Texas A&M beat Arkansas 24-17 from AT&T Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and new Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher got pretty upset with one of his players, linebacker Tyrel Dodson.
So upset, in fact, that he grabbed him by the face mask and pushed him backward with it. The video went viral, with former Texas Longhorns linebacker and current ESPN analyst Emmanual Acho among those criticizing Fisher:
So we just gonna let Jimbo Fisher get away with treating his player like a rag doll
— Emmanuel Acho (@thEMANacho) September 29, 2018
pic.twitter.com/PbecEn4nJs
A lot of other former pros, like former Oregon and NFL offensive lineman and current SB Nation contributor Geoff Schwartz disapproved of what Fisher did:
And if the kid did that to the coach,he’d be thrown off the team.
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) September 29, 2018
More from Acho:
If you making 75 million a year and I’m not making no money. Don’t touch me unless you putting money in my pocket. Yell all you want. Don’t put your hands on me
— Emmanuel Acho (@thEMANacho) September 29, 2018
Former USC and Vikings QB Sean Salisbury also chimed in:
I’m old school and the snowflake society has an answer for everything, just ask em. But, if a player grabbed a coach like Jimbo grabbed a player, the country would lose their collective minds. One day a player is going to right hook a coach, I guarantee it! Then what!
— Sean Salisbury (@SeanUnfiltered) September 29, 2018
Former Pro Bowl lineman Mark Schlereth:
My oline coach in Denver once had a team meeting to tell us if I ever put my hands on you in a game you have the right to whip my ass! True Story https://t.co/Nun7GImFH4
— mark schlereth (@markschlereth) September 29, 2018
Current Chargers cornerback and former Florida Gator Jaylen Watkins added:
That ain’t coaching.
— Jaylen Watkins (@jwat14) September 29, 2018
After the game, Fisher was asked about the incident.
On video going around of Jimbo Fisher grabbing Tyrel Dodson's face mask... Jimbo said he told him "make the play. Shut your mouth." Was worried LB was going to get tossed for fighting.
— Suzanne Halliburton (@suzhalliburton) September 29, 2018
“They’re getting in an argument and a fight,” Fisher told reporters. “I don’t need that guy out there pushing and shoving, getting in a fight in the game. Lose one of our best players on defense and our team leader, that’s great. Learn to put your pride away and go on the sideline. There ain’t no sense to go out there and push and shove and do dumb things out there when you’re locked in on a game. He plays great, he’s a heck of a players for us.
“We’ve had Dodson gone for a game or two. We had that. In a game like that, to lose [number] 25? I was just trying to make a point — I don’t want you out there fighting. Make the play, shut your mouth and go on. And he is a great player. Emotions get in football, it’s an emotional game. But you gotta play intelligently, you gotta play to win. Dodson’s one of our team leaders, that’s a guy we count on for everything, make calls, do everything, man, that guys’s critical.
“And you gotta understand that role, and there’s something bigger than the individual battles that you’re going with. That’s all I was trying to make a point to him.”
As for Dodson, he had this to say on Twitter after the game:
I’m in. Coach fisher is an amazing coach, he did the right thing. I let my emotions get the best of me at that certain moment. My teammates and this University needs me. That’s why he was so upset! He’ll have my back no matter what.
— Tyrel Dodson (@tdots25) September 29, 2018
AGS WIN
We’ve seen plenty of head coaches go viral for stuff like this before — former Florida head coach Jim McElwain was criticized for berating a player, and Woody Hayes certainly would’ve gone viral, if social media existed at the time. While Fisher says he was just trying to make a point to one of his players, it’s obvious that not everyone agrees with how he did it.