SEC Spring Meetings

DESTIN—Nick Saban joined other SEC coaches at the conference’s annual Spring meeting in Destin, Florida. Saban met with other coaches for about four hours on Tuesday. At the meeting, Saban said he was glad to be back in the conference.

He also said he has “respect” for Les Miles, according to the Press-Register.

“I didn’t really have a previous relationship with Les. I respect what he has done,” Saban said. “I don’t have any bad feelings for him. I can’t speak for him, though.”

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The Press-Register story also provides a rundown of other hot topics at the league meeting including talk about Saban’s contract (still causing some envy) and potential early signing period in football.

Saban also discussed the recruiting allegations coming out of South Florida. He said the allegations were “funny” and that “it is hard to prove what you didn’t do.”

Of course, Saban pointed to one source for the problems in South Florida—the media.

MEDIA
Nick Saban blames the Miami media for creating a “toxic” environment following his departure from the Dolphins, according to Scott Rabalais of the Advocate.

And just like I said the other day, who feeds the much of the negative media? The Shula family. Today’s Scarbinsky column talks about Dave Shula. Of all the Shula comments in the media, this one is the least anti-Alabama since it deals with the family attempting to keep the steakhouse open in Birmingham.

However, much of the toxic environment mentioned by Saban is induced by the Shula family’s negative comments. And if you don’t think they were selling negative stories to the media much like a political candidate pushes stories or a PR agent lobbies the press for stories, then you don’t understand how the media works.

I’m not saying this is an anti-Alabama conspiracy like some readers claim. What I am saying is that lazy (or just sloppy) sports writers who have very few original ideas, and who are easily influenced by either their hatred of Saban or celebrities pushing an anti-Alabama agenda have created this “toxic” environment.

The same situation can be seen in the Alabama media. When the Montgomery Advertiser’s Josh Moon wrote the Saban trash piece earlier this year, why did he do it? His obvious Auburn bias helped feed the desire to attack Alabama. And this core bias is what has injured the credibility of the press.