It's on Jimbo Fisher to Shake Up Florida State Get-Away-with-It Football Culture

Jimbo Fisher was on the sidelines in Gainesville last Nov. 30 when his hot-headed quarterback came bouncing over following an unplanned timeout. Jameis Winston started jawing at Fisher about whose fault it was. The Florida State coach grabbed Winston by the facemask and reminded him quickly who was in charge.

Fisher needs to grab the collective facemask of his football team and remind the players who is in charge so they quit with this stuff.

It's just a culture down there in Tallahassee, right? Crash a car; leave it in the middle of the street. Steal a scooter. Steal crab legs. Destroy private property. Do what you want.

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The latest issue, as reported Friday by Mike McIntire and Walt Bogdanich of The New York Times, is that star defensive back P.J. Williams made an illegal turn, ran into another car and then left the scene of the accident. He was driving with a suspended license and had unpaid fines to boot.

This was after receiver Bobo Wilson stole a scooter. This was after Jameis Winston shouted vulgarities in the middle of campus and after Winston seemingly shoplifted crab legs. This was after FSU players were questioned over destruction of private property.

I read the Yahoo Sports account of Winston's father trying like heck to get on the field after the Louisville game when he didn't have a proper pass. I wasn't surprised. The thinking for an FSU connection seems to be: The rules apply to you and you, but not to me, surely not to me who is affiliated with FSU football.

I know, these players all have family, and the parents should be stomping into town to deal with their kids' mischief and pay their fines, etc. Kids make mistakes, but maybe Fisher, the parent proxy, needs to attend a seminar led by Georgia coach Mark Richt or Texas coach Charlie Strong on how to deal discipline when mistakes pile up.

Maybe Fisher really doesn't think it is his job to police these guys off the field. Maybe he doesn't even think there is a problem.

There is a problem. Maybe it's Fisher's leniency. Wilson committed a felony and was suspended one game. Williams fled the scene of a car crash Oct. 5 and played the next week against Syracuse. He was given two tickets, and maybe that was good enough for Fisher.

I bet you Fisher talks to his team—maybe begs them—to behave and represent the school in a positive manner. I bet he does.

The message isn't being heard.

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Here is the deal. If football players make trouble, the head coach should have something to say about it until he is heard.

Richt, the Georgia coach, would have had something to say to P.J. Williams about making an illegal turn, driving with a suspended license and walking away from a wreck.

Here is what Richt would say: "You're not playing in the next game." Williams played the next game after the car crash, so we assume Fisher said nothing.

Richt and Strong would also be finding out why one of their players was piling up fines for speeding. They would have something to say about that. They would have something to say about an accident where two vehicles were totaled.

Richt would have found out who was popping windows with BB guns and would have ordered some punishment. I guarantee it. He wouldn't have sent his fixer to the apartment complex.

Fisher stepped up when receiver Wilson was arrested and charged with stealing a scooter. It is a felony. Wilson was suspended for one game. The coach acted. He has to act more forcefully it seems. Winston was suspended for a game for shouting a vulgarity on campus and then pranced out in his uniform for the Clemson game. Fisher had to tell him to get back in the locker room.

Fisher knows what's right and what's wrong, but his players just do whatever.

You just wonder about the sports world sometimes. New York Jets coach Rex Ryan gets fined $100,000 for an F-bomb he threw after the Jets-Steelers game. A college football player is destructive while driving on a suspended license and plays the next game.

Fisher needs to be a better sheriff, not just a great football coach and great recruiter. Florida State is cruising toward another national championship, and the Seminoles will be belittled everywhere outside Tallahassee because of this trouble.

Florida State's fans, of course, will bash the messenger. Happens everywhere they say. Kids will be kids. What's a hit-and-run with no serious injuries? By itself, maybe not a lot. But when the mischief keeps happening, you wonder what kind of culture there is at FSU.

You wonder if Jimbo Fisher needs to yank on some more facemasks.

Ray Glier covers college football for Bleacher Report. He has covered college football and various other sports for 20 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post and Al Jazeera America. He is the author of How the SEC Became Goliath (Howard/Simon & Schuster, 2013).