SI invoking the name of Saban in the Pruitt Scandal

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Is this the kind of thing Texas A&M coach and former Saban assistant Jimbo Fisher had in mind when he challenged reporters in May to “dig into how God did his deal”?

“God” was Saban, of course. Fisher was going back at his former boss—hard—in response to Saban saying that A&M “bought every player on their team” via recruiting inducements disguised as name, image and likeness deals.

“We build him up to be the czar of football,” Fisher ranted. "Go dig into his past or anybody who’s ever coached with him. You can find out anything you want to find out … what he does and how he does it.”

Fisher raised the questions and then shrank from offering specifics, as he and Saban and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey worked strenuously to make the shocking crossfire disappear. Two months later, we get the details on how a former Saban assistant and his staff allegedly broke NCAA rules with impunity.

Maybe he learned it in Tuscaloosa. Or maybe he’s just a unique simpleton hired by a flagrantly unqualified athletic director, the result of a truly absurd moment in Tennessee football history. Either way, losses plus probation give Jeremy Pruitt his one claim to fame: He’s the worst SEC hire of the 21st century.

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