We need our Bud Wilkinson (youngsters can look that one up). It isn't Jimbo. I'm at a total loss. Fran, Sumlin and Jimbo looked like perfect hires. History says otherwise. Maybe the next guy should be a non-conventional hire? I won't even throw out a name, but I will say this. The dude must consider A&M a destination job. When Jimbo flirted with LSU, he lost me. I show his ass the door. "You want o coach those classless *****s? Be my guest."

Bottlehead90 said:

---

We need 5 star boosters. Players can't fix this culture.

---

My sentiment exactly. The bma's need to do what A&M needs them to do, not what they want to do.
Presuming they have A&M's best interests at heart, they need to help pave the way for athletic success - namely football - without interfering, ala Jerry Jones type meddling or involvement.

There are still issues with admin involvement, like that experienced with John Sharp, and the athletic director, but the bma's truly steer the ship.

aeon-ag said:

---

I have just posted this in another post. I have many times in several years.
There never will be a next year. All of you haven't begun to see the mediocrity culture! I've been watching A&M football for 69 years. It's a way of life at A&M, it will get no better. Since 1954, YEA, I know, you are all tired of hearing it, however, Bryant and Sherrill are the only two coaches at A&M who had a chance of having a consistent winning program. No one else came close. Sixty nine years is TERRIBLE, however, that's the A&M culture. Learn to live with or pull for another team.

---

In that case, Miami never had a reason or a right to start winning in the 80's. Nor did FSU. Yet they did, forcing their way into the national consciousness of collegiate football. The school has to have the right coach, the right AD, the right chancellor, and the bma's mostly all on the same page, which I know, is asking to basically please all the people at the same time, a tall task. But it can be done.

AggieRob93 said:

---

aeon-ag said:

---

I have just posted this in another post. I have many times in several years.
There never will be a next year. All of you haven't begun to see the mediocrity culture! I've been watching A&M football for 69 years. It's a way of life at A&M, it will get no better. Since 1954, YEA, I know, you are all tired of hearing it, however, Bryant and Sherrill are the only two coaches at A&M who had a chance of having a consistent winning program. No one else came close. Sixty nine years is TERRIBLE, however, that's the A&M culture. Learn to live with or pull for another team.

---

In that case, Miami never had a reason or a right to start winning in the 80's. Nor did FSU. Yet they did, forcing their way into the national consciousness of collegiate football. The school has to have the right coach, the right AD, the right chancellor, and the bma's mostly all on the same page, which I know, is asking to basically please all the people at the same time, a tall task. But it can be done.

---

See also: pre-1990's/Spurrier UF

Justice Beaver said:

---

AggieRob93 said:

---

aeon-ag said:

---

I have just posted this in another post. I have many times in several years.
There never will be a next year. All of you haven't begun to see the mediocrity culture! I've been watching A&M football for 69 years. It's a way of life at A&M, it will get no better. Since 1954, YEA, I know, you are all tired of hearing it, however, Bryant and Sherrill are the only two coaches at A&M who had a chance of having a consistent winning program. No one else came close. Sixty nine years is TERRIBLE, however, that's the A&M culture. Learn to live with or pull for another team.

---

In that case, Miami never had a reason or a right to start winning in the 80's. Nor did FSU. Yet they did, forcing their way into the national consciousness of collegiate football. The school has to have the right coach, the right AD, the right chancellor, and the bma's mostly all on the same page, which I know, is asking to basically please all the people at the same time, a tall task. But it can be done.

---

See also: pre-1990's/Spurrier UF

---

Exactly. The "woe is me never gonna get better deal with it" fans are part of the problem

Ghost of Bisbee said:

---

AggieMD95 said:

---

We r not losing because we have a classy fan base

---

Our classy fanbase doesn't hold the program accountable. At all.
Excuses.

---

This is an overused, gaseous and non-specific "insight".

Please expound on what the fan that "holds the program accountable" actually then proceeds to do.

Squadron7 said:

---

Ghost of Bisbee said:

---

AggieMD95 said:

---

We r not losing because we have a classy fan base

---

Our classy fanbase doesn't hold the program accountable. At all.
Excuses.

