Lane Kiffin provides insight into Nick Saban-Jimbo Fisher interaction at SEC meetings

After a back-and-forth jab between Alabama’s Nick Saban and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher over recent weeks, the annual SEC meetings in Destin, Florida became a hotspot for fans and media looking for Round 2 of the verbal battle. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin seemed to enjoy watching from the sidelines on social media and now gets a front-row seat in the room.

While talking with the media after a long meeting, Lane Kiffin discussed the anticipated showdown between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher. However, he informed everyone the coaches took a business-as-usual approach.

“Pretty normal,” said Kiffin, via On3’s Jesse Simonton. “Probably the assumption in there is that the public thinks it’s different but these guys have jobs to do. Calmer than you think.

“Our group is more professional in the room than in front of a camera.”

Despite the lack of fireworks in the most public NIL feud, the controversial rules and future legislation remained a major talking point for all the conference leaders who spoke throughout the day. While no concrete plan has been communicated publicly, discussions on the right way to handle things continue behind closed doors.

Nick Saban on Jimbo Fisher

Nick Saban also spoke with reporters and clarified that he did not 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. “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.”