Comedian Shane Gillis revealed a heated conversation he had with legendary college football coach Nick Saban after the former suggested the latter’s Alabama Crimson Tide had cheated while he was there, on ESPN’s “College GameDay.”
Gillis spoke on the “Talk of the Town” podcast, where he discussed what led to the situation in which the comedian said Saban “freaked me out.”
First, Gillis told Saban’s “College GameDay” colleagues, Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit, that he thought Alabama had dominated college football because they had been paying players before it was legal to do so through NIL agreements.
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Comedian Shane Gillis will begin a world tour in January 2025. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for the Bob Woodruff Foundation)
“After I said that, we had to go into the stadium to sit at the desk, I went in there and he [Saban] It was like, ‘I heard what you said,'” Gillis said. “And I was like, ‘Holy shit,’ and then McAfee and Herbstreit were like, ‘He’s just busting your f*cks, dude.’
“‘He loves to mess with guys. Like he’s literally fucking with you,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, okay. I’ll fuck with him again.'”
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Gillis’s antics did not go down well with Saban, as the comedian doubled down during his December 20 appearance at the Notre Dame-Indiana college football playoff game.
“I was just joking. I don’t think the SEC has ever paid players,” Gillis said on the broadcast. Isn’t this a fun show? Is this a serious show? “Alabama Jones looks very serious.”
Nick Saban hosts the ESPN College GameDay show ahead of the first round of the College Football Playoff between Notre Dame and Indiana on Friday, December 20, 2024 in South Bend. (Michael Clubb/South Bend Trubube/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
“Alabama Jones” referred to Saban, who wore a hat similar to the one Indiana Jones wore.
Saban responded to Gillis and certainly meant business.
“I believe in integrity. I always tried to run the program that way so the players would have a better chance of being successful in life,” Saban said. “We made more money in the NFL than any other school, 61 players in the league. That’s how we cheated. We developed players.”
After the cameras went off, Gillis said Saban was really upset after McAfee and Herbstreit told him to go talk to him.
“So, I went up to him afterwards and he said, ‘Do you think the SEC dominated because we cheated? That’s nonsense…’ It made me angry,” Gillis said.
Comedian Shane Gillis will begin a world tour in January 2025. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for the Bob Woodruff Foundation)
Saban is well known for his six national titles during his time in Tuscaloosa, when the Crimson Tide became a college football powerhouse. He also led the LSU Tigers to the BCS National Champions Game after the 2003 regular season.
