All Things CW: The Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher Relationship has Always Been Complicated

Even when they were on the same coaching staff at LSU, the two would occasionally butt heads, even during practices.

Last week's blowup between Nick Saban and his former assistant coach Jimbo Fisher has everyone in college football circling Oct. 8, when Texas A&M visits Bryant-Denny Stadium, on their calendars. 

But it was hardly the first time there's been hackles raised between them. 

In 2017, Alabama was set to face Florida State in its season opener, at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It was the first meeting between the two as head coaches.  

To help provide some perspective on the matchup of what had the potential to be No. 1 vs. No. 2 preseason showdown (the Seminoles instead came in at No. 3 in the polls), I caught up with former defensive lineman Marcus Spears at SEC media days. 

"I love it," he said at the time. “The buildup is crazy. “You have two coaches who know each other, and two coaches who used to fight every day in practice when I was at LSU.” 

When Spears said fight, he was talking about verbally going after one another, and not backing down — which wouldn't surprise anyone who’s been around either coach. 

Practices were always scripted so both the offense and defense could work on specific things. But while defensive-minded Saban always wanted to know what to look for with each snap, Fisher would occasionally grow tired of seeing his offensive players continually get stuffed by the Tigers defense. 

One practice in particular still stood out to Spears. 

“So we’re killing the offense,” he said. “When I was playing you do about three team periods (each practice). No yards. We’re getting to the quarterback. So Jimbo reaches into his bag a little bit and brings something new out. We get confused. We don’t know where to line up. 

“Saban had one of those conniptions. It was a lot of words that I can’t say. The gist of it was ‘When I put something in the script, you better damn well run it, or we’re going to have a big problem right here on the football field.’ 

"We would laugh. We knew that if it was something unscripted, it was about to be a knock-down, drag-out (day).” 

This was during LSU’s title season of 2003, when Saban finished turning the Tigers into a preeminent power. Not only did the intimidating team boast a very high level of talent, but was competitive in every sense, even during workouts.

It made the whole team better.  

“They have a respect for each other,” Spears said about the coaches.

But their relationship (for lack of a better term) has always been complicated.

Diverging Paths 

There have always been signs that Fisher doesn't at times enjoy being in Saban's shadow, and when Saban left LSU for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins in 2004, Fisher didn’t follow. He stayed in Baton Rouge for two more years under Les Miles. 

Fisher also turned down a chance to join Saban at Alabama in 2007, opting to stay at Florida State as the coach in waiting, where he eventually replaced legend Bobby Bowden. 

Fisher’s coaching career began just up the road from Tuscaloosa at his alma mater, Samford (where he set numerous passing records as a quarterback). He was also Auburn’s quarterbacks coach (1993-98) until Terry Bowden resigned, 

He's also known for two other things in the state of Alabama. 

The first was his interviewing for the UAB head coaching job at the end of the 2006 season (one year before Saban was hired at Alabama), only to have the university’s Board of Trustees veto the contract offer. 

It was one of the major dominoes that eventually led to UAB becoming the first FBS program to shut down in 20 years, only to be revived following loud public outcry. 

Fisher's other big local splash was landing the nation's top quarterback prospect in the recruiting Class of 2012, Jameis Winston. Intrigued by the possibility of also playing baseball with the Seminoles, the four-year starter at Hueytown had totaled 6,871 career passing yards with 67 touchdowns, completing 60 percent of his 790 passes, and with just 25 interceptions.

Winston won the 2013 Heisman Trophy and led Florida State to the national championship, but his career was also marred by a high-profile sexual assault allegation.

Although no charges were filed, the university ended up paying $950,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by woman who alleged a Title IX violation in the handling her complaint. As part of the deal, Florida State did not admit liability.

Winston was also given a citation for stealing $32.72 worth of crab legs and crawfish from a grocery store. 

He finished his FSU career 26–1 as a starter and completed 562 of 851 passes for 7,964 yards, 65 touchdowns, and had 28 interceptions. He was the first-overall selection in the 2015 NFL Draft. 

Among the players whom were considered the state's top prospect each year since Saban arrived at Alabama, he's one of just three who didn't sign with the Crimson Tide. 

Year, Name, Pos., School (State rankings per 247Sports)

1. 2008, Julio Jones, WR, Alabama 
2. 2009, Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, Alabama 
3. 2010, Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama
4. 2011, Marvin Shinn, WR, Alabama
5. 2012, Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State
6. 2013, Reuben Foster, LB, Alabama
7. 2014, Marlon Humphrey, CB, Alabama
8. 2015, Da'Ron Payne, DL, Alabama
9. 2016, Ben Davis, LB, Alabama
10. 2017, LaBryan Ray, DL, Alabama
11. 2018, Justyn Ross, WR, Clemson
12. 2019, George Pickens, WR, Georgia
13. 2020, Demouy Kennedy, LB, Alabama 
14. 2021, Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, Alabama
15. 2022, Jeremiah Alexander, LB, Alabama 

The Beginning of the End

Going back to the 2017 season, there were two telling moments between the coaches, the first being their season-opening showdown. 

