Despite Different Programs, Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban Are One And The Same
For those who wanted an all-out brawl, keep holding your breath for the fires to erupt. Anyone who thought two grown adults would have a hollering contest inside the walls of the College Football Hall of Fame truly doesn't understand the SEC.
They certainly aren't familiar with Alabama's Nick Saban or Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher, either.
Throughout the week, fans of the Aggies and Crimson Tide likely wondered who would strike first. Would Saban try to counter Fisher's comments about his being a "narcissist?" Would Fisher double down on being "done" with his former boss?
That didn't happen. It never was going to. For anyone who can't see the big picture, Fisher and Saban are more alike than one would think.
“I have no issues or problems with Jimbo,” Saban said of Fisher at SEC Media Days Tuesday. “He’s done a great job at A&M, and he did a great job for us (at LSU)."
“I have great respect for Nick, and unfortunately our thing went public, and sometimes that happens in this world. Nothing is private anymore, is it?" Fisher said of Saban two days later.
The white flag has been raised. A truce has been settled. Both men are back home and have much bigger issues to worry about than a 'he said, he said' tit for tat leading up toward the season.
One shouldn't expect Saban to be sending Fisher a birthday card on Oct. 9 after what's looking to be one of the most talked about games of the year. No, Fisher probably isn't calling to wish Saban and Ms. Terry a happy anniversary anytime soon.
Those days are over. Did they ever exist?
What isn't over the ultimate goal for both coaches. Again, the two are closer than fans would seem to imagine after the blowout that had college football up in arms during a down month of May.
Even if Saban and Fisher despised each other, they'd never give the public eye the satisfaction of knowing it. Saban has always kept an arms distance between his work and personal life. Has anyone ever heard anything negative come from Fisher's camp?
Both men coach in the SEC. They both hail from West Virginia. Before joining the conference where the slogan reads "It Just Means More," they had head coaching jobs at other Power Five programs. Both have won a national title at different schools than where they are now.
All traits join the two at the hip. There's more. It goes back to their love of the game and the direction of college football. Both have one goal in mind before calling it quits.
Leave the sport in a better place than when they joined.
Neither coach is fully pleased with where college football is headed thanks to NIL. Players no longer look at schools just for athletics, education, and personal fit. A major factor in recruiting — primarily in the transfer portal —comes down to the program that offers the most cash.
Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin called the portal "college football free agency." At his first Big 12 Media Days, TCU's Sonny Dykes said several players left the program "strictly because of money."
As of now, NIL cases are based on the state's ruling. The national level has zero say in how much money goes to a program. To a certain sport. To one specific player.
That ruling boiled under Saban's skin, eventually leading to his comment on how Texas A&M "bought every player on their team" in terms of a No. 1 recruiting class. Naturally, Fisher retaliated.
"Some people think they're God," an emotional Fisher said hours after the comments. "Go dig into how ‘God’ did his deal; you may find out about a guy who has a lot of things that you don't want to know."
In a way, Fisher and Saban's action proved their point on the future direction of the sport. Money talks and it changes people. Buy the talent now and accept the consequences later.
What consequences? Seriously, what are they?
The current status of NIL is only going to evolve. Texas Tech's Matador Club recently put every football player on a NIL deal worth $25,000 for one season. Horns with Heart, a NIL initiative in Austin, will give scholarship offensive linemen $50,000 annually to suit up and play for Texas.
Even Alabama has its initiative with Saban speaking on how his roster made $3 million combined in NIL last season. Currently, Tennessee is set to add highly-touted quarterback prospect Nico Iamaleava, who could earn up to $8 million on his current NIL deal. That would triple the revenue reigning Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young is set to make in 2022.
One took home college football's highest individual honor. The other has yet to be named the Vols' starter.
Even if Fisher and the Aggies benefit from NIL signings, that isn't his goal. He wants regulation at the national level to make it an even playing field. There need to be boundaries on how recruiting, the transfer portal, and other factors play a role in how it all pans out.
“The rules have to be the same across the board for everybody across the board,” Fisher said as a coaching convention in San Antonio earlier this month. “That’s where you’re getting so much misinformation."
Sound familiar? Saban is preaching from the same book. He's just on a different page.
"How does this impact competitive balance in college athletics?" Saban said. "And is there transparency to maintain fairness across the board regarding college athletics? How do we protect the players?"
Behind closed doors, Saban and Fisher might loathe one another. There's probably a story or two that would blow the hinges off "the fued" from their days at LSU when sharing a coaching space.
Neither will present it that way in public. The two are cut from the same cloth in terms of looking at the same image with the same goal. They're one in the same in the aspect.
Both Saban and Fisher want what's best for their game long after they're gone.
Any coach built like the two would want a similar ending.
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