It’s no coincidence Saban suddenly is concerned about agents
"Hello, my name is Nick Saban, and suddenly I feel the urge to talk about something."
HOOVER, Ala. – Far be it for me to steer attention away from an important issue like sports agents trying to recruit impressionable young men as their future clients, especially when said student-athletes clearly are in the middle of summer school classes as they work toward their doctoral thesis and certainly have no time to go to South Beach for a party.
But exactly when did Nick Saban become so concerned about sports agents, or, as he calls them: “pimps.”
Because I certainly don’t remember him speaking out when Reggie Bush helped get Southern Cal thrown into the NCAA’s penitentiary. And I don’t remember him saying anything when an Alabama player, Antonio Langham, took money from agent back in 1993. Just wondering: Was he upset a few days ago when he heard reports that a Florida player, Maurkice Pouncey, might have taken $100,000 from an agent. Because maybe we all missed that.
Saban has been coaching football for a lot of years and for a lot of teams, college and pro. This issue of agents preying on college players isn’t new. It predates 8-tracks. So it must just be an amazing coincidence that the Alabama coach is only now speaking so passionately about this issue, the day after his best defensive player, Marcell Dareus, was reported to be on an agent’s party list in Miami.
What prompts a coach generally so guarded in public to say of agents, “How are they any better than a pimp”? (and that should go over well with Saban’s agent, who was pimping the coach to NFL teams, including the Falcons, when Saban was still at LSU and then back to the SEC when he was with the Miami Dolphins, for roughly 10 minutes).
And what do we call it when Saban, in expressing how this issue affects everybody in the big picture, has an epiphany: “Maybe we need to not be so self-absorbed about how it just affects us and the NFL and see how it affects everyone and do something about it.” Because somehow “ironic” or “disingenuous” just don’t seem strong enough. (Breaking news: Elvis living on Neptune, and Nick Saban wants what’s best for everybody.)
Truth is, if you want to know why Saban is such a successful college football coach, this is reason No. 1. So many coaches know Xs and Os. So many can recruit. So many can sell their program and schmooze the mom and spot talent from a mile away and with the lights turned off.
Not every coach can do the things that really separate a program from the pack. Not every coach can motivate players like Saban or so flawlessly distract to his benefit by overinflating a storyline. A year ago, Alabama was coming off a great season but not nearly great enough. The Crimson Tide went through the regular season undefeated, but then lost to Florida in the SEC title game and got drilled by Utah in the Sugar Bowl.
Saban seized on that ending. He told everybody that Alabama had accomplished nothing. Nothing! He wouldn’t let his players forget the loss to Florida all season. By the time of last year’s SEC title game rematch, Alabama players were ready to run through cinder block. They steamrolled Florida like they were Ball State.
Now comes this: a sports agent reportedly hosted a gathering this summer. Players from Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina have been connected to reports. But Saban’s pyrotechnics have created bigger headlines. Stories of Alabama trying to repeat as national champions have faded. Even Dareus is an afterthought. Brilliant.
Saban kept referring to what agents do as “entrapment.” Really? Was the agent wired or disguised as a plumber?
He said if the NFL doesn’t do something about this, his “hospitality” of opening practices to scouts might stop. That should go over well with his players, who want to play in the NFL.
At one point, Saban, who obliterated the college coaches’ salary ceiling when he signed with Alabama in 2007, said with almost a sigh: “I think most everything gets a little bit about money somewhere along the way.”
Yes, Nick. A crushing realization.
♦
Previous SEC/Georgia posts
♦ SEC media days: Hey, who let the BCS in here?
♦ We’re LIVE at SEC media days (with no shortage of storylines)
♦ NCAA reportedly investigating Florida (but temper excitement)
♦ Can Dogs end Alabama-Florida monopoly in SEC title game?
