Paul Finebaum reveals Ross Bjork's perception within SEC following Nick Saban drama

Last month’s drama between Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher took a new turn Monday when On3’s Andy Wittry reported Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork asked the SEC to consider suspending Saban, according to emails obtained through a public records request. It turns out the report impacted how people around the SEC view Bjork.

Paul Finebaum talked about Bjork’s perception in the wake of the report. He said he’s never heard of an athletic director doing what Bjork did, and added he invited the Texas A&M AD to come onto the show to talk about the situation. Bjork declined through a spokesperson, who cited travel and meetings.

“I’ve spoken to people around the league. What Ross Bjork did comes off as an outlier,” Finebaum said. “It comes off petty, it comes off petulant. Whatever Jimbo said is his business. Obviously, Jimbo didn’t listen to Greg Sankey. He’s certainly not going to listen to anyone if he’s not going to listen to the commissioner of the SEC.

“But Ross Bjork jumping up and down trying to get Nick Saban sent to timeout comes off a little bit dubious in SEC circles. I’ve never heard of another athletic director doing that. That’s the kind of thing you go behind closed doors, you call the commissioner. But to send that in writing, it obviously blew up in Bjork’s face, and it’s pretty obvious Bjork doesn’t want to talk about it because we invited him to come on today to discuss it. Usually, he will come on and discuss anything.”

On3’s Andy Wittry: SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spoke with Jimbo Fisher before press conference

Appearing earlier on The Paul Finebaum Show, Wittry said SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was flying from New York City to Birmingham the day after Saban alleged Texas A&M “bought every player on their team” through NIL. As it turns out, the SEC was putting a press release together about a public reprimand for Saban.

Then, Fisher held his press conference, calling Saban a “narcissist” for his “despicable” comments — and things had to change.

“[Sankey] said in his email to [Texas A&M athletic director] Ross Bjork that initially, the conference drafted a press release saying that the public reprimand of Nick Saban, that he called out an opposing university and their staff members,” Wittry told Finebaum. “By the time he finished that draft of a press release, then Sankey, I think mid-air, had learned about what Jimbo Fisher had said.

“And even though he had talked to Jimbo that morning and had kind of warned him saying, ‘Hey, don’t make the same mistake and violate the same bylaws that Nick just did,’ then he learned [about] the comments that Jimbo made and they had to update or add to the press release and say, ‘Hey, it wasn’t just one coach in our conference. Now, it’s two.’ And they sent that one out later that afternoon.”