Jimbo Fisher asks Florida high school coaches for West Virginia donations

Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher penned a letter to Florida high school football coaches to help his home state of West Virginia.

West Virginia was recently devastated by a flood that killed 23 people, destroyed 1,500 homes, and caused more than $30 million in damage to roads.

Fisher wrote to the coaches asking for equipment donations to West Virginia high schools to help rebuild their programs.

This is Coach Jimbo Fisher. As many of you have seen, my home state of West Virginia is in need of help. Flooding devastated much of the state late last month and has affected thousands of families, businesses and school systems. West Virginia is an economically challenged state and the recent flooding has made it ever tougher for high school athletic programs. As football coaches, we can do a small part to help the community heal by assisting the high school football programs affected by this tragedy. Many high schools won’t be able to field football teams this fall without major assistance. I know that we can help these members of our football family.

We here at Florida State would like to set up a uniform donation for the affected high schools. We plan to donate as much as we can from our university, however most of our equipment is too big to properly fit the average size high school student-athlete. I’m asking each high school coach in the state of Florida to donate one full uniform to help these football programs get back on their feet. If you cannot donate a full set or are unable to contribute at this time, I completely understand. We are trying to do everything we can to help make sure they are able to have a football season this upcoming year. We will collect all of these uniforms and transport them to West Virginia on July 25.

We have all seen how athletics can help heal and rebuild communities that have suffered through a tragedy. Thank you so much for your help and anything you can do to assist the high school football programs in West Virginia. I hope you are having a great summer and best wishes as you all get ready to start your preseason practices.

The Seminoles coach was born in Clarksburg, W.Va., and attended Salem International University, playing quarterback for Terry Bowden in 1985 and 1986.