Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher made the business of college football recruiting too personal.
Saban made that mistake when he said Wednesday night that Texas A&M "bought every player" in its 2022 class. Fisher responded with an all-timer of a press conference Thursday in defense of his program. Then he made the same mistake when he directed a series of insults that questioned Saban's success over his coaching career.
Link to Jimbo Fisher’s press conference:https://t.co/Ykf9vpYsEK
— Joseph Hastings (@JosephAHastings) May 19, 2022
Cue the Michael Jordan "Last Dance" memes.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but when it comes to SEC football, this exchange is high-level entertainment. The buildup for the Oct. 8 matchup between the Aggies and Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium will only continue to amp up. Remember when the kickoff time for Alabama-Texas on Sept. 10 was the hottest debate in college football this week? Nobody cares about that now. Instead, it's Saban's comments at a fundraiser in Birmingham, Ala.
"We were second in recruiting last year, A&M was first," Saban said. "A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn't buy one player. But I don't know if we're going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it."
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That's where Saban went wrong, even if he did apologize Thursday afternoon in an appearance on SiriusXM Radio after Fisher's presser.
"First of all, I should've never really singled anybody out," Saban said. "That was a mistake, and I apologize for that part of it."
Every gripe by Saban induces moans and eye rolls, because he's running the greatest college football dynasty of all time. Alabama has won six national championships and had the top recruiting class in college football eight times since 2012. Saban isn't wrong when he laments the lack of parity or equality in the sport, but he's not the best voice to deliver that message. His machine is the root cause of that lack of parity.
So, what, exactly, is Saban's point of view?
Texas A&M had the No. 1 recruiting class in 2022 and two of the Aggies' five-star recruits had Alabama in their top three. That's not why Saban is being petty, though. Look at the next class. Alabama's 2023 class is ranked No. 36 and has just three commitments. That has to be a source of frustration for a program that has produced the most NFL talent since Saban's arrival in Tuscaloosa.
Saban also took aim at the hottest topic/question about recruiting right now: collectives.
"I think collectives are the issue," Saban said. "If alumni give money or money is raised through a collective to give to a player, that's no different than alumni giving the player money. The collective becomes a representative of the school and you can't do that. . . . That's not what name, image and likeness was supposed to be."
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This is where Saban can still win. He'll be able to press his views on collectives at the upcoming SEC meetings and SEC Media Day. He remains the most influential voice in college football.
But being 70 years old and saying what you want isn't an excuse for launching into Texas A&M, or even Jackson State and Deion Sanders, for how they handle their recruiting.
That's where Fisher took advantage of Saban's mistake.
Sort of. He defended his program's recruiting tactics, but he also used his 10-minute session to launch an all-out attack on Saban's career without using the coach's name.
"I don't cheat and I don't lie," Fisher said. "I learned that when I was a kid, if you did, the old man slapped you upside the head. Maybe somebody should have slapped him."
He called Saban a "narcissist," compared him to "God" and even threw in a "walk on water" analogy.
"You coach with people like Bobby Bowden and learn how to do things," Fisher said, referring to his boss at Florida State. "You coach with other people and learn how not to do things. There's a reason I ain't went back and worked for [Saban], with opportunities. I don't want to be associated with him."
That's not all.
"We build him up to be the czar of football," Fisher said of Saban, who was his boss at LSU. "Go dig into his past or anybody that's ever coached with him. You can find out anything you want to find out what he does and how he does it. It's despicable."
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Again, all of that is entertaining, but Fisher went too far. That could come back to bite Texas A&M, a program that's in search of its first national championship since 1939. If you slap the king — or God, czar or a man who walks on water — you best not miss. A&M beat Alabama 41-38 in College Station in 2021. The Aggies haven't won at Bryant-Denny Stadium since Johnny Manziel's magic act in a 29-24 upset on Nov. 11, 2012. One recruiting class does not change that.
Fisher also could have answered Saban's phone call after Wednesday's comments.
"He's called," Fisher said. "Not going to (answer). We're done. He shows you who he is. He's the greatest ever, huh? When you've got all the advantages, it's easy."
For everything Fisher had to say about Saban, he didn't offer much when asked about collectives, NIL or the future of college football recruiting in an unchecked marketplace that is entering Year 2.
The Aggies are ranked No. 14 in the 2023 team recruiting rankings according to 247Sports.com. Texas Tech is No. 2. There is a lot more uncertainty right now. Texas is coming to the SEC soon. Texas A&M has a lot on its plate that has nothing to do with Alabama.
Fisher, for all of his viral quotes, also missed the mark. Saban is in favor or NIL, after all.
"I really wasn't saying anybody was doing anything illegal," Saban said. "I didn't say that. That was something that was assumed from what I said. There's nothing illegal about doing this. It's the system that allows you to do it. That's what I have a problem with."
The Southeastern Conference on Thursday reprimanded Saban and Fisher for their exchange.
"Public criticism of any kind does not resolve issues and creates a distraction from seeking solutions for the issues facing college athletics today," the conference said in a statement. "There is tremendous frustration concerning the absence of consistent rules from state to state related to name, image and likeness. We need to work together to find solutions and that will be our focus at the upcoming SEC Spring Meetings."
Those proceedings will be behind closed doors, and suffice it to say SEC commissioner Greg Sankey will likely remind both coaches that it's strictly business from now on. Expect more decorum in Destin and Atlanta this summer. That won't erase the last 24 hours, though. We now know how Saban and Fisher really feel about each other.
It's personal, and it can't be settled on the field. It also might not be the best thing for the sport right now. Both coaches need to remember that next time they want to launch an attack.