Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher called Nick Saban a “narcissist” Thursday after the Alabama coach accused the Souheastern Conference rival Aggies of using name, image and likeness deals to land their top-ranked recruiting classes.
Less than 24 hours after Saban said Texas A&M was essentially “buying” players, Fisher called an impromptu news conference in College Station, Texas, and did not hold back in blasting college football's most accomplished coach, who is also his former boss when the two were at LSU.
“First of all, I'd like to say it's a shame that we have to do this. It's really despicable,” Fisher said in a session that lasted about 10 minutes. “We never bought anybody, no rules are broken. Nothing was done wrong.”
Texas A&M had the consensus No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2022 after beating Alabama during the regular season. The Tide's class was No. 2.
The Crimson Tide lost to the Aggies last season, but went on to win the Southeastern Conference and play for the national title. The Aggies finished 8-4 in their fourth season under Fisher, who, like Saban, is among the highest-paid coaches in the game.
“It's despicable that a reputable head coach can come out and say this when he doesn’t get his way or things don’t go his way," Fisher said. "The narcissist in him doesn’t allow those things to happen —- it's ridiculous — when when he’s not on top. And the parity in college football he's been talking about. Go talk to coaches who have coached for him. You’ll find out all the parody. Go dig into wherever he’s been.”
While speaking at an event in Birmingham, Alabama, Saban said some schools were spending “tons of money to get players.”
“You read about it, you know who they are," Saban said Wednesday. "We were second in recruiting last year....
