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Jimbo Fisher remembers practice field feuds with Nick Saban

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•07/22/22•

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Bob Levey via Getty Images.

The Jimbo Fisher vs. Nick Saban spat became one of the storylines of the offseason this year. But, as Fisher said at SEC Media Days, it was nothing compared to the feuds the two had on the practice field back in the day.

Fisher and Saban had a public back-and-forth in May when Saban alleged Texas A&M “bought every player on their team” through NIL. The next day, Fisher responded in a fiery press conference, calling the Alabama coach “a narcissist.” Questions continued into SEC Media Days this week, but Fisher said everything’s in the past and he has plenty of respect for Saban.

He then reflected on those heated conversations on the practice field to prove his point.

“We used to battle,” Fisher said. “Listen, I’m going to say this, I have tremendous respect for Nick. There’s no problem with Nick. You had two competitive guys. Unfortunately … it got out in public and different things we stood up for and it’s over with. I have no problem with that.

“But we were, [on the] practice field, we were very [competitive] and he was a great defensive coach. We would establish an offense and we would have tremendous battles. We both had tremendous players on both sides of the ball. It was his team. I was just the offensive coordinator. But it was fun. A lot of great respect for him.”

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Jimbo Fisher reflects on lesson learned from Nick Saban feud

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher and Alabama head coach Nick Saban both discussed lessons learned from their very public offseason spat at SEC Media Days this week. The two appeared to bury the hatchet at spring meetings in Destin and they definitely had their scripts turned to the same page in Atlanta.

“Same thing,” Fisher said after pressed for takeaways from the drama. “You get two competitive guys who have disagreements and opinions or whatever and we both voice them publicly, which is the first time both of us has ever done that. We both can grow from that. Hopefully, we will.”

On3’s Nikki Chavanelle contributed to this report.