{"id":31510,"date":"2022-06-01T03:27:34","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T03:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nick-saban-yields-on-jimbo-fisher-but-sec-focus-stays-on-nil\/"},"modified":"2022-06-01T03:27:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T03:27:34","slug":"nick-saban-yields-on-jimbo-fisher-but-sec-focus-stays-on-nil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nick-saban-yields-on-jimbo-fisher-but-sec-focus-stays-on-nil\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Saban yields on Jimbo Fisher, but SEC focus stays on NIL"},"content":{"rendered":"<div wp_automatic_readability=\"171.16442861058\"><!-- tml-version=\"2\" --><\/p>\n<p>DESTIN, Fla. &#8211; The first two questions came high and tight to Nick Saban on Tuesday, fastballs under the chin, no off-speed stuff.  Olin Buchanan of TexAgs.com, a fan site covering Texas A&#038;M, asked the Alabama coach about The Assertion Heard &#8216;Round College Football.  Specifically, he asked Saban what evidence he had that Jimbo Fisher and staff &#8220;bought their entire recruiting class.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn&#8217;t really say that anybody did anything wrong,\u201d Saban responded. <\/p>\n<p>Buchanan quickly interjected, &#8220;You said they bought their entire recruiting class.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t say anybody did anything wrong, OK?&#8221;  Saban said, a little more edge in his voice than him.  &#8220;I&#8217;ve said everything I&#8217;m going to say about this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Saban did add that he shouldn&#8217;t have specifically named any schools when discussing the current, flush-with-cash recruiting landscape.  Later, he added, &#8220;I have no problem with Jimbo at all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"m-detail--body-item m-detail--body-item-inline\">\n<figure class=\"l-inline tml-image m-detail--tml-image--inline\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\" wp_automatic_readability=\"2\"><phoenix-picture><a><picture class=\"is-waiting-to-load\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1240px) 700px, (min-width: 675px) 620px, calc(100vw - 40px)\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_380\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.webp 380w, https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.webp 620w, https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1240\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.webp 1240w, https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.webp 700w, https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1400\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.webp 1400w\"><source sizes=\"(min-width: 1240px) 700px, (min-width: 675px) 620px, calc(100vw - 40px)\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_380\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.jpg 380w, https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1240\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1400\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.jpg 1400w\"><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/phoenix-picture><!-- disableImageMeta is needed to prevent duplicate rendering of the image meta.--><!-- Duplicate rendering can occur because we have moved the image metadata outside of--><!-- the .m-detail-header--container. The original image metadata in tmlImage is needed--><!-- for the InContent detail header which renders when the media size is inline or breakout.--><figcaption wp_automatic_readability=\"4\">\n<p class=\"tml-image--caption\" itemprop=\"caption\">Saban is in Destin for SEC spring meetings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tml-image--attribution\" itemprop=\"author\"><span>Marvin Gentry \/ USA TODAY Sports<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<p>That is remarkably conciliatory.  Or, more likely, it is a public stance that does not match his private feelings about him.  This seemed like an attempt by Saban to close the can of radioactive worms he opened May 18.<\/p>\n<p>What Saban said and how he acted behind closed doors with Fisher at the football coaches&#8217; confab here at Southeastern Conference spring meetings might have been altogether different, because Jimbo got very personal and very nasty in response to Saban&#8217;s original statements.  \u201cSome people think they&#8217;re God,\u201d Fisher seethed.  \u201cGo dig into how &#8216;God&#8217; did his deal.  You may find out about a lot of things you don&#8217;t want to know. &#8220;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<p>The former Saban assistant at LSU from 2000 to &#8217;04 all but accused the seven-time national champion of cheating and being a bad person \u2014 not the kind of thing college coaches are prone to blandly shrugging off.  In the course of spewing venom at the coach he labeled a \u201cnarcissist,\u201d Fisher issued something of a challenge: \u201cGo dig into his past di lui or anybody that&#8217;s ever coached with him.  You can find out anything you want to find out, what he does and how he does it. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>As fortune would have it, we had two other SEC coaches at the lectern Tuesday who coached with Saban: Georgia&#8217;s Kirby Smart and Florida&#8217;s Billy Napier.  So I asked them whether Fisher&#8217;s serious assertions about their former boss were valid.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<p>The answers were vague and reluctant.  But neither Smart nor Napier said Fisher was off-base, reckless or wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy phone started blowing up when Jimbo did his press conference, and I haven&#8217;t thought a day about it since,\u201d Smart said.  \u201cBecause in the world we operate in, we&#8217;re worried about what&#8217;s in front of us right now \u2014 which is, 15 recruits I&#8217;m trying to get on the phone.  I&#8217;m not really worried about a feud between two guys that used to sit in the same staff meetings and have similar conversations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day, a lot of things get heated.  You&#8217;d rather it not be in the public arena, but at the end of the day, you guys should be on the headphones sometimes.  You&#8217;d think that was Mickey Mouse.  It&#8217;s not something I&#8217;ve spent time on.  