Jimbo Fisher has Florida State’s offense ranked 19th nationally and the Seminoles have scored more points than all but seven teams in the country.
But that still may not enough to satisfy some fans.
Fisher, who has been criticized for his play-calling at times during his six seasons at Florida State and especially following the North Carolina State loss this season, said this week his plan is to call the plays while he “got things established” and then relinquish those duties.
The timing may be right following this season considering offensive coordinator James Coley, who many consider FSU’s top recruiter, could be tempted to join departing defensive coordinator Mark Stoops in Kentucky.
Stoops, who was named the head coach at Kentucky this week, has talked to Coley about becoming his offensive coordinator, according to some reports. The difference would be that at FSU Coley is the offensive coordinator in title with Fisher calling the plays. At Kentucky, Coley would call the plays considering Stoops’ background is on defense, where he has been a coordinator the last nine seasons, three at FSU and six at Arizona.
“I wanted to call plays for three, four, five (years), whatever it took to get established because I think there are other avenues for us to grow that I think the head coach has to get very involved in,” said Fisher, who is in his third year as head coach. Fisher also called plays for FSU during his three years as offensive coordinator under Bobby Bowden.
Fisher went on to cite working with boosters and becoming more involved in fundraising and recruiting.
“There are a lot of issues in our program I want to help develop,” Fisher said. “We have an offensive coordinator here to turn it over, or to hire, whatever it may be. That was in my five-year plan.”
Coley, 39, has a reputation as a relentless recruiter. He is in fifth season at FSU and is earning $335,500 this season, about the same that Kentucky offensive coordinator Randy Sanders made.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s ACC championship game likely will be Stoops’ last at Florida State. Stoops will be introduced at Kentucky on Sunday and Fisher said Friday he does not expect Stoops to return for the bowl.
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