♦ Listen up, Ole Miss: I’ve got Colonel Reb’s replacement
♦
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85 comments Add your comment
Randy
July 22nd, 2010
9:02 am
Hey J Dog……….wow, what an idiot…………were you born that way, or did it happen to you after attending classes at UGA? Bama opened a CAN on your pups last time they played– bet you wont be having a “black out” anytime soon on national TV, will you dog??????? LOLOLOLOL. And we got a National Championship…………….you got your annual beat down by Florida….and YET ANOTHER off season of half your team busted for drunk driving. As for your list of stats………….well, Bama’s won 2 National Championships since your last one…….and we will win at least 1-2 more before you even PLAY in a NC game…………….something Richt, with so many top 10 recruiting classes, just cant seem to do. Saban? You and the doggies are not in his league…………….so shut your pie hole before you make yourself look a bigger inbred moron than you must be——bubba fool. Alabama Crimson Tide, 2009 National Champions. Deal with it, dog.
dap01
July 22nd, 2010
9:47 am
Great article Jeff. It made me smile. Saban and Meyer are strange, self absorbed coaches (but successful).
I wonder if Saban has family days on Thursdays like Florida (even though CUM does not participate)?
Saban is a great coach but he has slime ooozing out around the edges.
Lane Kiffin
July 22nd, 2010
9:54 am
Nick Saban is pond scum.
St. Richt
July 22nd, 2010
10:08 am
Pat Forde of ESPN has a great article on this agent fiasco. And rightfully calls out Saban and the other coaches for trying to pin the blame solely on the agents involved. The players seem to be getting a free pass from the powers that be in the SEC and the coaches. All of which make it sound like it should be expected that the players will take money and gifts if they’re offered. As if they don’t know better… Give me a break- all of these guys know the rules and should pay the consequences. Stop crying and blaming this all on the agents.
do-dah do-dah
July 22nd, 2010
10:54 am
J Dog Let’s see he won 2 NC’s and what have your dawgs won lately???? Don’t forget to wear your red panties on your head to your home games
Real Dawg
July 22nd, 2010
11:01 am
Saban’s just waiting for a big NFL offer—when this agent thing blows up, he’ll be off to the nfl like pete carroll—leaving alabama on probation again—bank on it.
GT Alum
July 22nd, 2010
11:45 am
Maybe you’re right, Jeff. But just because Saban is being self-serving doesn’t necessarily means that he’s totally wrong. I wonder if this might fall in the same category as Canseco doing everything in his power to expose the use of steroids in baseball – doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.
MikeP
July 22nd, 2010
11:49 am
QUOTE ”
By Michael: “Didn’t Alabama pass some laws regarding agents after Auburn got put on probation?”
No, the state of Alabama passed some laws after the Tuskaloser school’s Antonio Langham took money from an agent in 1992. UAT had to forfeit a bunch of games because they hid this from the NCAA until the following season was over.
The forfeits burned up the bamzos in the state legislature so they passed the agent laws.
GT Alum
July 22nd, 2010
11:53 am
St. Richt, if you think the players are being given a free pass, you’re mistaken.
From Barnhardt’s blog:
“I believe that athletes should be held accountable because they know what the rules are,” Saban said. “But the agents who do this have to be accountable as well. And it’s time that we got some help from the NFL to hold them accountable.”
It’s the agents who have been getting a free pass. Student-athletes who have been caught and their schools have being paying for it for years. Doesn’t seem like anyone’s advocating that that part of it changes. The argument is if it’s wrong for the players to accept, then why isn’t it wrong for the agents to offer?
OldPlayer
July 22nd, 2010
12:25 pm
Schultz, you’re a moron. Why would any coach comment about the events at other schools (USC, UNC, UF, USCe)? The time to comment is a) when it impacts you; or b) you are asked directly to comment because you are closely related to those being impacted. His comments were directed toward those agents impacting the lives of college athletes, not agents that work with coaches, entertainers or others that don’t deal with an eligibility issue.
Regardless of what team you root for, the bad agent issue can impact your team. When you write in the future, write from a neutral point of view, not your own bias.
bryant
July 22nd, 2010
1:02 pm
J Dog What a bitter person you are. Still have not gotten over ” THE BLACKOUT BEATDOWN” Tell me what game was the blackout last year. Its been cancelled forever. Saban never has two good years in a row geez we have not lost a regular season game in the last two years. Do not hate the player hate the game!
do-dah do-dah
July 22nd, 2010
1:11 pm
Real Dawg I will bank on you being an idiot!!! How’s that???
