Steve Spurrier speaks highly of Nick Saban, Alabama football program

Nick Saban respects Steve Spurrier, and Steve Spurrier respects Nick Saban – it’s as simple as that. Two longtime rival coaches who went head-to-head against one another while Saban was at LSU and Alabama and Spurrier at Florida and South Carolina, Saban and Spurrier have both had plenty of success throughout their careers and speak highly of each other’s accomplishments.

Saban and Spurrier – known as ‘the Head Ball Coach’ – were in the same room together on Monday, as Spurrier was presented with the inaugural Nick Saban Legacy Award in Birmingham, Alabama. While there, Spurrier spoke about his level of respect for Saban and praised Alabama’s football program, according to a story from AL.com.

“I’m here to say they’re the best, not because they win the most – of course, that’s part of it too – but they do it the right way,” Spurrier said of Alabama, according to the story. “They play hard. They play clean. They don’t try to hurt their opponents. They don’t give the interception chains. They don’t do all that other stuff that other teams like to do now, it seems like.

“But they play the game the way it should be played. If you beat them, you have to earn it. And that’s the way it should be.”

Reflecting back on the 2021 college football season and how it ended with Alabama’s loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff national championship, Spurrier noted that the loss of Crimson Tide wide receivers John Metchie and Jameson Williams most likely played a factor in the outcome of the game.

“Oh, if those two wide receivers don’t get hurt, how do we know it’s not similar to the first go-round? But that’s the way it happened,” Spurrier said. “Nobody is making an excuse, but Georgia played a little bit better than Alabama in the national championship game.

“Alabama still won the SEC. I’m one of those guys who brags about SECs just as much as the one national we had. To me, if you win the SEC, that’s right there with the national championship, the way I look at it.”

While Spurrier is now retired from coaching, Saban is still going full-speed in Tuscaloosa as he heads into his 16th season at Alabama in 2022. Over the course of both coaches’ careers, Saban and Spurrier have combined for 502 wins and eight national championships.