The Grinch didn’t wait for Christmas Eve to wreak his havoc in Noleville, dropping some major lump-of-coal level news in Tallahassee on the very first day of December: Florida State Seminoles football coach Jimbo Fisher announced he was leaving to take the head coaching job with the Texas A&M Aggies.

Rumors had been swirling about Fisher’s potential departure for the Lone Star State, especially after a contentious radio show call-in earlier this week. And unfortunately for Fisher and the FSU administration, who undoubtedly would have preferred to handle breaking the news more smoothly, the story went wild on social media on Friday…in no small part due to a sad photo of a discarded Christmas tree.

Around lunchtime on Friday, Tallahassee Democrat sportswriter Wayne McGahee III posted a photo of the aforementioned evergreen left curbside at the end of Fisher’s driveway, noting that Fisher had “put his Christmas tree outside his house to be picked up as garbage.”

#FSU coach Jimbo Fisher has put his Christmas tree outside his house to be picked up as garbage pic.twitter.com/N0pgrdL0bN

— Wayne McGahee III (@WayneMcGaheeIII) December 1, 2017

Throwing away a Christmas tree on the first day of December? That’s not something you do unless you suddenly decide you hate Christmas…or are getting ready to suddenly move out of state. The photo appears to show an artificial tree with pre-strung lights, easily replaced once Fisher arrives in College Station, but not the easiest to pack. Hence the saddest little Christmas tree since poor Charlie Brown’s before Linus and the gang fixed it up.

And of course the Gators couldn’t resist a little trolling:

Just got back on Twitter. Anything going on?

— Florida Gators (@FloridaGators) December 1, 2017

To their credit, FSU President John Thrasher and Athletics Director Stan Wilcox were far more merry in their sendoff for Fisher, posting thoughtful farewell messages on the FSU website.

Defensive tackles coach Odell Haggins has been named as the Seminoles’ interim coach. Fisher led the team for eight seasons, taking the reins after Bobby Bowden retired.

Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter: @rumpfshaker. 

Original photo by Ashley Webb via Flickr. Photo editing by Sarah Rumpf.