Perhaps the most remarkable thing with Saturday’s Mississippi State Bulldogs-Texas A&M Aggies game was what happened afterwards. Despite the Aggies’ 51-10 win, head coach Jimbo Fisher was fired Sunday. That firing came with the team sitting at 6-4 overall and 4-3 in SEC play, and with Fisher (who was in his sixth season with the Aggies) having eight years left on his contract and a buyout number upwards of $75 million.
Meanwhile, Mississippi State (4-6 overall, 1-6 in conference) also fired their head coach Monday. That would be Zach Arnett, who was in his first year in that role; Arnett took over after Mike Leach’s sudden passing last December. And while coaches being fired after a 41-point loss (and this rough of a season overall) certainly isn’t unprecedented, it’s unusual to see coaches fired after a 41-point win, and to see head coaches on both sides of a particular game fired in the next two days. That led to ESPN analyst Rod Gilmore (who called Saturday’s game on ESPN2 with Brian Custer and Lauren Sisler) commenting on that on Twitter Monday:
Man! I do a game and both coaches get fired!
— RodGilmore@espn (@RodGilmore) November 13, 2023
https://twitter.com/RodGilmore/status/1724073744086511892
It is pretty remarkable to see that. And this then led to some fans looking for firings lobbying Gilmore (who has called college football games for ESPN and ABC since 1996) to call their games:
Can you go to Alabama-Auburn for rivalry week
— Blue Bloods Bias (@bluebloodsbias) November 13, 2023
https://twitter.com/meow4marjorie/status/1724076280159641640
If you get pittman fired i will follow for life.
— theinfamoushog (@theinfamoushog) November 13, 2023
You will be the favorite announcer of all time at arkansas.
— Jeff Greenwood (@JeffGre84037069) November 13, 2023
Pls make it happen. End my suffering Rod Gilmore
— Uncle Rico (@Uncle_Ric00) November 13, 2023
Discussion of announcer jinxes is usually about those broadcasters saying something that then happens. But a particular announcer leading to regular firings of coaches after games they call would be even more worthy of the jinx label. We’ll see if that happens with any of Gilmore’s crew’s future games this year. But it’s certainly notable to see both coaches in one game he called get fired in the next 48 hours.
[Rod Gilmore on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.