Bobby Petrino discusses working relationship with Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M playcalling
By Andrew Olson
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Bobby Petrino’s hiring by Texas A&M as offensive coordinator turned heads in the SEC and around the country. Jimbo Fisher has long called his team’s offensive plays. Petrino’s most recent season as an assistant coach came in 2002 at Auburn.
Petrino met with the press in College Station on Sunday for Fall Camp Media Day. As expected, Petrino was asked questions about working with Fisher and Texas A&M’s plans for offensive playcalling.
Petrino said he has enjoyed his time in College Station since joining the Aggie staff this offseason.
“I work for Coach Fisher. This is his program,” Petrino told reporters. “I am very, very impressed, and that’s part of one of the reasons I came here, because of my knowledge of how he runs a program. It’s my job to make sure I’m working hard every day. It has been fun, though, I can tell you that. It’s been enjoyable because he has such a great offensive mind.”
Since Petrino’s hiring, fans and media alike have wondered whether Fisher will hand over playcalling duties to his new offensive coordinator.
“It is a collective effort. I’ve been calling the plays in practice, and I will do that,” Petrino said when asked Sunday. “A lot of times, the calls are made throughout the week.”
The long-time offensive coach added, “You have to be able to be disciplined to be able to do what you did in practice.”
Since he’s back to being a coordinator, Petrino has a decision to make about whether he will coach from the press box or the sideline on Saturdays.
“I haven’t made the complete decision yet, but I’m leaning towards the press box,” Petrino said. “I think the ability to be up there, see things and call the game… When I was the coordinator before, I was mostly up in the press box.”
Petrino noted that he only moved down to the sideline when he saw being a head coach in his future. For 2023, he’ll likely base his decision on his signal-callers.
“It’s going to come down to how comfortable I am with the temperament of the quarterbacks,” he told reporters.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
