Former Alabama HC Nick Saban Throws Massive Shade at Rival SEC Program

The Flordia Gators came away on Saturday with their second victory of the season. The Gators came away with a much-needed victory against Mississippi State, 45-28. The Gators entered the 2024 season with high hopes, but so far, even with their two victories have been lackluster at best.

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There has been a ton of heat toward Gators head coach Billy Napier. Through four games, Napier is already on the hot seat. Still, former Alabama head coach and future Hall of Famer Nick Saban believes the problem with Florida is deeper than Napier.

The former Alabama head coach pointed out the issue on ESPN College GameDay on Saturday prior to Florida’s Week 4 contest.

“Well, I think maybe the problem isn’t the coaches,” Nick Saban said. “You know, they’ve been through four coaches since Spurrier and Urban Meyer, who both created a tremendous culture of winning there. And sometimes the fanbase can just think ‘Well we can show up and expect to win.’ And not commit to the program that you need to make to be able to continue to make the changes and investments you need to make to keep up with changing times.”

Saban added that from Florida’s NIL collective to facilities, he isn’t convinced they are where they need to be.

“Things change. … They should’ve taken advantage of building better facilities when Urban Meyer was there. What’s there collective been like?” Saban asked. “How have they adapted to this new model of college football? So it’s not just the coaches. When you’ve been through four coaches that haven’t had success, there’s something else that people should be looking at.”

Under Napier, the Gators now hold a 13-16 record. Even with other competent coaches like Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, and Dan Mullen, they have struggled to win consistently in Gainesville.

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit also weighed in on Napier and Florida’s struggles throughout the years. Herbstreit pointed out that Florida hasn’t done a great job of providing the best to its players.

“It’s amazing, I didn’t realize – I just assumed Florida has great facilities,” Herbstreit said. “I didn’t realize they just finished their facilities a couple of years ago. I go back and I think about the Dan Mullen era, it’s like what was so bad about the Dan Mullen era? I mean they were winning a lot of games. … I’m sure they would love to have that era back.”

The Gators picked up a much-needed win today, and they’ll look to carry that momentum forward.

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