Since it appears SEC coaches may have been told not to talk to the media in the aftermath of the Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher feud, it only makes sense that former coaches chime in.
And who better qualified to talk about coaching quarrel than Steve Spurrier, the former Florida and South Carolina coach.
The Ole Ball Coach has had a few run-ins with his SEC counterparts as highlighted by AL.com earlier this week.
Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher called Nick Saban a “narcissist” on Thursday after the Alabama coach accused the Aggies – and Jackson State’s Deion Sanders – of paying for players.
Saban has apologized, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey followed with a public reprimand for both.
Spurrier, meanwhile, doesn’t see what the fuss is all about.
“I don’t know why (Fisher) is mad at Saban,” Spurrier told DawgNation. “Did Saban say something that wasn’t true?”
The former Florida Heisman Trophy winner had a way with words in the 1990s with then-Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer and then-Alabama coach Mike DuBose.
“I don’t think Saban told any lies in there, so I don’t know what he was mad about,” Spurrier added. “Since (Fisher) beat him last year, I guess he can talk now. He hasn’t beat much of anybody, but he beat Saban last year. But they haven’t won the division or anything since he’s been there.”
Spurrier, a six-time SEC champion, told AL.com earlier this month he’s “always admired Alabama football.”
“I’m here to say they’re the best, not because they win the most — of course, that’s part of it too — but they do it the right way,” Spurrier said Monday night. “They play hard. They play clean. They don’t try to hurt their opponents. They don’t give the interception chains. They don’t do all that other stuff that other teams like to do now, it seems like. But they play the game the way it should be played. If you beat them, you have to earn it. And that’s the way it should be.”
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.