College sports becoming a joke.
July 22nd, 2010
1:19 pm
How are the actions of these agents any different than the actions of LeBron James with UK/CaliPayme’s fab-5 first round NBA picks. Is LeBron just that much smarter and squeaky clean than these pimps? This investigation needs to spread to ALL sports teams in ALL conferences if College Sports is to retain any amount of integrity, and remain worth watching. Championships will be about luck because the talented players will clearly have their eyes on the Prize$$ come tournament time, and they certainly will have no intentions to return for another season. When you lose the loyalty of the players, the coach position will become a revolving door and the fans will find something else to spend their money on. Come on NCAA, wake up.
Bama92
July 22nd, 2010
1:50 pm
Wow this passes for journalism these days? An AJC reporter blasting a successful Alabama coach how novel, and even more unique an AJC reporter basically slandering Nick Saban. I do not know why I am still shocked by any type of “journalist” who hates success. I also for some reason am still shocked to see how writers today can not publish anything but hit pieces with everything taken out of context.
Bottom line is that agents are taking advantage of kids who have dreams of making tons of money. They exploit them and cost them more than just money and high draft positions.
I imagine coach Saban became so enraged this time because of what happened to Andre Smith. He said similar things when it happened and nothing has changed. There are only consequences for the student athlete, the head coach, and the school. Nothing happens to the agent.
You complain about Saban not saying anything about Reggie Bush and USC? How was that his place? If anybody thinks Alabama and every other NCAA school in the country are not learning from USC’s mistake you are crazy, but I ask again how was it Saban’s responsibility to speak out about it?
And, you had to go there. You had to bring up his salary. There is a just a slight difference between a head-coach and an amateur athlete playing in the NCAA. Are you really this clueless or better yet how did your editor allow you to publish such incoherent article?
Bob Horners Broken Wrist
July 22nd, 2010
3:05 pm
You’ve got to love the Bammers coming to the aid of a guy that they will all to soon talk down like Lane Kiffen after he leaves them when they go on probation. Its coming and he knows it.
If they were TCU or some other decent mid level team, they would already have received the death penalty but Bama’s “tradition” saves them….which is ironic because their “tradition” built by the Bear is the CORNERSTONE for corruption in the ranks of college football. Yes, hearing Saban complain about agents is like watching a preacher coming out of a Massage Parlor going into a rant about whores and pimps…wait a second he actually just did that. Nick, when I catch my kid trying to swipe a cookie, I don’t actually know he did it until he opens his mouth and convicts himself. Nick, you just got caught with your hand in the cookie jar….and you stupidly got up in front of everybody and tried to say how bad those cookies were and you really didn’t want one anyway. What a scumbag.
Tweets that mention It's no coincidence Saban suddenly is concerned about agents | Jeff Schultz -- Topsy.com
July 22nd, 2010
4:54 pm
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Mr. Thomas Anthony "The Taxman Cometh Again" Jones, SR
July 22nd, 2010
7:49 pm
The hypocrisy of these people is unbelivable. The problem in the NCAA is that players are not paid. Pay the players. The crooks take players from poor families and do not pay them. It is Slavery! It is wrong and everybody knows. The trouble the schools like a unpaid group of athletes they can use, abuse, expliot and then discard and dismiss. The players need a union badly. Until they get a union they will continue to be explioted by rich suckers who are crooked and shady.
When Sylvester crooms was Head Coach he ran a clean program as the only African-American Head Coach in the lily-white SEC and he was fired after he led the MSU Bulldogs to a eight win season and a Bowl Victory in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. And he was fired by the dogs the nest season. Can anyone explain why he was fired?
Tell the truth and shame the devil. Hewon eight games in the SEC and he won a Bowl game and he ran a clean program. Yet the racists fired him. This is terrible.
