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ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum addressed Nick Saban and his comments about Texas A&M on the network's morning show, Get Up. Finebaum stated that he was "gobsmacked" at the remarks by the Alabama Crimson Tide head coach and that his comments were way off-script for him:
"I'm gobsmacked by what he said. Not because I haven't heard him insinuate that privately, but for Nick Saban, the greatest coach of all time, to go public and accuse one of his biggest rivals of essentially cheating, although that's open for interpretation, is really stunning."
Finebaum added that it must be remembered that Saban is always complimentary to everyone else, but his recent comments were "way off script":
"He has insinuated this in the past, but one thing you have to remember about Nick Saban is that he is always complimentary to everyone else, even when you know it's passive aggressive. This was way off script. It's been leading towards this for some time. But that volcano erupted last night."
The comments that Finebaum is referring to were made by the Alabama head coach at an event in Birmingham, Alabama, regarding Texas A&M and NIL (name, image, and likeness). Saban told the crowd:
"I mean, we were second in recruiting last year, A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team—made a deal for name, image, and 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."
He also stated that players on the Crimson Tide made $3 million "doing it the right way" in 2021 and that just 25 players were able to grasp at chances for NIL.
Nick Saban and his NFL experience
Before being hired as Alabama's head coach in January 2007, Saban spent two seasons as head coach of the Miami Dolphins. From 2005 to 2006, the Dolphins had a 15-17 record under him.
Going back even further, Saban was the Houston Oilers' secondary coach for two seasons (1988-1989) and the defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick for four seasons with the Cleveland Browns (1991-1994).
Since 2009, Saban has had a record 41 Alabama players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft. Including this year's draft, he'd had at least one player selected in the first round in 14 straight NFL drafts.
The 70-year-old head coach holds the college football record for the most first-round draft picks (46) in a career.
