Nick Saban clarifies thoughts on Jimbo Fisher, NIL at SEC coaches meetings

When Alabama head coach Nick Saban made his controversial comments about Texas A&M, Jimbo Fisher, and using NIL in the recruitment of players, he probably had no idea the firestorm it would create. At the SEC coaches meetings in Destin on Tuesday, Saban was again asked to clarify exactly what he meant when he said that Texas A&M bought its entire recruiting class.

Saban clarified that he didn’t think that he said anybody did something wrong, and that he should have kept individual names and schools out of his comments.

“I didn’t say anybody did anything wrong,” Saban said, via Rodak. “I’ve said everything I’m going to say about this. I should have never mentioned any individual institutions. I’ve said that before.”

Following Saban’s comments on and Texas A&M, Fisher had an extremely strong response. The Aggies coach called Saban a “narcissist,” among many other things. But later on in his clarification

“I have no problem with Jimbo, I have no problem with Jimbo at all,” added Saban.

Saban went on to say that he wants some kind of uniform standard in college athletics regarding NIL, but that he is “all for” players making “as much as they can make.”

“Some kind of uniform Name, Image and Likeness standard that supports some kind of equitable, national competition, I think is really important in college athletics and college football,” Saban added. “I’m all for players making as much as they can make. But I also think that we’ve got to have some uniform, transparent way to do that. Our players did extremely well last year in Name, Image and Likeness because they got agents, they had representation.”

Paul Finebaum provides context on Saban’s comments on Fisher

Ahead of the SEC coaches meetings, ESPN and SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum dove further into the feud between Saban and Fisher. Finebaum ultimately believes that Saban’s comments were at least partly accurate, but the context of what was said made things sound bad. He also thinks that Fisher has a real problem with Saban, even though the Crimson Tide coach said that he doesn’t have any ill will with him.

“I think with Jimbo Fisher it is real,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “He is a very proud guy. Both he and Nick Saban are from West Virginia and they take things like that very seriously. I think Saban wants to move on, I think Saban will admit privately that he made a mistake. He said something that in context was accurate but it sounded very badly.”