---

This is an overused, gaseous and non-specific "insight".

Please expound on what the fan that "holds the program accountable" actually then proceeds to do.

---

The only thing we can do…. Cancel our season tickets and withhold the annual TMF contributions that went with those tickets. That's all we've got. It may not be enough, but I'm happy this year that I didn't spend five figure money to once again reward a mediocre performance whose leadership disent seem to really care about winning.

Ghost of Bisbee said:

---

Jimbo and Addazio need to go, but we have a culture problem that pervades the university and athletic program.
We ask ourselves "why why why are we so unlucky".

We have almost everything needed to succeed in football. Resources. Program in a recruiting hotbed. NIL sponsorship. SEC TV contracts. The only Texas program in the SEC (going away). The best facilities. National championship winning coaches. Unmatched donor support for the football program.
We have everything except a winning culture.

We lose the big games. Over and over and over.

Aggies are loyal. Friendly. We're nice. We lose a game and say "we'll get em next year" and next year's win never comes, because there's a pair of bad losses for every good win we do manage. We suck at holding the athletics program accountable.

We want to win so badly, we pack the stadiums and boost the TV ratings. We're a profitable, mediocre football program. We throw more money at the problem that never gets fixed. Outside of JFF 2012 season and 1998 conf champion season, we field an undisciplined, inconsistent on field product every single year.

We set new records for coaching contracts. We yell proudly that surely, this next coach will bring us to the promised land. And it never does. We have all the talent in the world and can't pull it together. We consistently play not to lose and rarely ever play to win.

Coaching is a problem, sure. But we have a deep-seated culture problem and no one can tell me we don't after our horrendous results year after year after year.

Wanna know what program's fans don't sell out the house when their on field product sucks?
Michigan. Remember Brady hoke? How's the program doing now?
Texas. Remember Chollie? Mensa? How's the program doing now?

Can go on and on. And change happens in these programs, usually fast.

Where's the killer instinct? Where's the grit? When's the last time we've had a season we haven't lost a game we should have won handily?

Johnny was great for us. Not only was the most electric QB to ever play college football, he was also the antithesis of our culture.

Bama scores a TD? "**** that. **** Nick Saban. We're scoring right ****ing now on this drive". Where was that confidence and moxy from the team today? Our fans sure as hell don't have it, either.

I'm tired of us being "nice" and saying "wait til next year" every single year as we continue to prop up an undisciplined, volatile football program with unwavering support.

At some point, when we consistently lose over and over and never know what kind of team is going to show up on any Saturday after bringing in proven coach after proven coach, it's not just the coaching at fault.

---

TLDR

They just ran out of time.

fieldtrailer said:

---

Jimbo recruits preaching family and academics. An oline recruit goes into OU locker room and is told he has a lot of work to do if he wants to continue the legacy left by all the stars that played there in the past. He looks at the pictures on the wall and the culture is already setting in. Absolutely no culture in A&M locker room. No senior leadership on the field. A bunch of nobody's.

---

Have you been recruited by both?

AggieKeith15 said:

---

They just ran out of time.

---

Ever since I learned that at fish camp, I was like "good grief, these people are <word_that_described_limited_mental_capacity>"

You go over to other parts of this site, and you get people riled up how Gen Z (or whatever we're on now) is a trophy generation.

musicman55 said:

---

Squadron7 said:

---

Ghost of Bisbee said:

---

AggieMD95 said:

---

We r not losing because we have a classy fan base

---

Our classy fanbase doesn't hold the program accountable. At all.
Excuses.

---

This is an overused, gaseous and non-specific "insight".

Please expound on what the fan that "holds the program accountable" actually then proceeds to do.

---

The only thing we can do…. Cancel our season tickets and withhold the annual TMF contributions that went with those tickets. That's all we've got. It may not be enough, but I'm happy this year that I didn't spend five figure money to once again reward a mediocre performance whose leadership disent seem to really care about winning.

---

In that case, I have been holding them responsoble for 40 years now.

Not enough are

AgWeb44 said:

---

The Chicken Ranch said:

---

I've been saying this for a while. We have a systemic culture of losing.

Our athletes have the best of everything, and they are entitled. No one comes here to win. We don't demand it, nor do we expect it. It's a country club.