I&#8217;m worried about the University of Georgia. &#8220;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<section class=\"m-in-content-recommendation m-detail--in-content-recommendation m-detail--body-reset mm-component-stack--is-body-item\" style=\"--title_size_a_font_size:16;--title_size_b_font_size:16;--title_size_c_font_size:16;\">\n<p><span>Scroll to Continue<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>Next up, Napier: \u201cCoach Saban has been really good to me and my career.  I certainly wouldn&#8217;t be standing here without him;  he hired me two different times.  A lot of what we learned, we&#8217;ve applied, and certainly going forward we&#8217;ll continue to apply.  I&#8217;m not foolish enough to get caught commenting about that situation \u2014 we&#8217;ll let those two gentlemen handle that. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<p>\u201cBut both are very accomplished, both are competitors, both have conviction about who they are and what they do, which is one of the reasons they&#8217;d had success.  In this profession there&#8217;s a lot of ways to skin a cat, in all the different areas.  At the University of Florida we&#8217;re trying to get our house in order, and certainly thankful to coach for what he did for my career. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>End, end.  Coaches&#8217; backpedaling like five-star cornerbacks away from a spectacular pissing match in their conference is not shocking news.  But what the former Saban assistants in the SEC are saying \u2014 and not saying \u2014 is indeed news.  Fisher dragged them into it, suggesting that they knew the <em>real<\/em> Nick, and that the real Nick is no saint.<\/p>\n<p>(There are no saints anywhere in college football, of course. But the goal has always been plausible deniability \u2014 even though it&#8217;s widely acknowledged that money has flowed under the table for decades, nobody ever admits that it happened at <em>their<\/em> school&#8217;s table.)<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<p>Smart and Napier did nothing to wipe off any of the mud Jimbo threw at the monument to coaching genius that is Saban.  There was no rallying to the defense of their old boss.  Make of that what you will.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-4\"\/>\n<p>Fisher is not expected to talk to the media here until Wednesday afternoon, when the coaches&#8217; formal role in the proceedings is over.  Until he speaks, speculation about whether he&#8217;s put down his Saban blowtorch will continue unabated.<\/p>\n<p>A prominent SEC media huckster tweeted a picture of the seating chart for the football meeting that had Fisher&#8217;s spot surrounded by league administrators, isolated from the other coaches in the room.  Said huckster assumed this was to create a buffer between Fisher and Saban, but associate commissioner Herb Vincent tweeted a correction: \u201cThe chair of the coaches group sits with SEC staff.  The chair rotates and this year it is Jimbo Fisher. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>There goes one theory.<\/p>\n<p>The league wasn&#8217;t silly enough to try to put restrictions on questions to any of the coaches about the Saban-Fisher feud.  Nobody here is pretending the eruption of May 18 to 19 didn&#8217;t happen.  But attention is focusing more on the root cause of the kerfuffle \u2014 what college athletes can get in terms of compensation, when, from whom and how much of a role that plays in the new recruiting landscape.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<p>Saban said he&#8217;s fine with college football players &#8220;making as much as they can make.&#8221;  But he wants everyone nationally operating under the same rules \u2014 and he doesn&#8217;t think boosters (and the collectives they fund) should be part of the recruiting process.  He has company in the SEC coaching ranks.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-5\"\/>\n<p>Smart ticked off the list of what used to be the most common answers from recruits when he asked them what they were looking for in a college football program: playing time;  ability to win a championship;  proximity to home;  relationship with a coach;  etc.  &#8220;Now it&#8217;s more, What can I make on NIL?&#8221;  Smart said.  &#8220;What it&#8217;s become is probably not sustainable and not good for college football.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the simmering debate in the sport, and nowhere is that argument hotter than the SEC.  As a side effect, it&#8217;s led Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher into a feud so public and bitter that it cannot be avoided here this week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More College Football Coverage:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Candid Lane Kiffin Opens Up on NIL, Boosters<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2022 <\/strong><strong>Inside SEC&#8217;s Debate Around a New Football Schedule<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2022 <\/strong><strong>The Farmer&#8217;s Daughter Who Helped Keep SEC Football Going<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/template\" id=\"facebookPixel1103097776498609\">!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()\n{n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}\n;if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n(function(){\n    fbq('init', '1103097776498609');\n    fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    var contentId = 'ci02a292c1b00026bc';\n    if (contentId !== '') {\n        fbq('track', 'ViewContent', {content_ids: [contentId], content_type: 'product'});\n    }\n})();<\/script>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DESTIN, Fla. &#8211; The first two questions came high and tight to Nick Saban on Tuesday, fastballs under the chin, no off-speed stuff. Olin Buchanan of TexAgs.com, a fan site covering Texas A&#038;M, asked the Alabama coach about The Assertion Heard &#8216;Round College Football. Specifically, he asked Saban what evidence he had that Jimbo Fisher &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nick-saban-yields-on-jimbo-fisher-but-sec-focus-stays-on-nil\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Nick Saban yields on Jimbo Fisher, but SEC focus stays on NIL<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[3102,442,1202,1201],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.si.com\/.image\/t_share\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.jpg?ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/t_share\/MTg5ODc1NTA0ODE0MjM3Mzcy\/nick-saban-sec-spring-meetings-response.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31510"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}