A day after Alabama head football coach Nick Saban said that Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher “bought every player” on the Aggies’ team and made similar comments about Deion Sanders and Jackson State as well as Miami’s basketball team, the Crimson Tide coach apologized for his remarks.
“I should have never singled anyone out,” Saban said Thursday on SiriusXM Radio. “That was a mistake. I apologize for that.”
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey reprimanded Saban and Fisher on Thursday for what erupted into a war of words between the two foes.
“The membership of the Southeastern Conference has established expectations for conduct and sportsmanship that were not met last night nor today,” Sankey said. “A hallmark of the SEC is intense competition within an environment of collaboration. Public criticism of any kind does not resolve issues and creates a distraction from seeking solutions for the issues facing college athletics today.”
In response to Saban’s remarks, Fisher on Thursday unloaded on the rival coach, saying, among other things, that he “knows things” about Saban and the Alabama program.
“It’s really despicable,” Fisher said of Saban’s comments during a press conference. “It’s despicable that somebody can say things about somebody, more importantly 17-year-old kids. You’re taking shots at 17-year-old kids and their families, that they broke state laws. … We never bought anybody. No rules were broken. Nothing was done wrong.
“It’s despicable that a reputable head coach can come out and say this when he doesn’t get his way, or things don’t go his way. The narcissist in him doesn’t allow those things to happen.
“Some people think they’re God. 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 that’s ever coached with him. You can find out anything you want to find out. I know the guy. I know him really well. It’s amazing that we’re allowed to do those things.”
In the SiriusXM interview later Thursday, Saban said his grievances were more about the system and the impact of NIL on recruiting than they were about Texas A&M or Fisher. He also said that Fisher, who was an assistant under Saban at LSU from 2000-04, declined a call from him after his comments.
“You can call me anything you want to call me,” Fisher said on Thursday. “You ain’t calling me a cheat. I don’t cheat, and I don’t lie. Because I learned that when I was a kid, if you did, the old man slapped me upside the head. Maybe someone should have slapped [Saban].”