Texas A&M Wanted SEC To Punish Nick Saban For Comments Made About Buying Players, Emails Show

The punishment for Nick Saban in regards to calling out Texas A&M for allegedly buying its recruiting class could've been worse if the Aggies got their way.

According to emails obtained by On3.com, the Aggies athletic department wanted more than a public reprimand.

After Nick Saban made his statement in Birmingham, saying that the Aggies 'bought every player' in the 2022 recruiting class, Texas A&M president M. Katherine Banks, Athletics Director Ross Bjork and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey exchanged emails about the path forward, the morning of May 19.

NICK SABAN SAYS TEXAS A&M ‘BOUGHT EVERY PLAYER ON THEIR TEAM’

Part of the email obtained by On3 stated that the SEC should look into punishing Saban with monetary or participation penalties.

“Coach Saban’s statement is false, beneath the dignity of the SEC, and corrosive to the fabric of sportsmanship in college football as a whole and especially within the SEC. We expect the league to take strong, public action against Coach Saban and the University of Alabama to demonstrate that such unprofessionalism and disrespect for Texas A&M’s student-athletes, coaches, and the university as a whole, will not be tolerated."

Towards the end of the email, Aggies made it clear that the league should consider other avenues of punishment.

"The league should also consider monetary and participation penalties against Coach Saban," the Aggies further stated.

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Also, according to the emails, over the course of a few hours that following morning, Greg Sankey and Jimbo Fisher had multiple conversations, where Fisher told the SEC Commissioner he would be holding a press conference.

Sankey ended up telling AD Ross Bjork that he cautioned Fisher not to violate the sportsmanship policies that Saban had done the previous night.

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher talks with Alabama head coach Nick Saban at Bryant-Denny Stadium on September 22, 2018, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Crimson Tide defeated the Aggies 45-23. (Photo via Getty Images).

We all know how the next few hours went, as Jimbo Fisher went in on Nick Saban, while the SEC publicity reprimanded both coaches.

During the SEC meetings in Destin, Saban further stated that he didn't say the Aggies broke any rules and Jimbo Fisher added that the situation is over.

SEC MEETINGS: NICK SABAN TRIES TO REVERSE FIELD, HE HAS ‘NO PROBLEM WITH JIMBO AT ALL’

I highly doubt this spat is over, we'll be a SEC Media Days in just over a month.