SEC spring meetings: Jimbo Fisher vs. Nick Saban discord dominates Day 1 in Destin

DESTIN, Fla. — The SEC jumped into bed with Disney long ago, but who knew even Micky Mouse would get looped into the ongoing Nick Saban–Jimbo Fisher bad-blood feud?

On the first day of SEC spring meetings in Destin, multiple coaches downplayed the public spat between two of the giants in the sport, but Eli Drinkwitz perfectly encapsulated the silly beef by circumventing commissioner Greg Sankey’s gag order with an amusing story on his two young daughters and a shortage of cotton candy. 

“I got water, I got two suckers but I made a mistake,” Missouri’s head coach said about a recent trip at the Magic Kingdom with his wife and girls. 

“We had cotton candy and it was a matter of who got the most. My wife was like, ‘You’re an idiot. You don’t know parenting. You coach football. You don’t bring back one bag of cotton candy. You bring two bags of cotton candy.'” 

It was as if Michael Scott had seen the Jimbo vs. Saban NIL brouhaha and asked, “Explain this to me like I’m five.”

Bravo, Eli. 

For those asleep over the last month, concerns over name, image and likeness was the source of the friction between Saban and Fisher, with Alabama’s head coach implying that Texas A&M bought its historic recruiting class via pay-for-play. Fisher shot back with the spiciest of red meat, accusing the greatest modern coach of all-time of being a fraud and a cheat. 

But really, everyone just wants as much cotton candy as possible.

Although the all-time press conference was great theater for fans, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer acknowledged these same contentious debates “among strong-minded” individuals were happening back in February right after National Signing Day — only not for public consumption. 

The league’s 14 coaches had their first in-person meeting since COVID-19 and the battle over the future of the sport was hotly debated then. The arguments over NIL, collectives and the transfer portal have only raged on during the ensuing months, as coaches want guardrails, structure and transparency without providing avenues to fulfill such wishes.

Drinkwitz hopes a solution or two happens this week at the first SEC spring meetings in three years but that’s impossible considering state legislation and oversight — not opinions — are needed for actual change. 

“I think when tensions are high and uncertainty is at a high, people’s emotions are strong. I think that’s what happened. We’re all competitive. I look forward to the opportunity for us to discuss,” Drinkwitz sad. 

“It’s a real issue and we have to find real solutions. I think that’s why we’re here to find those real solutions and have conversations. And again, to have those behind closed doors so it’s not so public so we can share our honest opinions without fear of those opinions coming back to hurt us or harm us in some way.”

As for those “closed door conversations,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin thought Tuesday’s meetings with Saban and Fisher were “pretty normal” and “calmer than you think.” The coaches met for five hours with Fisher, the coaches’ current chair, leading many of the discussions. 

Sankey noted the coaches general “frustrations” regarding the swirling changes in college football, but thought the conversations were productive, candid and honest. With his typical dry wit, Kiffin did insinuate that perhaps Fisher’s scorched-earth rant had a little keyboard cowboy to it, too. 

“Somehow our group is more professional in the room than they are on camera,” Kiffin said. “It’s like texting, people say things in texts they don’t in person.”

As for Saban, Alabama’s coach was ready for the initial high-heat questions as he walked up to the podium. He quickly threw water on the simmering feud by reiterating, “I didn’t say that anybody did anything wrong.”

“I should have never mentioned any individual institutions, I’ve said that before,” Saban added. 

“I have no problem with Jimbo, I have no problem with Jimbo at all.”

It remains to be seen if Fisher will respond Wednesday, as the Aggies’ head coach has no formal speaking time scheduled after meetings conclude in the afternoon. We did at least hear Kirby Smart’s initial thoughts on his two former coworkers, with Georgia’s head coach, who looked less than thrilled to be there Tuesday, seemingly being the lone person in America not entertained by two very public figures doing the Spiderman meme in real-time. 

Clearly no fan of Disney either, Smart thought the whole kerfuffle was Mickey Mouse stuff. 

“My phone started blowing up right when Jimbo hit his press conference. But I haven’t thought about it a day since. I’m not really worried about a feud between two guys who used to sit in the same staff meetings and have similar conversations,” said Smart.

“At the end of the day, sometimes things get heated. You’d rather that not be in the public arena but at the end of the day, things like that happen.

“You guys should be on the headphones sometimes. You’d think that was a Mickey Mouse (interaction.)”

The 2022 SEC spring meetings’ slogan: The Happiest Place on Earth!