COLLEGE STATION, Texas — At this point, it's safe to say University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M University head coach Jimbo Fisher won't be exchanging pleasantries the next time they meet.
It all started when Saban, arguably one of the greatest college football coaches in history, took aim at Texas A&M and their historically good signing class on Wednesday night.
"I mean, we were second in recruiting last year," Saban told an audience in Birmingham, Alabama. "A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team -- made a deal for name, image, likeness. We didn't buy one player, all right? But I don't know if we're gonna be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it. It's tough."
Saban went on to talk about a school's collective that helps pool resources to offer deals to potential athletes and also took aim at Jackson State University head coach Deion Sanders over a player he recruited.
"I mean, Jackson State paid a guy $1 million last year that was a really good Division I player to come to the school," Saban said. "It was in the paper, and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it. I mean, these guys at Miami that are going to play basketball there for $400,000, it's in the newspaper. The guy tells you how he's doing it."
Fisher called an impromptu news conference Thursday morning and didn't just return fire, he dropped a proverbial bomb on the Alabama head coach, calling the comments "despicable."
"It's despicable that a reputable head coach comes out and says this when he doesn't get his way," Fisher said. "The narcissist in him doesn't allow those things to happen is ridiculous when he's not on top. And the parity in college football he's talking about, go talk to his assistant coaches (which Fisher was at one time), go talk to coaches who coach for him, you'll find out all the parity."
Fisher was nowhere near done though.
"Some people think they're god. Go dig into how god did his deal, you may find out a lot of things about a guy you don't want to know," Fisher said through visible frustration. "We build him up to be the czar of football; go dig into his past or anyone who's ever coached with him. You'll find out anything you've ever wanted to find out about what he does and how he does it."
Fisher said Saban has called him since the comments were made, but Fisher said he didn't and won't take the call.
Needless to say, if you can get a ticket to the Texas A&M vs. Alabama game in Tuscaloosa this October, you're going to see some good, old-fashioned hate.
