Good thoughts.God forbid that a journalist do his or her job by lowering the temperature. You know, Johnnie Cochran went "police planted the glove" - and the media went with that. "Cochran claims cops who never met until the night of the murder conspired on the spot to frame Simpson" would have been doing their actual jobs since that's exactly what he was alleging.
I concur up to a point.
OTOH - maybe Saban is laying down the "don't come to me when you find trouble with, 'Coach, I was just at de wrong place at de wrong time'" for his own players, too.
But yes, taken truly literally, Saban's response does sound tone deaf.
One final point: Sworn testimony, particularly from a cop, not only carries more legal weight, it carries legal protection for journalists who use the information in their stories -- even if it's proven wrong. That helps explain why the same language keeps popping up.