---

Exactly. Think of the various "Aggie phrases" that have always been used:

- "we didn't lose, we just ran out of time." [I'm glad you are trying to make yourself feel better for having lost, but it might be better if you just accepted that you lost and then work to get better.]

- "we have never lost a halftime" [great… I agree the FTAB is phenomenal, but that has nothing to do with the wins and losses of the football team. Quit trying to make yourself feel better for having lost… instead, accept that you did and work to get better.]

- "we are THE BEST 9-3 team out there!" Wow… I'm really not sure what to say to that one other than I guess everyone deserves a participation trophy.

There is a culture of losing that has existed since the early years. When you constantly make excuses for failing to perform, that means you no longer are expecting to achieve.

---

The "We ran out of time" is the most defeatest of the three, IMHO.

The last two are funny, but more running jokes.

Unless people actually think winning every half-time and that there are rankings for teams with 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. losses.

The Chicken Ranch said:

---

I've been saying this for a while. We have a systemic culture of losing.

Our athletes have the best of everything, and they are entitled. No one comes here to win. We don't demand it, nor do we expect it. It's a country club.

---

That's because A&M has to hire a coach that hates losing more than he does winning. I played high school football for the legendary W. Ray Akins. He was a former WWII Marine and that is exactly how he has his staff coached. He was hard and very disciplined. At one time, our school held the record for most consecutive district championships in a row, 12. I cringe today, thinking about our 2-a day practices and just our normal weekly practices. No pity for your opponent......

The head coach establishes the football team's culture. And the team culture is something that can be changed rather quickly. I don't buy this theory that the overall student body and Texas A&M people are "too nice" as having anything to do with the culture of the football team.

Watch "Untold: Swamp Kings" and see how quickly Urban Meyer turned the culture for the Florida football team - didn't hurt that he was able to convince Tim Tebow to become a Gator. Kind of reminded me of a modern day Junction Boys.

The right head coach can get it done. But picking the right guy, at the right time is so hard. They are few and far between.

Recruting the right players is so important as well. Can't just have the physical measurables. Must also have that will to win, hate to lose mentality. The right coach knows this too.

Lot of projecting going on in this thread

Think about this. Sumlin was most successful in his 1st year. Jimbo arguably was most successful in his 1st year. The COVID year, who knows if that was indicative because it was a weird year all the way around.

My point is a culture change happens in the beginning but then the old ways start creeping back in. IDK if its the BMAs start weaseling their way back in or if the university culture starts to take over or what.

Just look around. Jimbo doesn't do or say anything without Alan Cannon being less than 10 feet away. I don't know Alan and he could be the greatest guy in the world but is he part of the culture problem? He's been around the program since RC, and is probably one of the only constants when we have changed coaches, players, ADs, university presidents, BoR, BMAs, etc.... Admittedly, IDK how Alan does his job but does he say "you'll find its easier to handle this situation this way, or let me handle this, or say this when this happens." Is Alan sort of running the program from behind the curtain? I haven't slightest idea. All I know is we have changed pretty much everything and the results remain the same. Alan is one of the few things that hasn't changed in the last 20+ years.

problem is, we get a coach that has 1 good year and we are so afraid he's going to leave for another school thta we give him a contract that he doesn;t want to get out of and we can't get out of.

we hold onto coaches for 6 years that should be fired within a few years while other programs like lsu and auburn fire coaches who won nattys just a couple of years prior and keep trying to get it right.

when was the last time a program like bama, Georgia, usc, ohio st etc...held onto a coach for 6 years that didn't at least win a conference title during his time there or make the playoffs?

Culture is definitely part of the problem. And it's a big part.

it's the common factor no matter what point in time you wish to look at. The players are constantly overhyped and supported without having to actually perform. Coaches get paid for blips of success rather than success over time.

Losses are written off and ignored. (App state last year) Wins are celebrated much longer and harder and not forgotten. So the players ride this constant wave of getting pat on the back. (LSU last year)

The whole culture and support of the team is poison cheese. And anyone can see the results of that. We keep throwing more money at the problem instead of fixing the culture.

