Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher is dominating on the recruiting trail, but he’s not pleased with how his success is being portrayed after Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin alluded to the recent NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rules being the reason behind the Aggie’s success.
“There is no $30 million fund,” said Fisher on Wednesday. “There is no $5 million, there is no $10 million. This is garbage,” Fisher said. “It pisses me off.”
Fisher was referring to a rumor that A&M had access to a $30 million fund that helped to pay for their recruiting class. The rumor came from an internet message board user named “Sliced Bread.”
“It comes from a site called ‘Bro Bible’ by a guy named ‘Sliced Bread’ and then everybody runs with it,” Fisher said. “So it’s written on the internet and it’s gospel. How irresponsible is that?”
Fisher said it was insulting to the players he’s recruited to insinuate that the NIL rules were the reason for choosing A&M.
“We’ve got writers who have said it off a guy named ‘Sliced Bread,’ who made it up,” he continued. “And then to have coaches in our league and across the league say it? Clown acts. Irresponsible as hell. Multiple coaches in our league.”
Jimbo Fisher teed off on Lane Kiffin, Nick Saban, college football writers, the Internet and everyone saying A&M is buying recruits with NIL money. Enjoy: pic.twitter.com/kcxyT211aC
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 2, 2022
On Tuesday, Kiffin joked about Texas A&M heading into the “luxury tax” due to their incoming recruiting class.
“We don’t have the funding resources as some schools with the NIL deals. It’s like dealing with salary caps,” Kiffin said. “I joked I didn’t know if Texas A&M incurred a luxury tax with how much they paid for their signing class.”
Also on Tuesday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban said that Alabama is not using the new NIL rules to recruit players to play in Tuscaloosa.
“When we start using name, image, and likeness for a kid to come to our school, that’s where I draw the line,” he said. “Because that’s not why we did this.”
Fisher went on to make a veiled threat regarding the recruiting tactics of other coaches.
“I know how some of those guys recruit, too,” Fisher said. “Go dig into that. I know the history, I know the tradition, and I know things. Trust me. You don’t want to go down that avenue. It’s ridiculous, and it’s irresponsible. It’s unbelievable. And I ain’t just talking about one. Multiple people got NIL issues … The hypocrisy is an absolute joke.”
“It’s funny. When Nick Saban said his quarterback got [an] $800,000 deal, it was wonderful. Now it ain’t wonderful no more, huh? We ain’t got that. Ours are on record what comes up. We didn’t do a lot of big deals,” Fisher continued.
Texas A&M’s 2022 signing class is ranked number one in the country by CBS Sports, and the war of words should make for a pretty fun college football season in the SEC.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].