FINALLY - someone in "national media" gets it (mostly) right about Brandon Miller (SI had it too and deleted it)...

[CajunCrimson]

To put it another way the would-be "scribes" (and Pharisees?) amongst us will understand, one might (might) infer criminal intent from Miller's actions, while Mitchell's actions implied positively reeked of criminal intent.

Saban may have been tone deaf, doesn't strike me as such, but even if so he's earned his deafness down the years with the second chances offered, lest we forget, to miscreants subsumed in a violent sport.

Nick made this about him. Uncool

 

[Isaiah 63:1]

So, it may have backfired but Saban may have said it this way one to take heat off Coach Oats and send a message to his own players about recognizing the situation you are putting yourself in. He is sending a message about situational awareness...

CNS is imperfect, as we all are; perhaps to a lesser degree, but imperfect nonetheless. If you're the EVP of a division of a major company (roughly Saban's equivalent in the Fortune 500 world), you're expected to know enough about company and industry context not to say something like what CNS said; and he shouldn't need PR counsel to know that; at his level (in any field), it's generally a prerequisite. I have trouble seeing how CNS word choice makes sense here.

As for the university's PR staff, I have no idea how good it is, but I can tell you from experience that some clients are better at taking and heeding counsel than others. Once the mikes come on or the reporter starts the interview, it's no longer on the PR person...

 

[Bama Lee]

CNS statement are wholly consistent with messages that he has made in the past. There is no new epiphany here. His messages are meant for his team (players and coaches). He crafts statements directed at them and know one else.

 

[uafan4life]

That settles it, the university has no PR staff and I will not believe any one who says otherwise.

Well - based merely on grammar and spelling - newspapers and other journalistic publications don't employ editors anymore, so...

 

[TideEngineer08]

CNS statement are wholly consistent with messages that he has made in the past. There is no new epiphany here. His messages are meant for his team (players and coaches). He crafts statements directed at them and know one else.

I don't think anyone believes he was not primarily directing this at his team.

However, if he truly did not understand how this would be taken in light of the Brandon Miller/Nate Oats situation, then he is stupid beyond belief. And I do not believe he is in any way stupid.

So what are we left with? I can think of nothing good.

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

I don't think anyone believes he was not primarily directing this at his team.

However, if he truly did not understand how this would be taken in light of the Brandon Miller/Nate Oats situation, then he is stupid beyond belief. And I do not believe he is in any way stupid.

So what are we left with? I can think of nothing good.

Maybe he doesn’t really give a crap how it’s taken. And honestly I don’t really care either. The media will be on to something else 15 minutes from now.

 

[mdb-tpet]

Maybe he doesn’t really give a crap how it’s taken. And honestly I don’t really care either. The media will be on to something else 15 minutes from now.

I'm with you. I don't care how his statement can be taken out of context of his football team and staff and twisted to mean something contradictory for a basketball player/coach. He's being exceptionally consistent with his football team and STUPID act from a new football player. Coach Saban is NOT being "stupid" as some have said. He's being consistent, even if another coach at Alabama has said something exactly the opposite about a totally different situation. I'm moving on to the next controversy.

 

[Tidelines]

I pay about as much attention to Goodman and his type as I do a used car salesman. Water off a ducks back.

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

Nick made this about him. Uncool

By talking about a different player in a different sport on his team getting suspended and nick Saban giving his opinion on his player being suspended. He made the Brandon miller situation about Nick Saban??

 

[TIDE-HSV]

By talking about a different player in a different sport on his team getting suspended and nick Saban giving his opinion on his player being suspended. He made the Brandon miller situation about Nick Saban??

The problem is the breadth of his comment. It sounds like it applies to all situation and it's factually wrong. There definitely is the circumstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I pay about as much attention to Goodman and his type as I do a used car salesman. Water off a ducks back.

You know you shouldn't talk about used car salesmen that way.

