Lane Kiffin was probably speaking on behalf of a lot of college football fans Saturday when responding to some recent comments by former boss Nick Saban.
On Friday, Saban appeared on “The Paul Finebaum Show” and said he wanted to see increased parity in college football. The Alabama coach said he thought it would be good for the sport if everyone had the same resources and were guided by the same regulations.
“One of the things I’d like to see us be able to work back to is everything in college football has always had parity: same scholarships, same academic support, healthcare, whatever it is,” Saban said, via Mark Heim of al.com. “I don’t think we have that balance right now which could affect the parity of college football and athletics as a whole.”
Plenty of people scoffed at Saban’s remarks, questioning how the leader of the most dominant and successful college program in America could be advocating for parity. One of them was Kiffin. The Ole Miss coach took a friendly shot at Saban in a pair of tweets Saturday, asking whether Saban even knows what the word “parity” even means.
Saban’s definition of parity would not actually bring a level playing field to college football. Even if it were somehow possible to implement Saban’s ideal world, it would largely be rendered moot as long as Alabama continued to attract the best players and sign the top recruiting classes. Plus, parity of resources is basically impossible when some schools are able to build multimillion-dollar football facilities and infrastructure that other schools simply cannot match.
Kiffin has plenty of admiration for Saban, but he’s also willing to tweak his former boss from time to time. The Ole Miss coach is entirely justified in doing so here.
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