Alabama was coming off a last-second loss in the national title game, and Saban used the high-profile matchup to get his players to focus during the offseason. The expectation was that the game could be the first of two meetings, with Alabama and Florida State maybe eventually playing again in the College Football Playoff.

"I don't think we're an elite team right now," he said during the days leading up to the Florida State game. "I think we're an adequate team."

Saban also called Fisher the best offensive coordinator he'd ever had, pro or college level.

But the teams went in very different directions. 

After Florida State got an early touchdown, it was all Alabama. The key move was to insert former walk-on Levi Wallace at cornerback after converted wide receiver Trevon Diggs struggled. 

The Crimson Tide picked off two passes by Deondre Francois (by Wallace and Mack Wilson), and completely dominated special teams with a blocked punt (Damien Harris), blocked field goal (Minkah Fitzpatrick) and a fumble return (forced by Dylan Moses) on a kick return en route to a 24-7 victory. 

To make matters worse for Fisher, Francois suffered a season-ending knee injury when he was sacked from behind by safety Ronnie Harrison.  

Florida State lost six of its first nine games and Fisher left for Texas A&M before the end of the regular season. The Seminoles were 5-6 at the time, but managed to finish 7-6 under interim coach Odell Haggins thanks in part to a win over Southern Miss in the Independence Bowl.

When Alabama went on to win the national championship over Georgia in overtime when Tua Tagovailoa connected with DeVonta Smith on second-and-26, Fisher waited for roughly an hour outside the Crimson Tide locker room for a chance to offer congratulations. With a new program to promote, he talked to every reporter who showed interest. 

Fisher echoed the same sentiment after Florida State won the 2013 national title against Auburn, when Saban had been on hand to provide analysis for ESPN. 

"I have the utmost respect for Nick," Fisher said. "I think he's a tremendous coach and a tremendous guy, and he and I will always stay close friends.”

Bragging Rights

Last spring, Fisher was at a luncheon in Houston when an Aggies fan asked "What's the key, other than Saban retiring, to beating Alabama?" He shot back: "We're going to beat his ass even when he's there." 

When he heard about it, Saban's response was to ask, "In golf?" 

At the time, Fisher arguably had the closest thing to bragging rights among Saban's former assistant coaches, as he was Bowden’s offensive coordinator when FSU beat Alabama 21-14 in Jacksonville in 2007.

Saban was 24-0 against his former assistants as head coaches when Texas A&M beat No. 1 Alabama 41-38 on a last-play field goal last October. 

But the acclaim was short-lived. 

Texas A&M finished 4-4 on conference play, while Alabama went on to pay for the national championship. Not only did the Crimson Tide lose, but Saban took another loss to a former assistant, Kirby Smart, on a much bigger stage. 

It wasn't long ago that Fisher was thought of as being the former Saban assistant coach who was probably the most like his former mentor — or perhaps an offensive-minded version of him.   

“Attention to detail,” was the first thing Spears said in describing Fisher. The second was his ability to develop players. 

“It was just a culmination of things, and his command. Jimbo has a great rapport with players, knows when to go hard, when to pull back,” Spears continued. “A lot of it is relationship. A lot of being a head coach is relationship, with players and assistants. He did a great job from my observation."

Consequently, there used to be a strong belief among some in Tuscaloosa that when Saban eventually steps down, Fisher would be the former assistant he'd plug as a possible replacement. 

But that was prior to Fisher’s 10-year, $75 million contract with Texas A&M, and the subsequent extension (through 2031, worth more than $90 million), or last week's verbal firestorm.  

Moreover, Fisher has yet to win the SEC West. 

What Vegas Says

SI Sportsbook lists Alabama as the favorite to win the 2022-23 national championship, ahead of Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson, Southern California and Texas A&M.

Meanwhile, BetOnline has released its opening over-under win totals.

The SEC is as follows:

1. Alabama 10½
2. Georgia 10½
3. Texas A&M 8½
4. Arkansas 7½
5. Kentucky 7½
6. Ole Miss 7½
7. Tennessee 7½
8. Florida 6½
9. LSU 6½
10. Mississippi State 6½
11. South Carolina 6½
12. Auburn 5½
13. Missouri 5½
14. Vanderbilt 2½

The Homecoming

Before Ashley Priess-Johnston was a freshman at Alabama, she turned a lot of heads in the gymnastics world by walking away from international competition at the height of her career.

