Fisher answers Saban’s charge with disdain
In a little less than two weeks, the Southeastern Conference spring meetings will be held in person for the time since 2019.
It is unlikely two of the SEC’s superstar coaches will be chumming around Destin, Fla., 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. Saban apologized a few hours later but generally stuck to his stance, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey followed soon after with a public reprimand for both.
So much for a quiet offseason.
The public spat is perhaps the ugliest display of the growing angst among college coaches who are wrestling with two big changes: The NIL compensation era launched in July and its impact on recruiting, and the ease with which players can now transfer.
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.”
Saban said he has reached out to Fisher over Saban’s comments but “never got a response.” He apologized for singling anybody out but stood by the gist of his message about booster-backed collectives essentially helping to recruit players.
“I feel bad about it. But I’m not changing my philosophy,” Saban said on Sirius XM radio. “I look at the betterment of college football. What is good for the game?”
When asked if he wanted to address the conflict with Fisher at the upcoming SEC meetings, Saban just said he’s hoping to work on bigpicture issues.
“I really wasn’t saying that anybody did anything illegal in using name, image and likeness,” the Alabama coach said. “I didn’t say that. That was something that was assumed by what I said, which was not really what I meant. Nor was it what I said. There’s nothing illegal about doing this. It’s the system that allows you to do it. And that’s the issue that I have.”
Sankey issued a “public reprimand” for both coaches, but acknowledged there’s “tremendous frustration” about the lack of consistency in NIL rules in different states.
The Crimson Tide lost to the Aggies in 2021, but went on to win the SEC championship and play for the national title. The Aggies finished 8-4 in their fourth season under Fisher, who, like Saban, is among the highest-paid coaches in the game at more than $9 million per season.
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., this week 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.”
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.”
He said Saban’s comments were insulting to Texas A&M and the families of the players who signed with the Aggies.
Texas A&M plays at Alabama on Oct. 8.