'Bought every player on their team:' Star SEC coaches spar over NIL compensation

The Southeastern Conference spring meetings will be held in person for the time since 2019 in a little less than two weeks.

It is unlikely two of the SEC's superstar coaches will be chumming around Destin, Florida, together.

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher called Nick Saban a "narcissist" on Thursday after the Alabama coach accused the rival Aggies of using name, image and likeness deals to land their top-ranked recruiting classes. Saban apologized a few hours later but generally stuck to his stance and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey followed soon after with a public reprimand for both.

So much for a quiet off-season.

The public spat is perhaps the ugliest display of the growing angst among college coaches who are wrestling with two big changes: The NIL compensation era launched last July and its impact on recruiting, and the ease with which players can now transfer. Both have upset the landscape veteran coaches are used to, leading to complaints and now scathing accusations.

Less than 24 hours after Saban said Texas A&M was essentially "buying" players, Fisher called an impromptu news conference to blast college football's most accomplished coach and his former boss at LSU.

"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," Fisher said in College Station, Texas. "The narcissist in him doesn't allow those things to happen — it's ridiculous — when he's not on top. And the parity in college football he's been talking about? Go talk to coaches who have coached for him. You'll find out all the parity. Go dig into wherever he's been."

Texas A&M had the consensus No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2022 after beating Alabama during the regular