You know what? Maybe everyone getting along wasn't great. There haven't been any true, deep-down, openly public, hate-filled coaching rivalries in college for a long time. In about 11 minutes, Jimbo Fisher blew all of that up. He will not back down when he comes for Nick.
In one of the more jaw-dropping press conferences in recent history, the Texas A&M coach got up on the podium today after a last-minute announcement that he would be responding to comments the Alabama coach made yesterday. A&M was the first. A&M bought every player on their team and made a deal for their image. We didn't buy one player.
The Alabama players made their $3 million in NIL deals by doing it the right way, according to a fascinating claim.
Those comments might have raised some eyebrows, but they were nothing compared to the bomb Jimbo just dropped on the college football world. The coach was angry with the reporters and took a sip from his water bottle before making a statement about the recruiting practices of the Alabama coach.
I wish I could give you the full transcript, but here are some highlights. Jimbo said that it was a shame that we had to do it, and that it was despicable that someone could say things about 17-year-old kids.
Fisher said that they had never done anything that went against the laws of Texas. If you want to find out what he does and how he does it, dig into his past. How did God do his deal? You can find out a lot of things you don't want to know.
Fisher implied that Saban's recruiting practices were not up to snuff after calling him anarcissist.
He referred to a comment that the Alabama coach made last week regarding the NIL era, reminiscing on when college football had parity.
The one-liners from Fisher were endless. You have all the advantages.
You can learn how to do things with people like Bobby Bowden. I don't cheat and I don't lie, so I coach with other people. Your old man hit you on the head if you lied. Maybe someone should have hit him.
Each with a sip of water, a meaningful look toward the crowd, and a smirk. A&M beat Alabama on the field this past fall, 41-38.
Fisher insisted that the A&M program has never broken any state laws, asked that the government create NIL legislation, and explicitly said that they did not buy any players. Fisher denied it from the beginning, calling it a joke and irresponsible.
Fisher was probably justified in his response because of the double down on that rumor. It's likely that the comment that was made by the coach was just trying to get more money for the Alabama collective, rather than a full-on declaration of war. He just wanted more money. The first shots of an SEC battle that we can only hope will go down in the legendary annals of college football have been fired. Conclusions have been made and accusations are being thrown around. Fisher said that he turned down the call from Saban. We haven't seen this war in a long time in this sport. There is nothing on what is about to go down here. The Iron Bowl publicity will look like a high school game compared to the A&M-Alabama storm.
I will fondly reminisce even though it was long before I was dead. Catholics vs Convicts was a rivalry between two different schools in 1988. The Notre Dame coach gathered his team after the brawl. It always ends like this: "You save Jimmy Johnson's ass for me."
I'm not sure if Jimbo will be as courteous after the game as he was after the back alley fight. There will be a speech going down in the A&M locker room on October 8. Fisher is coming for everything that Alabama has to offer, not only his games, but also for his legacy. This is going to be fun.
Happy 100 days until college football!
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