TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Jimbo Fisher is leaving Florida State for Texas A&M, four years after leading the Seminoles to their third national title.

Fisher told university president John Thrasher on Friday that he was resigning to accept Texas A&M’s offer.

“I believe Texas A&M is getting one of the best coaches in college football. We appreciate all he has done for our program and wish him and his family great success moving forward,” Thrasher said in a statement that closed days of speculation about Fisher’s future.

Fisher leaves Florida State after going 83-23 in eight seasons. Besides the national championship, he also led the Seminoles to three Atlantic Coast Conference titles and four ACC Atlantic Division crowns. He will replace Kevin Sumlin, who was fired last weekend after going 51-26 in six seasons at Texas A&M. The Houston Chronicle reported that Fisher is expected to earn between $7 million and $7.5 million per year for at least five years.

Fisher is just the fourth head coach to leave a school where he has won a national championship and go directly to another college job. The last to do it was Johnny Majors, who went from Pittsburgh to Tennessee in 1977.

Florida State (5-6) faces Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday and needs a win to be bowl eligible for a 36th consecutive season. Defensive line coach Odell Haggins will be the interim coach.

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TENNESSEE: The university named former football coach Phillip Fulmer its athletic director after placing John Currie on paid leave amid what has been a tumultuous and embarrassing football coaching search.

Chancellor Beverly Davenport said at news conference after the move was announced that Currie had been suspended. She added that Fulmer will be Tennessee’s athletic director “for the foreseeable future” and “take the reins of our search.”

Fullmer coached the Volunteers from 1992 to 2008, compiling a 151-52-1 record. His 1998 team went 13-0 and won the national championship.

Tennessee is looking for a coach after possibly the most disappointing season in school history.

After being ranked in the Top 25 at the start of the year, the Volunteers went 4-8, setting a school record for losses. They were winless in Southeastern Conference competition for the first time since the league formed in 1933.

Butch Jones was fired as coach with two games left in the season. Tennessee was close to hiring Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano on Sunday as its next coach. That deal fell through amid a public backlash. Currie met Thursday with Washington State Coach Mike Leach, then learned of his suspension when he returned to Tennessee.

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The public nature of Tennessee’s inability to find a replacement frustrated an angry fan base. People chanted “Fire Currie” on a handful of occasions Monday night during a wrestling show on campus, and again Wednesday night during the Tennessee men’s basketball team’s victory over Mercer.

Currie took over as Tennessee’s athletic director in April after Dave Hart stepped down. Currie agreed to a five-year contract worth at least $900,000 annually. According to terms of Currie’s contract, the school would owe him $5.5 million if he is fired now without cause.

OHIO STATE: J.T. Barrett has seen enough Big Ten championship games from the sideline.

So just six days after undergoing surgery on his injured right knee, the Ohio State quarterback is preparing to start Saturday against No. 3 Wisconsin.

Buckeyes Coach Urban Meyer said that Barrett, the three-time conference quarterback of the year, has been cleared to play after undergoing 15 hours of treatment per day since having a procedure he did not specify.

“Certain people probably couldn’t do it, but J.T.’s a little different,” Meyer said after confirming Barrett had surgery following last week’s win at Michigan. “He’s just one of the toughest human beings I’ve ever come across in my career. He’s just a very unique individual.”

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MISSISSIPPI: Mississippi’s football program won’t participate in the postseason this year or in 2018 as part of NCAA sanctions levied against the school in the long-running rules violation case that included a charge of lack of institutional control.

In the latest development in the more than five-year ongoing case, the Committee on Infractions came down fairly hard on Ole Miss. Most notably, the NCAA decided the one-year self-imposed postseason ban was not enough for the Rebels, who finished the regular season with a 6-6 record.

Ole Miss had hoped to avoid a postseason ban in 2018. It plans to appeal the NCAA’s decision.

The Committee on Infractions said the case was similar to other Ole Miss rules violations cases in 1986 and 1994 and that the school had an “unconstrained booster culture.” The NCAA says six football staff members and 12 boosters contributed to the current violations.


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