Former Alabama golfer and die-hard Crimson Tide football fan Justin Thomas came from seven strokes behind to win the PGA Championship via a three-hole playoff on Sunday. He wasted no time in talking about what became one of the best college football stories of the year during his post-tournament interview. with SiriusXM.
When asked if he followed the same “24 hour” celebration rule that Alabama coach Nick Saban uses after his team’s big wins, Thomas made sure to take a shot at Jimbo Fisher. of Texas A&M, which is now very publicly at odds with Saban.
“Yeah, I have a 24-hour rule,” Thomas said. “I don’t know what Jimbo Fisher’s rule is, but I guess he has to earn something first before he understands his rules.”
This, of course, with reference to last week dusting between Saban and Fisher, which began when Saban told Birmingham business leaders at a conference that Texas A&M “bought all the players of their teamthrough the NCAA’s new name, image and likeness rules. In response, Fisher called an impromptu press conference the next morning and lashed out at his former boss.
“It’s despicable that we have to sit here at this ball level and say these things to defend the people of this organization, the children, the 17 year olds and their families,” Fisher said. “It’s amazing. Some people think they’re God. Go find out how ‘God’ did his business. You might find out a lot of things you don’t want to know. We’re building it to be the football czar. Go dig into his past or anyone who has ever coached with him. You can find out everything you want to know, what he does and how he does it. It’s despicable, it really is .
saban later apologized for singling out Texas A&M, but reiterated his desire for NIL reform that would require schools in all states to follow the same rules.
Thomas is clearly unimpressed with Fisher’s resume as a Texas A&M coach. Fisher is 34-14 in four seasons in charge of the Aggies – the exact same record his predecessor, Kevin Sumlin, had in his first 48 games. Fisher became the first former Saban assistant to beat his former boss in last year’s thrilling 41-38 win at College Station. Despite this, however, Texas A&M still finished 8-4 and 4-4 in the SEC.
Here’s a look at Fisher’s career at Texas A&M:
|
2018 |
9-4 |
5-3 |
|
2019 |
8-5 |
4-4 |
|
2020 |
9-1 |
8-1 |
|
2021 |
8-4 |
4-4 |
The pandemic-shortened 2020 season was the outlier for Fisher, at least in terms of fighting for the national championships. The Aggies finished the season ranked 5th in the final college football playoff standings, one spot behind Notre Dame, who played in the ACC.
Narrowly missing out on the CFP in a crazy season defined in part by the COVID-19 pandemic clearly wasn’t enough to impress Thomas.