Jimbo Fisher Calls Nick Saban A 'Tremendous Coach'; Is Their Relationship Actually In 'Great Shape'?

It wasn't long ago that the upcoming matchup between Texas A&M and Alabama was the talk of college football. Seemingly everyday, both coaches were trading shots over recruiting.

Now, the two coaches have publicly moved on, while the game sits on the back burner.

During his Monday press conference, Jimbo Fisher said all is well between he and Bama coach Nick Saban.

"That’s over with. He and I, we’re in great shape, we’re great things and we’ve moved on," Fisher said. "We’ve moved on. We’re in good shape; we’re moved on."

Fisher was then asked about what he's learned from the coaches other than Saban whom he's worked for. And again, A&M's coach opted to show his former boss some love.

"Just a tremendous coach," Fisher said of former boss Saban. "Arguably, people say he's one of the best ever or the best ever, it very well could be...I learned a whole lot from Nick, a whole lot from Nick. He's a very, very good football coach."

Alabama Is Currently Ranked 1st In The Country

If you remember, and how could you forget, it was Nick Saban who started the off-season verbal match while speaking in Birmingham during the off-season.

Taking aim at the Aggies for their recruiting, Saban accused Jimbo Fisher of buying every player in their 2021 recruiting class.

“I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players,” Saban said. “You’ve read about them, you know who they are. 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, Image and Likeness. We didn’t buy one player, aight, 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.”

Fisher Wasted Little Time Back

Then it was the infamous press conference that Jimbo Fisher called the next day to call out Nick Saban for his comments. And those comments set off a firestorm around the SEC and college football world.

“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,” Fisher responded.

The press conference will live on forever, even if both sides have decided to end the public squabble.

But as we enter the upcoming week, it's hard to forget the testy few months during the offseason between the two coaches.

Unfortunately, Texas A&M has played some terrible football over the last month, and this game has lost its luster. But, we'll always have the 'Spring Stampede' to talk about in the future.

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Trey Wallace is the host of The Trey Wallace Podcast that focuses on a mixture of sports, culture, entertainment along with his perspective on everything from College Football to the College World Series. Wallace has been covering college sports for 15 years, starting off while attending the University of South Alabama. He’s broken some of the biggest college stories including the Florida football "Credit Card Scandal" along with the firing of Jim McElwin and Kevin Sumlin. Wallace also broke one of the biggest stories in college football in 2020 around the NCAA investigation into recruiting violations against Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt. Wallace also appears on radio across seven different states breaking down that latest news in college sports.