Dabo Swinney weighs in on Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher NIL feud

On3 imageby:Barkley Truax05/26/22

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Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney shied away from commenting on the Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher debacle that took place last week. Instead, Swinney said he’ll let Saban and Fisher “figure all that stuff out” for themselves.

“I don’t know. I’m just focused on the Tigers,” Swinney said. “I ain’t getting involved in all that stuff. I’ve had plenty of comments on NIL. So I’m just focused on our guys and what we need to do in helping our guys be successful.”

Saban criticized Fisher and his Texas A&M Aggies, saying that he bought his entire team and even went as far as to say Deion Sanders and Jackson State paid five-star-plus recruit Travis Hunter $1 million to play for the NFL great at the FCS powerhouse.

Fisher and Texas A&M called an impromptu press conference the following morning, where the Fisher and Aggies denied any wrongdoing regarding Saban’s accusations. Fisher slammed his former co-worker, saying that someone should have slapped him as a child on top of calling him a narcissist and his comments despicable.

“It’s a different world. Everything you say these days, there’s a camera, just like this,” Swinney said, acknowledging the crowd of reporters around him. “That’s about it.”

Swinney certainly knows what it’s like to be under a microscope when it comes to controversial comments. Swinney has been criticized in the past on his poignant comments about where college football is headed, calling for a “complete blowup” of the current system as NIL and the transfer portal continue to make impacts on roster construction.

“I think there’s going to be a complete blowup … especially in football, and there needs to be,” Swinney said. “I think eventually there will be some type of break and another division. Right now, you got everybody in one group, and it’s not feasible. Alabama has different problems than Middle Tennessee, but we’re trying to make them all the same and it’s just not. I think you’ll have 40 or 50 teams and a commissioner and here are the rules.”

Swinney also spoke about the changing NIL landscape and how college football, talking candidly about the lack of control across the game with NIL legislation lacking across the country.

“There’s no rules, no guidance, no nothing,” Swinney said. “It’s out of control, it’s not sustainable. It’s an absolute mess and a train wreck, and the kids are going to be the ones who suffer in the end. There are going to be a lot of kids that end up with no degrees and make decisions based on the wrong things.”