“My daughter Kristen loves him”: Nick Saban finds a saving grace for comedian Shane Gillis
Nick Saban shared his thoughts on comedian Shane Gillis' appearance on the Dec. 20 episode of "College GameDay." Gillis was a celebrity guest picker for the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish's matchup against the No. 10 Indiana Hoosiers in the first-round College Football Playoff.
On "College GameDay," Gillis picked Notre Dame to win and felt the team has a fair chance of winning than in the past. The Fighting Irish (12-1) won 27-17 against Indiana (11-2, 8-1 Big Ten) on Dec. 20 to advance to the quarterfinals.
He also joked that this season is different because teams outside the Southeastern Conference can pay their players.
"It's always with Notre Dame. It's like here is the big game. Let's hopefully win it. This feels different," Gillis said (0:02 onwards). It feels like we can win it, you know? It's a parody. Now that everybody can pay their players, Notre Dame has a shot. It's not just the SEC. It's not just coach Saban," Gillis said.
At the broadcast desk, Pat McAfee called out Gillis for calling his co-host a cheater. The comedian tried to convey that it was a joke.
"I was joking around. I don't think the SEC paid players ever," Gillis said (0:20) while looking at the former Alabama coach. After he noticed Saban didn't laugh, he said, "I'm joking dude. Are we not...is this not a fun show? Is this a serious show?"
Gillis then joked that the "College GameDay" analyst looked like Indiana Jones because of that hat he wore on the show.
On the Dec. 27 episode of the "Pat McAfee Show," the former Alabama Crimson Tide coach joked that he doesn't like Gillis, but his daughter Kristen Saban does.
"He was trying to be funny, and I get it, and you know, my daughter Kristen loves him, so that kind of soothes the soul a little bit that somebody in our family likes the guy," Saban said (Timestamp: 0:49).
Nick Saban explains why he believes Alabama was successful in recruiting players
The former Crimson Tide coach also addressed Gillis' joke about how he got players to commit to the team. He thinks Alabama's ability to create value for players was key in recruitment.
"We were trying to create value for players, and I think that's why we were able to recruit good players whether it was how many degrees they got, how many guys went in the NFL, how many guys had careers that were very productive for them and that's why we got good players, so that speaks for itself and that's all there is to it," Saban said (Timestamp: 0:30).
McAfee hopes Saban and Gillis can hang out one day. However, the retired coach doesn't seem interested in speaking with Gillis anytime soon.