She had been part of the 2006 U.S. team to win a silver medal at the World Championships in Denmark, and was a serious contender to compete at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. 

“It wasn’t hard for me,” Priess-Johnston told me in 2009 of the decision. “It was hard because of the people I was affecting.”

From ages 10 to 18, she trained 40 hours a week on top of school. Not only did it lead to major back issues, but her whole life revolved around training. 

That is until she opted for a more well-rounded life and the Crimson Tide. Consequently, the first thing then-coach Sarah Patterson did after Priess-Johnston arrived in Tuscaloosa was tell her to go be a college student for while. 

She responded by becoming a 10-time All-American and key member of back-to-back NCAA championship teams.

It'll be interesting to see how that all influences Priess-Johnston as a head coach as she takes overt the Crimson Tide program.

When it comes to Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne hiring coaches, two things clearly stand out: 1) He often looks for the next up-and-comer, and 2) Once he zeros in on someone he moves quickly. 

That was the definitely the case here, but there were also some additional factors: 

1) Priess-Johnston competed at the highest level for Alabama so she wouldn't have to win over the boosters or fans. 

2) She's extremely bright, with a no-nonsense side. The guess here is that she interviewed very well for the job. 

3) Quite often in gymnastics there's a top-level assistant coach who organizes the daily practices and is very hands on with the athletes. A perfect example is Jay Clark, who was that person for years at Georgia and is now the head coach at LSU. Priess-Johnston had a similar role at Auburn, which just had its best season in program history.  

4) Priess-Johnston still has strong ties to the international community, which could be huge in recruiting. 

Factor in the incoming signing class and all the looming potential changes in college athletics, and it's pretty clear that Byrne wanted to have a new coach in place before the SEC spring meetings.

He also opted for someone who could potentially stay for a long, long time. 

5 Things That Got Our Attention This Week

Inflated female rosters

Alabama Athletics

USA Today did a graphics breakdown on how college can elevate their Title IX numbers through a variety of ways including counting track and field athletes twice as indoor and outdoor competitors, plus also for cross country. Schools can also count anyone who tries out for rowing, and male practice players in soccer, volleyball and women's basketball players.  

For example, in rowing Alabama reported in 2018-19 that its team had 122 participants, but only 28 rowers were required to compete in its conference championship, with another 14 substitutes. 

Between the 80 extra rowers, 14 roster duplications and 12 practice players listed, it listed Alabama as inflating its women's rosters the most of any school in the nation with a total of 106. It was followed by Massachusetts (92), Wisconsin(89), Michigan (87), UCLA and West Virginia (83), San Diego State (82) and Hawaii (81). 

What's an amateur nowadays?

Former Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin made some interesting points when telling Sports Illustrated that he doesn't understand why college football has yet to move to a professional mode. 

“We’re a professional sport, and they are professional players. … These collectives, you basically made what was cheating before legal. You had no rules behind it. You’ve created something that was going to have a ton of issues. To think these things weren’t going to go this direction, once you allow boosters to do whatever they wanted …” 

NIL, Kiffin asserts, has “totally changed recruiting. I joke all the time about it. Facilities and all that. Go ahead and build facilities and these great weight rooms and training rooms, but you ain’t gonna have any good players in them if you don’t have NIL money. I don’t care who the coach is or how hard you recruit, that is not going to win over money.” 

The simplest solution Kiffin sees is instituting a cap on spending, given that the current system basically consists of contracted players without contracts. 

“And how is it not being seen that, unless there are changes of rules around caps and contracts, how is every elite college player not at the end of their season [entering the portal]?”

Survey says ...

NCAA

A mental health survey by the NCAA found that rates of mental exhaustion, anxiety and depression have seen little change since fall 2020 and remain 1.5-time to 2-times higher than identified before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Regarding mental health support, 69 percent of women's sports participants and 63 percent of men's sports participants agreed or strongly agreed that they know where to go on campus if they have mental health concerns; however, when asked if they would feel comfortable seeking support from a mental health provider on campus, less than half of women's sports and men's sports participants answered that they would agree or strongly agree with that statement (48 percent and 46 percent, respectively). 

When asked whether they thought their mental health was a priority to their athletics department, 55 percent of men's sports participants and 47 precent of women's sports student-athletes agreed or strongly agreed. 

The survey designed in collaboration with the NCAA Sport Science Institute.

Would it really be a comeback?

