It isn’t often for the public to be looking forward to the SEC spring meetings as much as fall kickoffs, but the drama and fallout from the feud between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher have attracted the eyeballs of several fanbases.
Although there was a war of words ignited with Fisher providing an impassioned press conference about Saban after he stated that Texas A&M had bought its entire recruiting class, the interaction between the two is far from the WWE-type theatrics that was anticipated. In fact, the coaches kept things cordial throughout with Fisher even saying that the two will move on.
“We spoke in the very beginning and what he accused us or, both things we said,” Fisher said according to AL.com. “It’s over with. We’re done talking about it and what happens. We’re moving on to the future of what goes on and trying to fix the problems of what we have in college football. We have a lot more pressing needs than our arguments.”
Saban was asked about the back and forth on Tuesday during his media availability where he said he has “no problem with Jimbo at all.”
Prior to the meetings this week, Fisher had stated that he would never work with Saban again and inferred that working under the Alabama head coach wasn’t as pleasant as it appears. But Fisher told the media that the pair had a great working relationship dating back to their time at LSU from 2000-04.
“We were good. I was on offense, he was on defense,” Fisher said. “We had a lot of success, did well. There wasn’t many issues at all. Normal staff issues. … Nothing — we had a great relationship.”
Fisher went on to draw a comparison between staff disagreements and fighting with your brothers.
“Let me ask y’all: you ever argue with your brother?” Fisher said. “Do you love your brother? Did you support your brother? That’s the way coaches are. You can’t get to where you’re trying to go on a staff if you don’t have disagreement. If everybody’s yes people and everybody says the same thing, you don’t ever get nowhere. You can’t get better. That’s part of our nature and our competitive nature.”
For now, it appears as if the beef between the two SEC headliners has been squashed in favor of larger discussions involving the conference.
When asked whether he regretted any comments he made, Fisher reinforced that he was done talking about it.
“I’m not talking about it,” Fisher said when asked if he regretted his comments. “We’re moving on.”
Peaceful times in June don’t mean tensions won’t surface this coming fall when the Aggies travel to Tuscaloosa to play the Crimson Tide in a rematch of their 2021 showdown where Fisher became the first former Saban assistant to defeat the seven-time champion.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
