Texas A&M is one of the 10 best jobs in college football. The Aggies have the resources with Aggies United leading the NIL charge. They have the fan support – over 94,000 attended a Week 12 home game against Abilene Christian. And they have the recruiting base with College Station 90 miles from Houston and 180 to Dallas, not to mention the home base of bEast Texas. 

The 2021 coaching carousel taught us not to limit possibilities in these searches. USC hired away the head man at Oklahoma. LSU stole the Notre Dame head coach. Nothing is off limits. As the landscape of college football changes, jobs rise and fall in the pecking order. If Texas A&M was a stock, you’d want to buy now. 

The most obvious names to replace Jimbo Fisher include Mike Elko, Jeff Traylor, Jedd Fisch, Jonathan Smith, and Lance Leipold. But what is the biggest fish the Aggies could reel in with a perfect cast? Let’s go deep sea fishing. 

Dabo Swinney, Clemson: Talk to enough Aggies and you’ll eventually find one with deep pockets and an affinity for what Swinney represents and the culture fit he’d represent for Texas A&M. He checks all the boxes. Great recruiter. National champion. Old-school mentality. Southern. Swinney and the Clemson faithful haven’t exactly seen eye-to-eye (hi, Tyler from Spartanburg) during a “down” year for the Tigers. His buy out is $5 million, and he already makes over $10 million. Texas A&M probably has PTSD with those types of figures and avoids Swinney unless he’s willing to take on a contract that’s more incentive based. 

Ryan Day, Ohio State: What happens to Day if his Buckeyes lose to Michigan to close out the regular season for the third year in a row? We’re not saying he’d get fired, but we’re not saying both parties wouldn’t be better off with a clean slate. Day would represent a massive coup for Texas A&M. His teams consistently win 10-plus games and compete for spots in the College Football Playoff. He recruits tremendously and his offenses always rank amongst the top in the FBS. Don’t completely discount the possibility if the Buckeyes lose to the Wolverines and are out of the CFP picture. 

Kalen DeBoer, Washington: The problem here might be timing. If DeBoer’s Huskies beat Oregon in the Pac-12 championship, he’d be unavailable until January. Texas A&M fired Fisher two weeks before the season ended for the chance to get a head start on his replacement. The transfer portal opens Dec. 4 and the early signing period isn’t long after that. The Aggies have a roster and 2024 recruiting class to compete right away under a new head coach if that hire can salvage the roster. Waiting for a name like DeBoer, who’d be a home run hire, just might not be an option. 

Lincoln Riley, USC: The shine is fading on the former Oklahoma head coach because of his team’s inability to play defense at multiple spots. He left the Sooners for USC and an easier road in the Pac-12 only for the Trojans to leave for the Big 10. His style doesn’t fit that conference, and he isn’t exactly killing it on the recruiting trail in Southern California. Riley is a Texas native with a penchant for explosive offenses that create Heisman Trophy winners. 

Mike Norvell, Florida State: Sure, the last time Texas A&M hired away the Florida State head coach it didn’t go so well, but Norvell is not Fisher. He crushed it at Memphis (look what happened to the Tigers after he left) and has resurrected Florida State from a three-win team in 2020 to the verge of a CFP berth in 2023. He’s won at least 10 games in the past two seasons and runs a creative and modern offense.