The beef between Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban goes back a long way, and it involves Alabama football, UAB and the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees.
It’s a wild story, and helps frame Fisher’s current anger towards Saban in the proper context. Y’all, people don’t get that mad overnight.
“Some people think they are God,” Texas A&M’s coach said of Saban during Fisher’s now infamous clap-back of a news conference. “Go dig into how God did his deal, and you may find out a lot about a lot of things you don’t want to know. We build him up to be this czar of football, go dig into his past.
“You can find out anything you want to find out, or what he does or how he does it.”
Well, good thing I brought along a shovel for this column. Let’s unearth some skeletons.
For Fisher, long aggrieved by the power of Saban to control the sport of college football, the kettle finally boiled over with that full-on insane diatribe on Thursday morning about the “despicable” actions of his former boss. The night before, Saban was in Birmingham for an event promoting The World Games and used that opportunity to publicly accuse Texas A&M of paying all of its players.
Saban said he was doing things “the right way” when it comes to recruiting, and that’s what set Fisher off.
RELATED: The unanswered questions after Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban feud
RELATED: Jimbo Fisher unloads on Nick Saban
RELATED: Nick Saban says Texas A&M bought every player
RELATED: Jimbo Fisher ignoring Nick Saban’s calls
GOODMAN: Saban sounds scared in NIL rant
The implication was that Texas A&M, which beat Saban on the field last season and then on the recruiting trail, was somehow cheating. The Aggies didn’t cheat. They just found a way to game the current system better than anyone else. For a long time, as any fan or coach of an SEC school will tell you, that’s been Saban’s area of expertise.
Saban’s rant was another attempt to sway public opinion against the almost unregulated ability of college football players to earn money like a professional athlete with their name, image and likeness. NIL collectives representing individual schools are throwing around a lot of money these days to lure recruits. Is it fair? Saban says he doesn’t think so, and at the same time major reforms are in the works for college athletics at the NCAA level.
Saban wants those reforms to favor his ability as a recruiter and limit the power of NIL collectives. Fisher might call that a God-complex or narcissistic. I just think it’s smart. Either way, Alabama apparently can’t compete with Texas A&M’s deep-pocketed NIL collectives.
“I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players,” Saban said. “You read about it, you know who they are. 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 going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”
Fisher is a great recruiter. After all, he learned from the best in the business. He coached with Saban at LSU and Bobby Bowden at Florida State. Bowden sustained greatness for over a decade at FSU, and it was because of his ability as a recruiter. It’s the same with Saban at Alabama.
And, let’s be clear, no one in the business of recruiting college football players should be considered more corrupt or nefarious than anyone else. College football is inherently corrupt because the players aren’t being paid by the schools. But unpaid doesn’t mean players are without value, so a black-market economy has always existed.
Don’t hate the player, the saying goes, hate the game.
Saban is very good at the game, and maybe the best ever, and Fisher has been on the losing end of Saban’s gamesmanship before.
Again, with Saban it always goes back to recruiting.
Back in 2006, Fisher was the offensive coordinator at LSU under Les Miles. Two years removed from working with Saban at LSU, Fisher was ready to be a head coach. He had paid his dues. It was his time.
Fisher got his big break when Watson Brown stepped down as the head coach of UAB football. UAB football, as we all know now thanks to current coach Bill Clark, has always had huge potential. Fisher was the finalist for the job, and UAB was even gassing up a private plane to fly from Birmingham to Baton Rouge. It was going to spirit back to Southside one of the most coveted young coaches in the sport for an introductory news conference.
But then something bizarre happened.
The UA System Board of Trustees, then heavily influenced by trustee Paul Bryant Jr., called an emergency meeting to block UAB from hiring Fisher. Why would they do that? The Board cited fiscal responsibility, but UAB was only going to be paying Fisher $600,000 (half covered by boosters).
That’s deliciously ironic considering the tension between Fisher and Saban these days. Back in 2006, the UA System Board of Trustees didn’t want Fisher recruiting against Alabama’s next coach. Guess what happened next? Alabama football hired Saban away from the Miami Dolphins shortly thereafter. Fisher rejoined Bowden at FSU.
“You coach with people like Bobby Bowden and learn how to do things,” Fisher said on Thursday, still huffing mad at Saban after all these years. “You coach with other people and learn how not to do things. There is a reason I don’t go back and work with him. I don’t want to be associated with him.”
After this week, Fisher always will be, though, and that’s the most ironic thing of all. Alabama plays Texas A&M on October 8 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.