Nick Saban says he wants college football to have more ‘parity’ | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban’s comments that he wishes college football could get back to days when there was more ‘parity,’ a comment that prompted Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin to question Saban’s sanity.
Video Transcript
DAN WETZEL: This week's hysterical coaching quotes comes from--
PAT FORDE: They keep coming.
DAN WETZEL: --from Nick Saban, our leader. Quote, "One of the things I'd like to see us be able to work back to is everything in college football has always had parity. Same scholarship, same academic support, health care, whatever it is. I don't think we have that balance right now, which could affect the parity of college athletics as a whole." Nick Saban wants parity.
Lane Kiffin responds-- go ahead, you go ahead then I'll get to Kiffin's response.
PAT FORDE: Yeah, no, he said that we've always had parity. When exactly? Certainly before Nick Saban was the coach at Alabama, maybe. And even then, I'm not sure we did.
DAN WETZEL: They used to be able to sign like 170 scholarships and stuff. Like Bear Bryant and Woody Hayes, like that whole era of guys, they'd have like 170 players on the team. And guys would wait to be a senior to play, and that just kept the players away from the other schools in their conference. There's never been parity, that's the whole point.
PAT FORDE: But there's arguably less parity at the top right now than there's ever been, because of Alabama.
DAN WETZEL: Lane Kiffin went-- apparently was listening or got wind of it. Originally said, "I love the GOAT, but Coach, are you feeling OK?" He then tweeted Paul-- to Finebaum-- did you tell Saban what that word means? Parity equals the state or condition of being equal, especially regarding status or pay.
PAT FORDE: Alabama "ruiner of parity" wants parity. OK.
DAN WETZEL: Saban's 183 and 25. I don't think he wants parity. The NFL had parity. He hadh parity when he was with the Dolphins.
PAT FORDE: Yeah, and he was 6 and 10.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah, it's not that much fun.
PAT FORDE: We are in that season, OK? There is no football going on. And so it's the offseason and so-- and there are a lot of issues swirling, so coaches are asked about the issues. And we get to see exactly who's tethered to reality and who is not, as we've seen with many of the quotes from people about NIL and collectives and players getting paid, and now apparently in parity as well.
Coaches who are like-- does Nick Saban go to work every day thinking that everybody in the SEC West has an equal chance to win the SEC West? If so, I guess that keeps him working hard, but it ain't realistic.
DAN WETZEL: I'm sure Mississippi State or Arkansas-- I mean, they'd be happy if Nick wants to share some of his recruits.
PAT FORDE: Yeah, you think?
DAN WETZEL: You know, I noticed Mississippi State's defensive line is a little-- a little light this year. So I got a couple dudes. You take them for a-- you know? Yeah.
PAT FORDE: Yeah, we got a 6'7", 300-pound edge guy that's not really performing. How about if you take him?