Jimbo's name fits his southern style

By Charlie Barnes, Executive Director - Seminole Boosters

My computer spell-check keeps trying to make me name him "Jumbo."

Jimbo Fisher

Every time I type in Coach Fisher's name, the screen directs me to correct "Jimbo" to "Jumbo." Maybe this just takes time.

When Bobby Bowden arrived here in 1976 the Seminole Sports Information Office persisted in enclosing a pronunciation guide with all press releases concerning Bowden.

"Bowden", they instructed, "rhymes with 'now, then.'"

If there ever was any confusion about how to pronounce Bowden it didn't last long.

Jimbo is a good name for a coach from this part of the country. Jimbo doesn't sound like someone from, say, Oregon. But you can't always tell. There was that quarterback from the University of Michigan named Elvis.

No, Jimbo sounds like a guy from the South; someone who likes to hunt and fish. It was just this month that Jimbo joked about maybe turning the practice field coaches' tower into a deer stand.

Football has a special place in the southern soul. Actually, it can appear to be more of a deranged obsession to folks from other parts of the country. Around here, the weddings, funerals and births are scheduled to stand free of any conflict with football weekends or most certainly at least the big games and Homecoming. I'm told that the speed limit on the Ole Miss campus is 18 miles per hour in honor of the number Archie Manning wore in college forty years ago.

"Archie" is all you need to say, really. Southern football icons don't require explanation. When you mention "Bear" around here, no one needs to be told who that is. Years ago, it was common for head coaches to show up in person to sign a prized recruit and then stand with the parents for pictures. After the NCAA forbid coaches from appearing in local newspapers' signing day photos (yes, the NCAA did that), Alabama recruits smiled for the camera with a hounds tooth hat at their elbow. Even if he wasn't allowed in the photo, everyone knew he was standing close by.

Football rivalries down here are more consumed with bitterness than anywhere else. Bitterness is the right word, and it never lets up. In 1987, just prior to kickoff in the annual Iron Bowl between the Auburn Tigers and the Crimson Tide, the stadium announcer asked everyone to stand for the playing of the Auburn alma mater. As Auburn's band began to play, thousands of Alabama fans rose and happily began singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm."

Somewhere among the many books written about his life, Bobby Bowden talked about how early in his career he considered different options on his own name as a matter of style. "Robert" might make a young coach seem older and more established. "Bob" was a southern standard like General Bob Neyland. But "Bobby" seemed to best fit his personality. And for three and a half decades Seminole fans blithely referred to "Bobby" without the least concern that someone might not know who they meant.

For the record, our new coach's name is John James Fisher Jr. But one name is really all you need down here. And based on all the good news coming out of spring practice, it's starting to look like "Jimbo" will do just fine.