Jimbo Fisher Goes Off On Nick Saban In Response To Cheating Accusations
Business has just picked up in the SEC. After Nick Saban decided to go after Texas A&M on Wednesday night, accusing them of cheating and paying players through NIL, A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher took out the flame thrower and sprayed it all over Tuscaloosa.
The Texas A&M football program called for a press conference this morning to allow Fisher to respond to Saban's comments. It didn't take long before Fisher started laying into Saban, actually about 10 seconds.
"First of all, it's a shame we have to do this. It's really despicable that somebody can say things about an organization or 17-year-old kids. You're taking shots at 17-year-old kids and their family."
Jimbo Fisher was just getting started, saying it was ironic that Nick Saban made the comments while soliciting money. He then added, "When you walk on water, I guess it doesn't matter".
“Some people think they’re God. Go dig into how God did his deal and you may find things out about a guy a lot of things you didn’t want to know. We build him up to be the czar of football, go dig into his past or anybody that’s ever coached with him.”
It was one thing for Saban to come out and say that the Aggies blatantly cheated to gain players in the 2022 recruiting class, but to do it while acting as if his own past was clean is one way to cause controversy. And that's exactly what Saban did. But Jimbo Fisher had a point to make about Nick Saban calling for parity in the sport, while also making it clear no rules were broken.
“We never bought anybody, no rules were broken, nothing was done wrong. The way we do things and the ethics in which we do things and these families, it’s despicable that a reputable head coach can come out and say this when he doesn’t get his way. The narcissist in him doesn’t allow those things to happen and it’s ridiculous when he’s not on top. That parity in college football he’s been talking about, go talk to the coaches that have worked for him, you’ll find all the parity, go dig into where he’s been.”
Let's not forget we have the SEC Spring meetings coming up in twelve days, so Fisher calling Nick Saban "despicable" was just the start.
This friendship is over, if there ever was one after he left the Saban tree. Asked on Thursday whether Nick Saban has called him and whether he would return the gesture, Fisher was adamant that this relationship was over.
"Oh, he's called," Fisher admitted. "We're done".
So, Jimbo Fisher publicly called out Nick Saban for having a bunch of skeletons in his closet and destroyed him for insinuating that his program cheats to get players. This might've been the craziest press conference I've ever heard in the thirteen years of doing this, especially when Fisher said someone should've slapped Saban upside the head.
“I don't cheat and I don't lie. I learned that when I was kid, if you did, the old man slapped you upside the head. Maybe somebody should have slapped him.”
Jimbo didn't hold back on Saban, and these two coaches will meet in Destin in twelve days, before the teams meet on the field October 8th.
There's never a dead period in the SEC.