Nick Saban offers apology for comments on Texas A&M, Jimbo Fisher

The biggest story in college sports Thursday was the back-and-forth between Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher. After Fisher responded to Saban’s initial comments, Saban offered his response to his former assistant Thursday afternoon.

It all started at an event in Birmingham Wednesday night when Saban said Texas A&M “bought” its entire 2022 recruiting class — the No. 1 class in the nation, according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking — through NIL deals. Then, Fisher called a press conference Thursday to respond to the comments, calling Saban a “narcissist” in the process.

A few hours later, Saban joined ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM to offer a response of his own. He started his opening statement with an apology.

“First of all, I should have never really singled anybody out,” Saban said. “That was a mistake, and I really apologize for that part of it. But I’m not against name, image and likeness. I think it’s a great thing for players. … I think the issue in college athletics in general now is the whole system of collectives and people raising money to basically pay players, whether it’s to come to their school or pay the players that are on their team.

“We’ve always strived in college athletics to make everything equal, make everything the same whether it’s scholarships, whether it’s … cost of attendance, academic support, whatever it is. Now, it’s not really that way. This has happened in basketball, it’s happened in football. I really didn’t mean to single anybody out. I apologize for that. But it’s the whole system. Is this a sustainable system? Is it really good for college football?

“I think name, image and likeness is good for college football. … I think the focus now is getting a little bit more on how much money [players] can make while [they’re] playing and where can [they] make it, and I don’t think that’s really good systematically for any of us.”

Later, he also clarified his remarks, saying he didn’t accuse anybody of doing anything illegal.

“I really wasn’t saying that anybody did anything illegal in using name, image and likeness,” Saban said. “I didn’t say that. That was something that was assumed by what I said, which is not really what I meant nor was it what I said. There’s nothing illegal about doing this. It’s the system that allows you do this.”

Recapping the Nick Saban-Jimbo Fisher situation

Wednesday night, Nick Saban sounded off about how Texas A&M landed the nation’s top recruiting class. He specifically pointed to NIL’s role in landing so many top-rated recruits.

“We were second in recruiting last year,” Saban said. “A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness.

“We didn’t buy one player. Aight? But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”

During his press conference, Fisher didn’t hold back in response to Saban’s remarks. He also brought his former boss’ character into question amid the accusations.

“It’s amazing, some people think they’re God,” Fisher said. “Go dig into how God did his deal, you may find out about a lot of things you don’t want to know. We build him up to be the czar of football, go dig into his past, or anybody who’s ever coached with him. You can find out anything you want to find out. What he does and how he does it, and it’s despicable.”

On3’s Austin Brezina and James Fletcher III contributed to this report.