George Walker IV / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

Former Alabama running back Derrick Henry, who missed a good part of last season due to a fractured foot, is listed by Per SportsBetting.ag as the favorite to be the comeback player of the year in the NFL. He's listed as +550 ahead of, ironically, Jameis Winston at +600. 

Henry is also on the short list of contenders for MVP honors, along with a couple of other former Crimson Tide standouts led by Jalen Hurts. 

Justin Herbert +550
Josh Allen +600
Patrick Mahomes +900
Joe Burrow +1100
Aaron Rodgers +1400
Tom Brady +1400
Russell Wilson +1600
Deshaun Watson +1800
Jalen Hurts +1800
Derek Carr +2000
Matthew Stafford +2000
Dak Prescott +2500
Lamar Jackson +2500
Kyler Murray +3300
Matt Ryan +3300
Trey Lance +3300
Tua Tagovailoa +3300
Kirk Cousins +4000
Derrick Henry +5000
Mac Jones +5000

Expect the unexpected next week ...

Yes, the Saban-Fisher feud will be center stage at next week's SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., but it's going to be a head-turning week for a lot more than that. 

Auburn athletic director Allen Greene told Auburn Undercover: "I think everything should be on the table. We’re trying to do a couple things here: We’re trying to figure out how do we work in this modern world of college athletics — what is the modern world of college athletics? What makes sense for our student-athletes, not just our football players or our men’s basketball players, but all the student-athletes on our campuses? Division I is a really broad group of institutions; there’s about 300-plus institutions in Division I; not all of them play football, but they all play high-level basketball at the very least, so how do we figure out how to create an environment and a structure that allows all Division-I institutions to thrive? 

"So, the transformation committee, where Commissioner Sankey is the co-chair, we’re told that they’re supposed to be looking at things with a capital-T in ‘transformation,’ so there’s going to be some things that come out of this that are going to surprise us, going to shock us a little bit. That’s all part of the natural dialogue that I think we’re about to have."

Tide-bits

• Brian Kelly said during a podcast interview with former Notre Dame safety Shaun Crawford that the opportunity to play Saban factored into his decision to leave for LSU. “I want to beat Nick Saban. Who doesn’t want to beat Nick Saban, you know what I mean? I want to play him in the regular season. I mean, that’s the standard, right? Now, he’s a conference opponent.”

• Going back to the state's top recruit chart, when Saban was hired in January 2007 he had less than a month until National Signing Day, but still managed to sign the No. 2 prospect Kerry Murphy out of Hoover High School. Safety Michael McNeil was considered No. 1, and Auburn hasn't landed the top in-state prospect since. 

• Adding to Alabama softball's frustrating end to the season, and hitting struggles, were that former Crimson Tide player KB Sides was the SEC Player of the Year at Arkansas, and Skylar Wallace at Florida was named finalist for Collegiate Player of the Year. 

• If Alabama baseball makes the NCAA tournament it could potentially come at the expense of Ole Miss. The team resumes are almost identical, Alabama has a better RPI and the Crimson Tide swept the series in Oxford. Would the committee take 10 SEC teams? It's possible if there aren't too many surprise teams securing automatic bids this weekend. 

• When Priess-Johnston was being recruited, the meet that sold her on Alabama was the annual Pink Meet.

• A quick personal note about Dana Duckworth, who recently stepped down as Alabama's gymnastics coach. As journalists, we're not allowed to accept gifts or personal items that could influence our reporting. Years ago, before she replaced Patterson, I did a sit-down interview with Gene Stallings at a golf tournament fundraiser to support the UA RISE Center. While waiting for him I told her the story about how as a young reporter I covered Stallings' farewell game at the Outback Bowl in Tampa. Without my knowing it, she took a picture of us talking, had the coach sign it, and mailed it to me just because she thought I might like it. That's the kind of person she is. 

Did you Notice?

• Kiffin to Sports Illustrated: "People always ask me when Nick Saban will retire. Before, I said, ‘Not for a long time.’ He’s driven and he works like he’s 30. Now, it’ll be never. Why would he? You get the best players, have free agency to pluck the best players. He’ll be there forever. He might double his championships."

• The SEC Is Getting a New Schedule Model, but Which One Will Win Out?

• As Coaches Squabble About NIL, Enforcement May Still Be Leagues Away

• Patriots Impressed by Mac Jones’s Conditioning, Fitness During OTAs

• In case you missed it from the Miami Dolphins: 

"It's really been the foundation of how I go about doing things." - @Tua on his Samoan heritage#AAPIHeritageMonth pic.twitter.com/LF2bbpMTQo

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) May 26, 2022

Christopher Walsh's notes column appears every week on BamaCentral.