporters to shell out whatever was needed just because he said so.
Florida State is a unique program: one with incredible success in its 67 years, but also one with just 67 years of football. Having been a women's school until 1947 -- and for a long time lacking colleges and majors like the University of Florida's, which have churned out generations of rich doctors, lawyers and businesspeople -- it simply does not have the booster structure of older programs.
Eventually, the support came, and the plan began to come together. Florida State hired its staffing. Players changed immediately, particularly on defense, where Fisher had declared the need for "grown-ass men." In just one year, Florida State's front seven was nearly 100 pounds heavier.
But that wasn't all about the weightlifting done under the direction of strength coach Vic Viloria.
In 2001, legendary coach Bobby Bowden named his son Jeff the replacement for outgoing offensive coordinator Mark Richt, Georgia's new head coach. The move did not work.
On Sep. 22, 2001, Florida State was blasted, 41-9, by a North Carolina team that would finish the season 8-5. Sure, the Seminoles had been blown out a few times during the dynasty run that saw them finish in the Associated Press Poll top five a record 14 straight times between 1987 and 2000. But FSU dropped three other games, by margins of 24, 22, and 14. It was the first time in 20 seasons that Florida State had lost four games by two touchdowns or more.
Considering the team's freshman quarterback, new offensive coordinator and turnover at several key positions, many, including the media, gave the program a pass for 2001. The AP pegged the Seminoles at No. 3 to open the 2002 campaign, and the Coaches' Poll had them at No. 4.
The voters' faith would not be rewarded. While Florida State did face a brutal schedule featuring seven teams that finished the year ranked in the Coaches' Poll, it lost five games on the season, including a double-digit loss to Richt's Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl and an embarrassing loss to Louisville in a Thursday night ESPN game. All was not right in Tallahassee.
The next seven seasons would bring 33 losses, more than the Seminoles suffered in the dynasty run that spanned twice that time. They also brought an embarrassing academic cheating scandal, sanctions, probation, complacency, a lack of qualified coaches, poor recruiting and a disinterested fanbase.
The program was being lapped by many in the SEC. Bowden was asleep at the wheel.
In 2007, Bowden hired offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, a Nick Saban protege who won a ring as LSU's OC in 2003. Fisher was able to make major improvements to one of the ACC's worst offenses. In 2008, behind the youngest offensive line in the country, Florida State produced one of the ACC's best rushing offenses. In 2009, the offense was the best in the league, dragging the worst Florida State defense in a quarter-century to Bowden's final game, a Gator Bowl win over West Virginia.
Fisher had been named head coach in waiting, an arrangement that did not go as smoothly as anticipated. Bowden did not want to leave. But legends rarely get to both hang on too long and exit gracefully, and at 80 years old, there was little hope that Bowden could right the ship.
The relationship between Fisher and Bowden was complicated, but at its core, was one of respect and friendship. Fisher had coached for Bowden's son Terry at Auburn in the ‘90s and had spent quite a bit of time with the family. His coaching style might be more similar to Saban's, but he has personable qualities that are distinctly Bowden.
As he'd waited for the head coaching position, Fisher made the most of his opportunities. He took stock of all the areas where the program had fallen behind the program he had left in Baton Rouge -- the one Saban and he had had modernized just a few years earlier. Fisher learned which people inside the program he could trust. Having already brought in an offensive staff that was heavily focused on recruiting, with South Florida recruiting aces in Eddie Gran and James Coley, he evaluated the coaches on the defensive side of the ball, choosing to keep only one -- defensive tackles coach Odell Haggins, an FSU legend with major ties to the program. Underscoring the issues on the previous staff, the coaches Fisher did not retain have not since coached another game in a BCS conference.
Knowing Florida State's defense needed a confidence boost and a rebuild of fundamentals, Fisher brought in defensive coordinator Mark Stoops of Arizona, whose defenses were renowned for disciplined play. Fisher was showing he would not fit the stereotype of an offensive guru head coach, one who regards defense as an afterthought. Having coached under Saban and seen how Bowden's dynasty teams were built, Fisher is the rare coach with an offensive background who emphasizes defense just as much.
Also important was the trust that Fisher had established with his offensive players, who sold the defenders on his abilities as a coach. He won defenders over by eliminating things like team buses grouped by offense and defense. One team, one heartbeat, he said.
Fisher also had to reach out to the boosters and the administration. To catch back up to the SEC, Fisher needed a football army of nutritionists, strength coaches, non-designated football staffers, mental conditioning coaches, sports psychologists, and so on.
"Empowered, confident athletes are winners," he said. "My goal is to get the structure, the staff and the support resources in place to facilitate a winning plan and get players into the structure and start effecting change. Now."
And that took money. The message was clear: Want to compete with the SEC teams for whom your co-workers root and bring Florida State back to the forefront of college football? Pony up the cash. The Saban plan doesn't come cheap.
That took some adjusting for Florida State, which had done things the Bowden way for three decades. But it also took an adjustment for Fisher, who seemed to expect supporters to shell out whatever was needed just because he said so.
Florida State is a unique program: one with incredible success in its 67 years, but also one with just 67 years of football. Having been a women's school until 1947 -- and for a long time lacking colleges and majors like the University of Florida's, which have churned out generations of rich doctors, lawyers and businesspeople -- it simply does not have the booster structure of older programs.
Eventually, the support came, and the plan began to come together. Florida State hired its staffing. Players changed immediately, particularly on defense, where Fisher had declared the need for "grown-ass men." In just one year, Florida State's front seven was nearly 100 pounds heavier.
But that wasn't all about the weightlifting done under the direction of strength coach Vic Viloria.
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