SEC issues public reprimand for Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Thu May 19 19:03:30 GMT-04:00 2022

It just means more.

The SEC conference issued a public reprimand on Wednesday night for the recent war of words between Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher.

"The membership of the Southeastern Conference has established expectations for conduct and sportsmanship that were not met last night nor today," Sankey said in a press release. "A hallmark of the SEC is intense competition within an environment of collaboration. Public criticism of any kind does not resolve issues and creates a distraction from seeking solutions for the issues facing college athletics today. There is tremendous frustration concerning the absence of consistent rules from state to state related to name, image and likeness. We need to work together to find solutions and that will be our focus at the upcoming SEC Spring Meetings."

It added the following slap of the wrist to the coaches.

"As a result of public comments made on May 18 by Alabama head coach Nick Saban, a public reprimand is issued for comments he made in violation of SEC Bylaws 10-2.3 and 10.5.2 related to Ethical Conduct for derogatory comments and public criticism of another institution's athletics program.

"As a result of public comments made on May 19 by Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher, a public reprimand is issued for comments he made in violation of SEC Bylaws 10.5.2 related to Ethical Conduct for public criticism of another institution's athletics program."

During an event in Birmingham on Wednesday night, Saban called out fellow SEC school Texas A&M for buying their top-ranked signing class.

"I mean, we were second in recruiting last year," Saban told the audience. "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, all right? 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. It's tough."

Fisher went on to respond that his team has never broken any rules or bought a player.

"You're taking shots at 17-year-old kids and their families that they broke state laws, that we bought every player in this group," Fisher said. "We never bought anybody. No rules were broken, nothing was done wrong. These families, 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."