Nick Saban breaks silence on college football coaches being shown the door after Jimbo Fisher firing: "I’ve been fired before. It’s no fun"
Nick Saban reacted to the news of Southeastern Conference rival Texas A&M firing coach Jimbo Fisher on Sunday. Contrary to what many fans thought his reaction would be, the Crimson Tide coach was rather sympathetic.
Fisher's firing was the hottest bit of news coming out of the world of college football over the weekend. Another SEC school, Mississippi State, also let go of coach Zach Arnett.
On Monday, the long-serving Alabama coach said the following about the firings and the process of building a football program in general:
"I don’t ever like to see anybody get let go, whatever you want to call it, in this business. I know how hard everybody works, I know how difficult it is to sort of build a program, to get players to compete at a high level on a consistent basis, and just have a lot of respect for people who really work hard to try to change the lives of the guys that they’re coaching.
"Make them better, help them do the right things in terms of getting an education, as well as trying to develop them on the football field."
Saban also said this about the economic realities of football as a form of entertainment and what it entails for coaches and players:
"But we are in a business that you get evaluated based on outcomes and your performance, and I hate to see anybody have to go through this. I’ve been fired before. It’s no fun.
"It’s no fun for your family, but I’m sure that both those guys have great reputations in terms of what they’ve been able to accomplish over the course of their career, and I’m sure they’ll have many more opportunities to be successful in the future."
Why was Jimbo Fisher fired from the Texas A&M Aggies job?
Jimbo Fisher was brought to Texas A&M with a single objective: Bringing a national football title to the school. Fisher achieved that level of success with his previous school, the Florida State Seminoles, but was far from achieving the same with the Aggies.
When he arrived at Texas A&M in 2017, he was even given a plaque that read "Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M Football Head Coach. NCAA Div-I National Champion 20__". Such was the program's confidence around the coach pulling off the first national title for the Aggies since 1939.
An inability to bring to fruition the said expectations is what brought about Jimbo Fisher's downfall. His overall record for the Aggies stood at 45-25 in six seasons. If the school's leadership didn't fire him early, it is probably because they couldn't pay his $70 million contract buyout.
Who's the Aggies new head coach?
Assistant head coach Elijah Robinson rose to interim head coach with Jimbo Fisher's departure. The university hasn't made public who it has in mind to replace him, with the gossip mill running wild. This appointment will probably have to wait until the end of the season.