The Texas A&M football program is searching for a new head coach after they fired Jimbo Fisher on Sunday. It was a bit of a puzzling decision due to the $76 million buyout for Fisher, and AD Ross Bjork revealed why he decided to make the change.

There should be a lot of interest in the Texas A&M football job, especially with the boosters and donors forking out tons of money to support the program. The list of candidates will be far and wide in an important hire for the Aggies, and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic revealed his best candidates for the job:

  • Lance Leipold, Kansas
  • Mike Elko, Duke
  • Chris Klieman, Kansas State
  • Jonathan Smith, Oregon State
  • Dan Lanning, Oregon
  • Kalen DeBoer, Washington
  • Mike Norvell, Florida State
  • Jeff Traylor, UTSA
  • Jon Sumrall, Troy

And, Feldman listed one wild card candidate: Current Detroit Lions head coach and former Texas A&M football player Dan Campbell:

‘The 47-year-old Texas native played at A&M. Campbell epitomizes everything we suspect the school would want in a head coach, and if you’ve watched any clips of him in front of his team, you’ll see why…Could A&M lure him home despite all that he has done and is doing in Detroit, getting all the buy-in he has gotten? It would seem doubtful that he’d walk away from all that. As one source said Sunday morning, “The timing for him (with A&M) is horrible.”'

Lots of options for Texas A&M 

Fired Jimbo Fisher from Texas A&M football, with the question asking, Who's Next in for college football head coaches to be fired

Despite a disappointing ending to Fisher's tenure with the Texas A&M football program, there is hope on the horizon in College Station. However, Kansas HC Lance Leipold can seemingly be ruled out, especially after his recent comments regarding the opening at Michigan State. Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin isn't on the list, and he shut down any rumors on Sunday and seems content with the Rebels.

Mike Norvell also seems like a bit of a longshot given his success with the Seminoles, and Texas A&M poaching another former Florida State HC (just like they did with Fisher) would be quite something.

Duke HC Mike Elko, who has transformed the Blue Devils program in a short time, should be one of the top options. After all, he was on the Texas A&M football staff from 2018-2021 as the defensive coordinator, so the ties there are certainly worth watching.

Either way, there are plenty of options for Texas A&M, and while Dan Campbell would be a smash hire, that also seems like a longshot given his success with the Lions, who just moved to 7-2 with a victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

It will be a busy offseason full of coaching rumors for Texas A&M after the decision to fire Jimbo Fisher.