 

[Con]

Maybe he doesn’t really give a crap how it’s taken. And honestly I don’t really care either. The media will be on to something else 15 minutes from now.

This is my thinking. We want him to return to the "old Saban", well this could be it.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Maybe he doesn’t really give a crap how it’s taken. And honestly I don’t really care either. The media will be on to something else 15 minutes from now.

The media will never move on to another story as long as the basketball team is winning.

 

[JamieSPC]

He is a full-time writer for Bama Central which is SI's local affiliate for Bama sports.

Thank you, and that makes sense. Whether it's a fan piece or the hometown coverage... just standing by my opinion on the concept. There's no way that stuff gets vetted all the way up the chain pre-publish. At least, that's true of every platform I've seen like that. When it got called to editorial management's attention (likely as it started to get traction on social), it was GONE.

And Goodman is getting clobbered on Twitter.

I'm a Thompson football dad. I hate this for Tony. But Goodman SHOULD be getting clobbered. Everything journalism is supposed to be... clarity, nuance, deeper-than-surface reporting... is getting "clobbered" by, sadly, the T News.

I agree with all of you that if we have anyone minding the PR store (doesn't look like we do), they should've been fired in January. But the truth is there is no comparison between the Miller and Mitchell situations.

Tony (again, sadly) actually broke the law. And Saban's "comment" isn't even applicable. Tony wasn't in the wrong place at there wrong time. He WAS the WRONG.

 

[bamadwain]

Does anyone know if this is what Tony Mitchell told Coach Saban " Wrong place, Wrong time" but with what has been said he ( Tony Mitchell) couldn't deny it and coach was just stating what was said and it's not a jab at Coach Oats?

 

[CajunCrimson]

By talking about a different player in a different sport on his team getting suspended and nick Saban giving his opinion on his player being suspended. He made the Brandon miller situation about Nick Saban??

Yes. Because at a time when Nick needed to speak up, he didn’t. Then he chose a time when it all was starting to calm down to say something. So yes, if you’re paying any attention to social media, he made this totally about him.

 

[crimsonaudio]

What Brandon Miller did was in no way even remotely similar to what Mitchell was doing.

From what was reported, Miller was acting as a designated driver for his friends and arrived to pick them up at a situation he had not been involved in. He cooperated fully with police as a witness.

Tony Mitchell was apparently dealing drugs and endangering lives while driving at an extremely high speed trying to avoid police.

There are no similarities whatsoever in what Miller did and what Mitchell did, so to think they should be dealt with in similar fashion would be totally foolish.

You sound like someone without an agenda - you'd never make it in news media.

 

[CB4]

I really don’t see any comparison with the Brandon Miller situation and that of Tony Mitchell, unless CNS is trying to make a case that Mitchell’s association with Christophere Lewis (passenger in car) and Miller’s association with Darius Miles and Michael “Buzz” Davis we’re both “bad decisions”. And even that is an “apples to hubcaps” comparison.

Miller was on the periphery of a situation where he was a witness. And by all accounts, completely truthful and cooperative with his testimony corroborated by the facts. Clearly a situation that CAN BE accurately described as “wrong place at the wrong time” (however tone deaf the comment may come across).

Mitchell was directly involved in the action of which he is accused, in possession of almost a half pound of weed, scales and $7000 in cash. And when the stop was attempted, Mitchell (the driver) fled reaching reported speeds in excess of 140 mph. That isn’t “wrong place at the wrong time”. That is just plain stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions. No “wrong place, wrong time” analogy is applicable.

Maybe CNS was trying to send a message to his team that the “leash is short” in terms of off the field screw ups going forward. If that is the case, he sure picked one “around the world, try to connect the dots” method to verbalize it.

 

[CajunCrimson]

My concern is that Nate just says “it’s not worth it” and bails

 

[BamaMike05]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1638611020783538176

Looks like everything is fine. I guarantee you Saban wasn't "taking a shot" at anyone.