Give Ross Bjork credit for this: He’s not backing down from a fight with reality.
The Texas A&M athletic director has dug a deep trench as he embarks on a search to replace Jimbo Fisher as the head coach of his football team. Despite 75 million reasons to keep Fisher around a bit longer, the ever-growing list of big-brand programs in need of a new coach and the rather thin market for the schools who do need a replacement at the top, Bjork remains undeterred in his quest to watch this all blow up spectacularly in his face by setting unreasonable expectations.
There are not a ton of high-profile coaches out there looking to jump to Texas A&M right now. Which means he’s going to have to pick from a group of rising names in the sport and hope he guesses right.
First Bjork tried to speak with Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell about the gig. And, never mind the fact that Campbell played his college ball at Texas A&M before spending a decade in the NFL, coaches simply don’t leave young Super Bowl contenders for a mid-tier SEC job.
Campbell, in the nicest and most relatable way possible, turned his alma mater down the way most of us do when they call asking for more money.
“I know some people there and I love my school,” Campbell told reporters in Detroit. “That’s my alma mater and I want to do anything I can to help them but coach for them.”
It would be malpractice if Bjork didn’t at least attempt a phone call with his employer’s most sought-after alumni. Sure. But in case anyone thought that was just a set up to lower expectations in College Station, Bjork is here to remind us all that, no, he’s very serious.
Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork on Aggies' football vacancy:
'This is not an 8-4 job … You win the national championship, you'll get paid like a national championship coach' via Aggie Fan Zone radio show, should be free link: https://t.co/tLFv7L2pHE— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman) November 20, 2023
It is at this point I must point out that Bjork has been the athletic director for three FBS schools. From 2010-2012, Bjork was at Western Kentucky, where he inherited head football coach Willie Taggart, who never finished with more than seven wins in a season with the Hilltoppers.
From 2012-2019, Bjork was at Ole Miss. There he inherited head football coach Hugh Freeze, defended him until the bitter end and ultimately replaced him with Matt Luke when Freeze could no longer remain in control.
Notably, Luke was the interim coach at Mississippi after Freeze was forced out. He went 6-6 that fall with the only conference wins coming against Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Mississippi State. That was enough to convince Bjork to drop the interim tag and anoint Luke to navigate the program through the fallout of the NCAA’s investigation into Freeze. Luke was fired after three seasons. The six wins in his first season was the highest mark he’d reach there.
By then Bjork was already at Texas A&M where he inherited head football coach Jimbo Fisher.
Do you see where this is going?
Bjork is now leading his first real coaching search for a college football program at any level. There are no looming NCAA punishments to hold him back. No shortage of money to spend on his guy. No extenuating circumstances. Just the ego of a fanbase who believes they should be competing to national titles every year.
Which means all the pressure is on Bjork to nail this. Comments like his “8-4” jab will only make it harder on himself.
All of which is to say, in the new era of the SEC, where Texas A&M will have to contend with Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Tennessee and Ole Miss, the Aggies could do a lot worse than routinely going 8-4.
Bjork should know, since that’s been the average record at Texas A&M for 12 years now.
