"Worry about your own program" - Shannon Sharpe blasts Nick Saban for comments on Jackson State and Texas A&M recruiting practices
Nick Saban has found himself in hot water following his recent comments regarding the name, image and likeness (NIL) system. The head coach questioned whether the system would be beneficial to the sport in general and suggested that some coaches could exploit the financial advantages of the NIL system in order to land top recruits. Shannon Sharpe responded caustically to Saban for his criticism of both Deion Sanders' and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher's recruiting practices.
Here's what he said on the matter:
"I'm glad the kids are getting compensation...they should. Coach, you are wrong for this. You're dry snitching. Worry about your program. Worry about your program and then let everything else take care of itself."
He went on to say:
"Everybody should have an opportunity to get an NIL deal and maybe Texas A&M or Texas or somebody else has bigger boosters."
The root of all this was Saban questioning whether or not the NIL rules were good for the sport in the long-term, after what Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher had done:
"We were 2nd 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. But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it."
Saban: We were 2nd 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. But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it twitter.com/mikerodak/stat…
The head coach had more to say on the subject, as he also called out Deion Sanders' Jackson State football program while speaking to AL.com:
“I mean, Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division 1 player, to come to school. It was in the paper and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it.”
Nick Saban has long been accused of exploiting the system himself
Interestingly, Saban is not a recruiting saint himself. He is the owner of Infiniti and Mercedez dealerships in Hoover, Alabama, 50 miles from the Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. Alabama Crimson Tide players have often conspicuously rolled around in new vehicles. That was well before the NCAA's NIL rules were even put into place.
Nick Saban says 25 players on Alabama last season earned NIL revenue totaling $3 million and did it “the right way.” Saban speaking at a 50-day countdown event for the World Games in Birmingham.
There may be a good deal of hypocrisy coming from the Alabama coaching legend, and Sharpe certainly thinks so. Sharpe has something of a well-earned reputation for speaking his mind and on this he was true to form.
As Saban's case history is incongruent with his recent 'parity in college football comments', it's unclear as to what his real intentions are. One thing, however, is definitely for certain, which is that this is unlikely to be the last we hear from either party as the debate rages on over this controversial subject.