It is a well-documented fact that Nick Saban does not lose to his former assistants.

The head coach is 14-0 against teams coached by ex-employees, and Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt became No. 14 on that list last Saturday as Alabama drubbed the Vols, 58-21.

Saban’s previous games against former assistants indicate he tries to not embarass them in the process of winning.

Saban reaffirmed that rumor on his weekly radio show in Tuscaloosa, insinuating that he tried not to run up the score in Bama’s lopsided victory.

 

Saban and Pruitt have a long-standing relationship since Pruitt was hired in 2007 as the Director of Player Development in Saban’s first year at Alabama. Pruitt spent a total of eight seasons as an assistant under Saban, including two as his defensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017.

Even though the Tide stopped the aggressiveness and did not score a point in the fourth quarter, they still managed to put up 58.

 

In fairness, most assistants Saban faces are in similar situations as Jeremy Pruitt is at Tennessee. Those assistants have been hired to turn around a struggling program, while Saban’s is obviously very established.

Although, that does not make it any less sweet for Alabama fans to see their head coaches’ domination over the assistants who left the program.