Jimbo Fisher Taking Responsibility for FSU's Troubles a Step in Right Direction

Jimbo Fisher faced the music Tuesday morning at the ACC Football Kickoff.

Fisher fielded plenty of questions about the recent incidents of violence against women allegedly involving former quarterback De'Andre Johnson and indefinitely suspended running back Dalvin Cook. However, the Florida State coach had an expected but welcome tune to his responses. 

Fisher placed the responsibility of his players' actions on himself. He spoke of ways the program was becoming more proactive in preventing future incidents.

"Just like it is anywhere else in the country, you as the head coach take responsibility, and you continue to educate," Fisher said, according to Jared Shanker of ESPN.com. "You hope they don't make mistakes, and when they do, you punish and adjust and continue to educate so they don't do it again."

Fisher's time at the podium in Pinehurst, North Carolina, marked his first press conference since the Johnson and Cook incidents.

To his credit, Fisher didn't shy away from any off-the-field questions. A lackluster press conference would've only made the issues worse for him and his Florida State program, but Fisher was direct with his answers—just like he needed to be.

Fisher said Florida State continues to have a zero-tolerance policy regarding violence against women.

"You're judged by what you do and we've had a couple of instances, just like other people have, too," Fisher said, according to Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post. "It's not a Florida State problem, it's a national problem. It's not just an athletic problem, it's a domestic problem across our country. ... We don't tolerate it or accept it."

While Fisher is correct in saying that this problem doesn't just affect Florida State—several other powerhouse programs have dealt with similar incidents in recent years—the recent cases of Johnson and Cook aren't the first under his watch.

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

According to Shanker, "at least six" Seminoles have been accused of violence against women during Fisher's time as Florida State's head coach, which began in 2010. 

That should be an extremely hard number to swallow.

Fisher said his program has been proactive in the past with character issues by conducting classes and background checks for recruits "as much as we possibly can." 

However, he plans to add to those efforts in the wake of Johnson's and Cook's incidents, which came within days of each other.

"We've had a very extensive program," Fisher said, per D'Angelo. "We go 40 days a year of bringing in character-building people, developmental conditioning with issues: drugs, alcohol, opposite sex, domestic violence. We’ve done it from the very first day I’ve been there."

Shanker reports Florida State's players are now in a four-step program following the recent arrests. 

Fisher said he has enlisted the help of several high-profile people for a greater emphasis on character-building, including former FBI agent Bob Delaney, members of the Navy SEALs and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson as part of his "Pass the Peace" campaign against domestic violence.

All these actions by Fisher—taking responsibility, new programs, more character education—are small steps in the right direction for Florida State.

But they're just small steps.

Fisher knows the actions of a few of his players have affected the image of the team and Florida State as a whole. And he knows these aren't just isolated incidents this season.

"You want to change perception, you have to have continual performance in the right way for long periods of time," Fisher said, per Shanker.

As Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel notes, Fisher can't afford to waste time in making those changes in perception for the program:

"

It's up to [FSU president John] Thrasher and coach Jimbo Fisher to ease the minds of parents and stop this nonsense before FSU's reputation is permanently scarred.

Memo to Jimbo: Please don't allow your legacy to disintegrate into that of former Florida coach Urban Meyer — a coach who won national championships on the field but lost a ton of respect by the way his players behaved off it.

A championship football team is supposed to enhance the reputation of the university; not detract from it.

"

Fisher is saying all the right things in response to the growing questions about his program. And the result of Cook's situation will show how much Fisher backs up those words of zero tolerance.

Mark Wallheiser/Associated Press

Fisher said he would "wait for the facts to come out" about Cook before making a decision. According to Chip Patterson of CBS Sports, Cook's court date has been pushed back to Sept. 2—three days before FSU's 2015 season opener.

It was an easy decision for Fisher to dismiss Johnson, a backup quarterback, after video surfaced of him brutally punching a young woman at a bar.

But what will Fisher do with the results for Cook, who led Florida State in rushing last season?

How Florida State handles its top running back and prevents future instances of violence against women will be the true measures of progress for this program.

Perhaps the added hours of off-field learning will get through to Fisher's team and prevent more of these awful incidents.

Maybe Florida State's players, who Fisher said were involved in a decision to make bars off-limits, are taking more responsibility for the actions of one another.

"They said they’re not putting themselves in those positions," Fisher said, per D'Angelo. "It's a collective ban. They collectively as a group said the same thing, 'We don’t need to be in there.'"

The head coach can create countless new rules and programs, but it's ultimately up to Florida State's players to end this deeply troubling trend.

Fisher's words on Tuesday were good, but they can only go so far.

Actions—or the lack of actions in this situation—speak louder than words.

Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.