SEC Meetings: Nick Saban vs. Jimbo Fisher fallout dominates the day in Destin
DESTIN, Fla. — There’s no easy way to say it, only the awkward reality of what played out when the cock of the walk of college football eased into the meeting room of a posh beach resort and looked, well, rattled.
Yes, everyone, even Nick Saban can be humbled.
“I didn’t say anybody did anything wrong,” Saban uncomfortably blurted out, when asked about his comments earlier this month that Texas A&M “bought every recruit.”
When reminded that he said Texas A&M — and by proxy, Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher — “bought” every player, Saban demurred, “I don’t have a problem with Jimbo Fisher.”
Yeah, well, Fisher clearly has a problem with Saban.
Welcome, everyone, to the theater of the absurd in the SEC. Only here can the greatest coach in college football history, the man whose very words can change the course of any national conversation about the past, present or future of the sport, look — if for only a moment — uncomfortable in his own skin.
If the SEC were Facebook, the current relationship status would be “complicated.”
Twenty-one years in the SEC, 15 seasons at Alabama — and there was Nick Saban, head lowered and reading off a cheat sheet while offering 3 ways to fix the name, image and likeness storm that has engulfed the sport.
Minutes after his time at the podium, Saban walked upstairs and briskly by and around Fisher — who was standing an intermediate throw from the meeting room — and right into where the magic will unfold over the next 2 days.
The same room where — as fate would have it — Fisher will chair the coaches meeting because it’s his turn in the rotation.
Take a guess how that thing will play out behind closed doors.
“I’m not touching that thing,” Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said.
Before we delve deep into the hows and whys of getting to this point, understand that this isn’t the first time the coaches have met post-National Signing Day. It’s not the first time Saban and Fisher have been in the same room after Fisher signed what many recruiting experts say is the greatest recruiting class in the history of college football.
It’s not the first time Saban looked across the table at his former assistant coach and friend (the table is set alphabetically by school) and realized the greatest threat to his empire at Alabama is name, image and likeness — and a charismatic coach who can land 8 (eight!!) 5-star recruits in one class.
The coaches met in February at the conference office in Birmingham just after National Signing Day, and there were no fireworks. There was no accusation of players being “bought” or illicit wrongdoings in the forever dirty world of recruiting.
But Saban knew his audience earlier this month while speaking to a business function for the World Games, where Birmingham is the host city.
Translation: There was plenty of money in that audience — money that could be farmed for NIL use.
So when Saban spoke about the ills of NIL and how some programs are using it to their advantage, he may as well have been speaking for every coach in college football. But not every coach called out another program.
When he eventually spoke into existence what everyone in the sport was thinking (true or not), he gave pure oxygen to an ember waiting to explode.
Now the man who could say no wrong, whose words were taken as gospel whenever he spoke about the state of the game, has been reduced to repeating apologies.
“I should have never named any individual institutions,” Saban said again Tuesday.
This isn’t the first time the SEC has dealt with infighting among coaches and most certainly won’t be the last. These guys are fighting for every inch on and off the field, and they will use every possible advantage.
It’s multi-million dollar salaries and billion-dollar media rights deals and presidents and athletic directors who want results right now.
There’s no such thing as friendships in the SEC, and that might be the one thing Saban’s rant earlier this month exposed. It’s every man for himself in the meat grinder SEC.
NIL issues simply fueled the drama.
“We don’t speak to each other, any of us. They don’t call, I don’t call them,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who worked on the LSU staff in the early 2000s with Saban and Fisher. “I’m not really worried about a feud between two guys who used to sit in the same staff meeting and have similar conversations. At the end of the day, sometimes things get heated.”
And then it plays out on the field — where Saban is his most comfortable, anyway.
At this point it seems as though the media are the only folks interested in pushing this scenario forward. There is no new information beyond the fact that they are in close proximity to each other. I think most of the media would love it if they would “throw down” with each other a la Saturday afternoon ‘rastlin’ just so they could have a new story in this thread to write about.
If you think aTm bought their class, then you’re not likely to change your mind. If you think that atm just had a really good recruiting year and money played no part… you’re not changing your mind either. We see what we want to see.
Truth is NIL is not going to help Alabama. Texas A&M has a lot more money. Saban knows that. It’s compounded by his coaching style, which is somewhat dictatorial. Some players, especially the prima donnas who can command larger NIL deals, might not like Saban so much.
I just heard Saban started a GoFundMe for Bama NIL. He’s always ahead of the game.
“Texas A&M has a lot more money. ”
And they still won’t win the SEC West.
As a Dawg fan that can practically speak football I haven’t seen a coach as successful at recruiting 5 stars and even more important getting them to be teammates and buy into the process. He makes 5 stars better, doesn’t allow them to rest on their high school laurels never improving while others pass them by. NIL was needed cause players getting shafted but the NoCahonesAthleticAssociation had no influence to guide it’s introduction and use. Just a hypothetical, a team has a qb that is all world and bringing in millions in NIL money for himself. Is it dangerous for him to let it all go to his head and forget about the 1500 to 1800 lbs of beef in front of him giving him the opportunity to excel? How many will really understands who butter their bread, boosters that provide funds for that new BMW or the 5 hawks that keep him in the game? Be interesting to see how this shakes out and how long it takes.
Foots, you are 100% correct. And not only do these laptop reporters want some sizzle every last one of them want ‘the scoop.’ We have no idea what Jimbo is going to say but my thinking is he’s a guy who defended Jameis stealing crab legs. Why would we expect him to take the high road and accept an apology from Coach Saban? Here’s what the reporters wish they knew-what the aTm AD has said to Jimbo about the meeting tomorrow.
The real story is the wives..
Are they looking good? Real Housewives of the SEC?
I don’t think most Ags care too much about this other than it’s just fun to watch Jimbo all reved up. I know for a fact that every Aggie out there will be rooting for Alabama to thoroughly embarrass texas on Sept 10.
Absolutely. This whole things is great publicity. Bama’s far and away the best program in college football, and having A&M and Bama on the same headlines together in the middle of the offseason is great for the Ags. Jimbo’s comment last summer and now pushing back at Saban this year gives the Aggies some steam leading into recruiting season. Now we just need the team to hold up their end of the bargain on the field.
“Now we just need the team to hold up their end of the bargain on the field”. Don’t count on it and definitely don’t bet on it.
I really appreciate how careful with his words Kirby is. Always downplaying stuff like the feuds and working hard not to create media drama because it becomes an unnecessary distraction. The “HBTFD?” moment was about as sensational as he’s gotten so far.
It appears that Matt has decided exactly what happened and it’s all Sabans fault. I believe your supposed to say this is an opinion piece before printing your opinion as fact.