The players better look out for themselves as the coachs and the schools only care about money! And the media refuses to tell the kids and their parents the truth. I hope that in the future the players unionize and tell the coaches to go to Hades!
NCAA Slave Owners
July 22nd, 2010
8:10 pm
The NCAA treats the football players like plantation slaves—they should pay them at least $1,000 per month plus other benefits for making millions for schools and the corrupt ncaa. The racists in the NCAA want to have all these players make them all this money without compensation—that has to stop.
DAWG07
July 22nd, 2010
8:58 pm
A lot is hanging out there for Saban and Alabama. Wins Wins Wins.
Of course if there was not anything to be concerned about he would not be preaching.
Hammer
July 23rd, 2010
11:11 am
Shultz, you are a dirt-bag! Where were you when sleazy agents try to comprise a system that is designed to improve the athlete, the school and the sport. Are you sleeping with an agent?
Jim
July 23rd, 2010
12:15 pm
To insinuate that the student athlete is not compensated for his play is ridiculous! A full scholarship, including room and board, is worth thousands. In addition, the university provides the athlete a forum to showcase (advertise) his talents for a possible move to the next level. How much is free advertisement worth? Just try running a full page ad in any major newspaper and you’ll understand the value of this free exposure.
The NCAA has set the rules pertaining to “extra benefits”, not the university. The school is then held responsible for enforcement of NCAA policies. The problem is unscrupulous agents who are all too happy to sell out the student athlete and school in order to gain advantage over those agents who conduct their business the right way. The unscrupulous agent, for filthy lucre’s sake, willingly subverts whole institutions by luring young people into breaking rules with little or no fear of being punished for their deeds. Until these agents receive their just due, what’s to stop them?
The student athlete, in my opinion, is fairly compensated with a full scholarship and exposer. The unscrupulous agent rarely has much or anything to lose by his lawlessness. On the other hand, the school has much to lose – just ask USC. The rule needs to be changed or eliminated until it can equally hold all involved parties accountable.
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TideFanAtlanta
July 25th, 2010
12:42 pm
Jeff, what a dweeb you are. First, Saban earns ever penney he makes because he is a great and knowledgeable coach. You however demostrate even with your title, that you know nothing about Alabama football and even what the SEC has been doing. Saban is not “suddenly” interested in this. The question is not why he deserves $4M a year to coach football, but why the AJC pays you to write about sports. You need to pay attention to what the programs have been doing to try to stop this crappy stuff. The programs themselves can do just so much, but without the help of the NCAA and even NFL the PIMPs will continue to be a blight on the good agents and coaches who give a damn. You Jeff are a pimp and only give a damn about getting paid by trying to cause a controversey where there is none. Write something informative. Write something true.
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2:06 pm
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Peter
July 25th, 2010
3:20 pm
Wow. Outstanding journalism. I bet it’s fun to write this drivel and show up at a bar where everyone tells you what a great writer you are. Honestly, only a drunk person could think this article to be good. You took a snippet of a quote and built a farce around it. I mean you have a right to your opinions but such brazen jealousy should be kept in check. My only hope is that your editor reads the comment section and maybe takes you to task for being a biased idiot. No wonder the AJC is losing readers…
Tom
July 25th, 2010
8:05 pm
J.Dog, keep it up doofus, I love reading the anguish and pain in your posts and knowing that the Blackout Beatdown is tormenting you still. Get used to it, between Coach Saban and Urban Meyer, Mark Richt must be feeling like a punching bag.
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12:02 am
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heartofdarkness
July 26th, 2010
11:28 am
There are people of questionable ethics surrounding the SEC?! I am Shocked! Shocked!
Whaaaaaaa
July 26th, 2010
12:57 pm
Another jealous Georgia columnist and fan crying about a winning program. If UGA could ever win, then maybe the whining would stop. But then again, that won’t happen for a while.
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Rod Tidwell
September 3rd, 2010
9:59 pm
Yea Nick, I want you to say it like you mean it…I wanna feel it……SHOW ME THE MONEEEEYYYYYYY!
The phone’s ringing and it’s Jerry Jones….Mal Moore ain’t got Jerry money