Former colleagues Fisher, Saban collide
Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban share much in common.
They are two of the four active major-college coaches with a national championship (joining Urban Meyer and Dabo Swinney). Both Fisher and Saban grew up in West Virginia, though Saban is 14 years older. And both worked for LSU from 2000-04 — Saban as head coach, Fisher as his offensive coordinator.
So add another layer of intrigue to one of college football’s all-time greatest season openers — top-ranked Alabama vs. No. 3 Florida State on Saturday night in Atlanta.
“I love it,” SEC analyst Marcus Spears told seccountry.com. “The buildup is crazy.”
Spears knows the coaches well. He played on LSU’s 2003 national title team that beat OU in the Sugar Bowl.
“You have two coaches who know each other, and two coaches who used to fight every day in practice when I was at LSU,” Spears said.
Even the secretive Saban this week told stories about the competitive nature of LSU’s practices in those days, Saban’s defense vs. Fisher’s offense.
“We were both very competitive,” Fisher said. “We’d go off script and he’d come off with a blitz or different things.”
But Saban also wanted Fisher on his noontime basketball team.
“Could shoot 3’s and was very competitive,” Saban said. “And he wanted to have success.”
When Saban left LSU for the Miami Dolphins, Fisher stayed behind to work for Les Miles. Then Fisher went to Florida State as the coach-inwaiting and eventually succeeded Bobby Bowden. Saban returned to the college game and built a dynasty at Alabama.
Now the West Virginians meet in Atlanta for an opener royale.