SEC SLAPFIGHT
Saban, Fisher trade barbs after Alabama coach accuses Texas A&M of buying recruits
Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher is firing back at Alabama coach Nick Saban. Fisher called Saban a “narcissist” and said his comments about the Aggies are “despicable.” Saban called out Texas A&M earlier this week, suggesting the school essentially bought top recruits through endorsement deals. Fisher says he did not take a call from Saban and declared: “We’re done.”
The Southeastern Conference spring meetings will be held in person for the time since 2019 in a little less than two weeks.
It is unlikely two of the SEC’s superstar coaches will be chumming around Destin, Florida, together.
Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher called Nick Saban a “narcissist” on
Thursday after the Alabama coach accused the rival Aggies of using name, image and likeness deals to land their top-ranked recruiting classes.
Less than 24 hours after Saban said Texas A&M was essentially “buying” players, Fisher called an impromptu news conference to blast college football’s most accomplished coach and his former boss at LSU.
“It’s despicable that a reputable head coach can come out and say this when he doesn’t get his way or things don’t go his way,” Fisher said in College Station, Texas. “The narcissist in him doesn’t allow those things to happen —- it’s ridiculous — when he’s not on top. And the parity in college football he’s been talking about? Go talk to coaches who have coached for him. You’ll find out all the parity.
Go dig into wherever he’s been.”
Texas A&M had the consensus No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2022 after beating Alabama during the regular season. The Tide’s class was No. 2. In his session which lasted about 10 minutes, Fisher declared: “We never bought anybody, no rules are broken. Nothing was done wrong.”
The public spat is perhaps the ugliest display of the growing angst and concerns among college coaches who are wrestling with two big changes: The compensation era, launched last July, and its impact on recruiting, and the ease with which players can now transfer.
Saban, who has won six national championships and is widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, has called the current state of affairs unsustainable. At an event in Birmingham, Ala., he said some schools were spending “tons of money to get players.”
“You read about it, you know who they are,” Saban said Wednesday. “We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player. But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”
Fisher was an assistant under
Saban in the early 2000s at LSU, working as offensive coordinator on the Tigers’ 2003 national title team. That relationship is now badly damaged.
“We’re done,” Fisher said, adding Saban reached out by phone but he did not take the call. “He showed you who he is. He’s the greatest ever, huh? When you got all the advantages, it’s easy.”