Bobby Petrino, one of the most respected offensive minds in football, is going to become Texas A&M's offensive coach, according to sources.
Fisher has always called his own plays on offense and is one of the diminishing number of head coaches to do so, and although he will still be heavily involved in the Aggies' offense, sources toldESPN that Petrino will take over primary play calling duties.
Texas A&M missed out on a bowl game for the first time since 2008 under Fisher, who just finished his fifth season at the school.
For less than a month, Petrino was at UNLV, after accepting the position of offensive coordinators. In two of his three seasons as Missouri State's head coach, the Bears made it to the playoffs. Missouri State hadn't made the playoffs in 30 years when Petrino arrived.
Fisher said he was open to giving up his play-calling duties and hiring an offensive coach to call plays, which would allow him to be more involved in all aspects of the game. There were talks about the Texas A&M offensive coach position, but nothing came of them. The UNLV job was taken by Petrino in the month after the hire of Odom.
An official announcement by Texas A&M is expected soon, according to sources.
Fisher usually waits until January to hire a coordinators. After the new year, he hired his last two defensive coordinators. Sources said that Fisher talked to other people for this job.
He has had success at all of his college stops. He elevated Arkansas and Louisville to national relevance for the first time in years and has won more games than any other college coach.
He was fired from Arkansas in April 2012 after school officials said he lied about a motorcycle accident while riding with a female football staffer that he had hired and with whom he was having an affair. The Razorbacks finished fifth in the final AP poll after winning 11 games and a Cotton Bowl. They played in the Sugar Bowl, winning 10 games.
"Unfortunately, I will always be able to carry that with me, how it ended there," he said. I let a lot of people down by hurting them.
Fisher was attracted to the SEC experience of Petrino, whose A&M plummeted to 101st nationally and next-to-last in the league in scoring offense. At Arkansas, the offense ranked second in the SEC in scoring in 2010 and first in 2011. The SEC had seven of the top 30 scoring defenses. Fisher has also called his own plays.
He was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons for a part of the 2007 season before taking the Arkansas job. At the time of Petrino's departure, the Falcons were 3-7. This will be the 19th coaching job for Bobby Petrino.
Texas A&M's offense scored more than 24 points only twice last year. As a true freshman, he started the last three games of the season. Evan Stewart is a true freshman and was the team's leader in receiving. Several offensive linemen suffered season-ending injuries and the A's want to get them back.
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