Jimbo Goes Off - Part Two
An MMA match seems appropriate after what went down this week.
Holy cow, what a wild few days. I don’t think we have ever seen anything like what has gone down the last 72 hours. Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban are now mortal enemies and there is a serious rivalry budding between Texas A&M and Alabama.
All of this started on Wednesday night when Nick Saban raised some eyebrows at an Alabama booster event by saying “I mean, we were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team - made a deal for name, imagine and likeness. We didn't buy one player, all right? But I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”
Saban went on to call out Jackson State and Miami as well, stating “I mean, Jackson State paid a guy $1 million last year that was a really good Division I player to come to the school. It was in the paper, and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it. I mean, these guys at Miami that are going to play basketball there for $400,000, it's in the newspaper. The guy tells you how he's doing it.”
You can see the entire video here for more context:
Let’s break this down. First, Nick Saban still reads the paper. No surprise and I love it. Second, I’ve seen some people suggest that Nick Saban might not have known the media was there and this speech would be recorded. While I understand why people would think that since it was a booster event and the media is not always invited, it’s 2022, Nick. Regardless of whether this was open to the media, every person there has a smart phone with a camera. The same thing happened to Jimbo last year when he was caught telling boosters they were going to “beat his ass” referring to Saban and Alabama. You have to know better in that situation.
Regarding what he actually said, I was really surprised to hear that stuff come out of his mouth. Saban is always extremely guarded with his public comments and he is a master of manipulation. Calling out A&M, Jackson State and Miami by name is out of character for Saban. It came across as petty. Claiming Texas A&M “bought their entire team” as the reason that Alabama finished second in recruiting and then complaining about an HBCU program in Jackson State, who plays at the FCS level, allegedly paying a player $1 million to play there is wild. Really, man? Alabama is on another planet compared to Jackson State, they are the last program he should be concerning himself over. Not to mention that I don’t think any of what he said was true, except about Miami. We know A&M didn't buy “their entire team” and I’ve seen no proof from anyone that Jackson State paid any player $1 million dollars to come play there. As Deion, aka Coach Prime, pointed out, he doesn't even make $1 million per year. Nick Saban makes roughly $10 million a year, for the record.
Now look, Nick Saban is the best college football coach of all time. I don’t dislike him. I respect the hell out of him, and admire him as a coach, leader and competitor. But you cannot say another program in your conference “bought their entire team.” You just can’t. People can try to cover for Saban and say that he was really talking about the NIL landscape as a whole and the issues that have arisen because of the lack of NIL regulations. Perhaps that was his intent, he said as much yesterday when he apologized for his comments on a SiriusXM radio interview, but again, that isn’t what he actually said Wednesday night. And yes, accusing a program in your conference of buying their entire team is still illegal. NIL cannot be used as an inducement, which is exactly what Saban made it sound like. Oh, and by the way, he said all this at a booster event. He was trying to get more money pumped into his program, while simultaneously accusing others of paying players.
My biggest issue with what Saban said is more about how he keeps insisting that Alabama does everything “the right way.” If he thinks A&M bought their whole team and he’s mad about it, fine. A lot of people think that, and this exchange between Saban and Jimbo is not going to change anyone’s mind on whether you think A&M bought this recruiting class. But the holier-than-thou tone from Saban in this instance, and previous ones a few weeks ago, is ridiculous. Saban and Alabama have been inducing players to come to Alabama with backroom deals forever. Dodge Charges, bag men, whatever the method, it’s been happening in Tuscaloosa for decades. Everyone knows this. So don’t preach to the rest of college football about how clean your program is and then throw others into the mud by name. And look, I have no issue with how Alabama has recruited in the Saban tenure. Every program does it one way or another, and it’s part of the game. My issue is with how he continues to act like Alabama is squeaky clean and has never done anything below board. Give us a break, Nick. Jimbo also took serious issue with this given how he responded, going directly at Saban’s character.
