He is days away from returning, from walking on the practice field at Florida State next week and organizing and teaching and doing what makes life normal again.
When Jimbo Fisher gets there, this is what he’ll be staring at:
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— A new offensive line (four new starters) with little experience.
— A new quarterback who hasn’t played Down 1 in his offense, and has a history of turnovers and game-changing mistakes at the elite level.
— The loss — for who knows how long? — of his best player.
And you thought another offseason of turmoil that has engulfed his program — not to mention the public airing of problems in his personal life — might be too much to overcome.
“There’s issues at work; there’s always going to be something in life,” Fisher said. “Life never goes smoothly and it’s not fair.”
Then you reach the football field, the one place where everything is tangible and anything is fixable. Nothing is out of reach.
He has been doing this for decades now, fixing and tweaking broken parts and finding ways to win games. From his time as a valued SEC assistant at Auburn and LSU, to working under Bobby Bowden at FSU to taking control of the Seminoles in 2010.
From developing unknown quarterbacks into SEC stars (Patrick Nix at Auburn, Matt Mauck at LSU), to developing three straight NFL first round picks (Christian Ponder, EJ Manuel, Jameis Winston) at FSU.
His FSU teams have won 29 of their last 30 games, and lost in the postseason for the first time last season. Fair or not, that one loss to end last season — one lousy game when a season of distractions finally caught up — suddenly has shifted the narrative to a program on the verge of breakdown.
A freshman who never took a snap at FSU was arrested on domestic violence charges, and star tailback Dalvin Cook was arrested for the same thing. Couple that with the senseless and stupid hijinks (what else can you call it at this point?) of the Drama of Jameis, and you see where this is headed: Fisher has lost control of his team.
The reality is this: he couldn’t be in more control beginning next week.
The field is his safe haven, a place where he can compartmentalize problems and assess and fix them one by one. There’s a reason he has won a national title as an assistant coach (LSU) and a head coach (FSU), and been part of an unbeaten team (Auburn).
When he steps on the field, he’s not a babysitter, he’s not a caretaker, he’s not a therapist. He’s not dealing with his president finding his way to the football offices and speaking in front of a team meeting, usurping Fisher's power by telling players something they should already know, anyway (see: don’t hit women).
He’s not dealing with the few overshadowing the whole, or players in bars or something going viral on social media. He’s a football coach – the very thing FSU pays him $4 million a year to do.
He’s finding a way to win after four offensive linemen were drafted by the NFL, and easing former Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson into the starting lineup without disrupting team chemistry. To say nothing of Golson’s history of poor ball protection (22 turnovers in 2014).
He’s trying to figure out what happened to his once dominant defense, a unit that gave up 31 or more points five times last season and finished last in the ACC in sacks. He’s trying to convince this FSU team that it can be different – and better – than any other.
All tangible problems with specific football fixes.
“I like the demeanor of this team,” Fisher said. “The chemistry is very good. I like the hunger.”
We can debate the merits of how Fisher runs his program off the field (everyone does it differently) or how he deals with player behavior (some are more strict than others). The infection usually has a way of forcing out the splinter.
But know this: when Fisher hits the field next week, it’s all football, all the time. And he’s finally in control again.