NyAggie said:

---

problem is, we get a coach that has 1 good year and we are so afraid he's going to leave for another school thta we give him a contract that he doesn;t want to get out of and we can't get out of.

we hold onto coaches for 6 years that should be fired within a few years while other programs like lsu and auburn fire coaches who won nattys just a couple of years prior and keep trying to get it right.

when was the last time a program like bama, Georgia, usc, ohio st etc...held onto a coach for 6 years that didn't at least win a conference title during his time there or make the playoffs?

---

Call it culture or BAS, A&M has been viewed by some as a "stepping stone" for coaches. Now that A&M is in the SEC, Aggies should no longer think like that. I believe that's what caused the knee-jerk reaction to extending Jimbo's contract. Now basketball could be seen as that, but Buzz is changing the attitude or culture of this. You are correct, those other schools don't wait long to pull the trigger, and that's because that hate losing....

Country club atmosphere. Winning doesn't mean everything to them. Being comfortable and looking good. Then it seeps into every facet of the football program.

It starts above the coach. Its the BMA's, John Sharp, etc.

If we wanted to win at all costs, we'd give coaches shorter leashes, hold coaches accountable for bad performance (we give them extensions currently for winning nothing), and actually hire good x's and o's coaches who can also recruit a little. A&M will always get recruits.

In effect, the complete opposite of what we're currently doing.

nu awlins ag said:

---

NyAggie said:

---

problem is, we get a coach that has 1 good year and we are so afraid he's going to leave for another school thta we give him a contract that he doesn;t want to get out of and we can't get out of.

we hold onto coaches for 6 years that should be fired within a few years while other programs like lsu and auburn fire coaches who won nattys just a couple of years prior and keep trying to get it right.

when was the last time a program like bama, Georgia, usc, ohio st etc...held onto a coach for 6 years that didn't at least win a conference title during his time there or make the playoffs?

---

Call it culture or BAS, A&M has been viewed by some as a "stepping stone" for coaches. Now that A&M is in the SEC, Aggies should no longer think like that. I believe that's what caused the knee-jerk reaction to extending Jimbo's contract. Now basketball could be seen as that, but Buzz is changing the attitude or culture of this. You are correct, those other schools don't wait long to pull the trigger, and that's because that hate losing....

---

We've never been a "stepping stone" for coaches (unless you mean assistants and not the head coach). Name one coach (since Bear Bryant) that came to A&M and left for a bigger/better job or even was successful somewhere else after A&M?. Never has happened because they always fail at A&M.

I can't really even think of many assistant coaches at A&M that went on to have great success as a head coach somewhere else. Bob Davie maybe. I guess Elko is a possibility, but still early.

Speaking of Georgia, they probably kept Mark Richt too long. He coached there for 15 seasons (2001-2015) and had success early - winning conf championships in 2002 and 2005, but not another after - but they did have 6 more 10+ win seasons after 2005, so hard to fire a guy like that. Aggies would be tickled pink to have that kind of success over 15 years.

Kingsbury definitely benefitted from his time here to become head coach at TT then move on to the NFL. Ultimately he didn't pan out but A&M definitely helped him move up.

Regardless, HC is a different story. As mentioned before, this job has been a good place to bulk up your retirement nest egg.

Quote:

---

Country club atmosphere. Winning doesn't mean everything to them. Being comfortable and looking good.

---

I am unclear as to how winning means less to and the level of comfort is somehow greater for those who actually foot the bill than it is for say....you.

Or is your only evidence that this is the case is that they are not doing with their money what you would do with their money?

A&M is a lot like the Dallas Cowboys the last 3,4,5,10 years...they are just too damn comfortable! If you've been to the Star, you know exactly what I'm talking about. A&M has had a top notch, COMFORTABLE environment for years. I was at camp as a kid touring netum steed and a steel cage like locker room under the stands in the early 90s to going back as a football camp coach in JFF's 2nd season...my God it's night and day. It's no wonder we haven't been good since the 90s. I don't mention it like it's something that can be changed or fixed. It really isn't the reason, but nothing about football is comfortable. There's only one reason to try and make a man comfortable before he's about to go into battle and that's if you know they aren't coming back.

Man I have issues.