Nick Saban Denies Reports He Ever Offered Zach Smith a Job at Alabama
By Jerry Trotta
Nothing like a little Nick Saban drama to get us ready for the impending college football season.
In January of 2018, the Alabama head coach met with controversial former Ohio State assistant Zach Smith about offering him a position with the Crimson Tide. Well, fast forward to Saturday, and Saban confirmed that he did NOT extend a job offer to Smith, in a subliminal, yet brazen shot at the former Buckeye staff member.
Saban on Zach Smith: I really never did ever offer this guy a job. We did interview him. … When we did a background check we decided it was better to hire someone else.
— Alex Scarborough (@AlexS_ESPN) August 3, 2019
Of course, Saban's revelation comes less than 24 hours after Urban Meyer's text message conversation allegedly confirmed that Smith had been offered the same position on Saban's staff.
It's a shady look for the the Alabama boss, but he made sure to note why the university reportedly elected to search elsewhere when asked about the predicament on Saturday.
Nick Saban said he interviewed Zach Smith in 2018 but didn’t offer him a job after doing a background check.
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) August 3, 2019
Saban was looking for offensive assistants ahead of the 2018 season after the lauded Brian Daboll left for the NFL. Shortly thereafter, he elected to promote from within -- Mike Locksley to OC and Josh Gattis as the WR coach and co-OC. Both, ironically, are now at different schools.
As we know, Saban is obsessed with winning (his five championships says it all), but even a coach of his prestige wouldn't stoop as low as to hire a man with a history of alleged domestic violence.