Now, for the crowd who keeps saying to just embrace the NIL game to Jimbo and A&M, it’s not that simple. The insinuation that A&M only recruited this well because they have to pay players is offensive to Jimbo and his staff, and that is exactly what Saban is saying. Jimbo didn’t earn those recruits, he “bought” them. Of course, Jimbo takes offense to that as any other coach would. Any A&M fan who believes that NIL played no role in the 2022 recruiting cycle is naïve. At the same time, any Aggie haters out there who believe A&M paid for every single recruit and had a $30 million dollar war chest are also naïve. There has been zero proof of any of that. The truth, as it often is, more than likely is somewhere in the middle. Yes, NIL played a role just as it did for every other program. So did Jimbo and his staff’s hard work. Jimbo has always been an elite recruiter, so to insinuate that A&M just paid more than anyone else is offensive and baseless. I’d love to see receipts or proof of all the money A&M gave out. If anyone other than “Sliced Bread” would like to speak up, lay your cards on the table, hoss.
After how vehemently Jimbo came after Lane and Saban back in February, his response should be no surprise. Again, this exchange won’t change anyone’s mind about how you think A&M landed their 2022 recruiting class, but when someone attacks your integrity, you have to respond.
I’ll try to be as objective as possible here because I graduated from A&M and can get really wound up about these things. Of course, I’m on Jimbo’s side and I loved seeing him fight for his players, staff, and university. Saban took a direct shot at Jimbo and A&M, so Jimbo retaliated. He fought back hard and he was playing to his base, just as Saban was the night before. Rallying the troops. If you take nothing else from this wild press conference, it’s clear Jimbo is done taking anything from anyone. He’s a foxhole guy. Someone you want on your side fighting with you because he’ll go after anyone. You want him on your side when your back is against the wall. Jimbo may not be in the right all the time, but he’s going to do whatever he can to protect his guys and he’s not bowing down to anyone. I love that about him.
And he took a hell of a swing here. In fact, he even said that “maybe somebody should have slapped him (Saban)” as a kid for bad behavior. That really happened. No one, and I mean NO ONE, has ever come after Nick Saban in this way. Not even close. Saban is treated like the “czar of college football,” as Jimbo called him. The media, coaches, and anyone involved in college football view him as untouchable for the most part. Saban has earned that in many ways given his track record, but I’m sure as hell glad the guy who coaches my team is not scared to call out the king when he makes accusations against A&M.
It’s reasonable to say Jimbo went too far. That he got too personal. Saban didn’t attack Jimbo directly, but Jimbo went right after Saban. I understand people who see it this way, especially those who root for Alabama and worship Nick Saban. If Jimbo won six national championships at A&M, I’d worship him too. But in this case, I have no problem with it. Saban came at A&M and Jimbo returned fire aggressively. I would much rather have that fiery press conference than see Jimbo let this slide or offer up a brief, vanilla statement. He called a press conference for all to see and addressed everything head-on. Agree or disagree with what he said, he came out guns a blazing and didn’t shy away from anything.
For those who really have an issue with what Jimbo did, I’ll ask you this: What would Nick Saban or any other high-profile coach have done if another, highly respected head coach in the same conference said what Saban did? If your coach and program were accused of buying every player on their team, how do you think they would react? Probably not well. And if they didn’t come back swinging, they would look soft. Jimbo is a lot of things, but he ain’t soft.
Unsurprisingly, both coaches were publicly reprimanded by Greg Sankey yesterday. Doesn't seem like anything is going to happen, but Sankey had to put a stop to this. Basically, Saban and Jimbo need to play nice when talking to the media from here on out. It was a slap on the wrist.
At the end of the day, both of these coaches knew what they were doing. Saban was lamenting what NIL has become, trying to get his boosters to pony up more money, and calling out programs he feels he is above. Jimbo was defending his team, his staff, and his university. He was also trying to rally his team. The “us against the world” mentality in sports is always helpful to a team and Jimbo seems to be trying to inject that into his guys. Based on what I saw from A&M players, it worked. They love Jimbo. He’s their guy. Now it needs to translate to wins on the field. You come at the king, you best not miss.
October 8th in Bryant-Denny just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting.
