Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher appeared on Tuesday’s PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio to talk about his most recent quarterback’s NFL future. Fisher also addressed his own possible NFL future.
“I never say never,” Fisher said. “I’m not one of those guys that that’s my end-all ambition. But in this business you never say never. I’ve had some opportunities to go up in the NFL and I’ve chosen not to do it, as coordinators and coaches -- not as a head coach, I’ve had some people inquire. But it’s not a driving force to me to do that, not saying I wouldn’t ever do it, because you’ll never know in this business. But I love being a college football coach, I love living in the south, I love being able to get three or four first-round draft picks in a class instead of only picking one.”
So has he been ever approached about being an NFL head coach?
“I’ve had people inquire that if I’d be interested, through agents and stuff like that,” Fisher said. “And it’s just not something that I’ve jumped on right away.”
When’s the last time that happened?
“Oh, recently,” Fisher said. Most recently, seven teams filled head-coaching vacancies: Bills, Jets, Raiders, Broncos, 49ers, Falcons, and Bears. Still, Fisher currently isn’t interested.
“I love college kids,” Fisher added. “I love 18-to-22, 23-year-old kids. I love the family life. I love living in the towns I live in. I love living in Tallahassee. It’s a great place to raise a family, it’s a great place to grow. You’re living in warm weather. I don’t have that ambition -- not saying, again, I wouldn’t -- but it’s not my driving force to have to be a pro football coach.”
Those calls likely will keep coming, given that Fisher has cranked out a first-round NFL quarterback every other year since 2011. From Christian Ponder to EJ Manuel to Jameis Winston, Fisher is grooming guys to get the attention of the NFL.
“One, we’ve got guys who are talented,” Fisher said. “But, two, we run a pro system. And they’ve walked up and done all the things you’re doing in pro football. They make ‘mike’ calls, they’ve had long play calls in the huddle [with] eight or 10, 12 words, they have the ability to change protection, they make run checks, pass checks, run-run-pass checks, they’re not being done from the sidelines, they’re reading coverage. . . . We run a pro system so guys adapt to [an NFL] system extremely quickly and the knowledge of what they do and how they get up there is there, and plus they’re very talented and they work hard.”
With plenty of college coaches who don’t run conventional NFL systems drawing attention from the next level, it makes sense that a guy who already is using an NFL-style system would get some attention. Especially when his program has lost only one game in two years.
For the entire interview, click here and select the “Big-Name Guests” option.