Nick Saban denies offering Zach Smith a job at Alabama
A day after beginning fall camp with Alabama, Nick Saban finds himself tied to the recent document release by Ohio State concerning former assistant coach Zach Smith.
Friday, Ohio State released several documents of texts and emails that were part of an investigation last fall on former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer and what he knew about a domestic violence allegation made on Smith by his wife. One of those documents included a text exchange between Meyer and Smith in January of 2018 in which the head coach encouraged the assistant to stay at Ohio State instead of leaving for Alabama.
Saban addressed the matter during a news conference Saturday, stating while he did interview Smith, a job offer never materialized.
“You know, I talk to a lot of people about jobs,” Saban said. “I think that we do background checks, and we do reviews on people and we decide if we want to hire a guy or we don’t want to hire a guy. I think it’s pretty common that sometimes people get interviewed at someplace or someone calls and shows interest in them — the way that this profession works is that you go in and use that as leverage to try to improve your situation where you are now, especially if you have job or you decide that that’s a better opportunity for you.
"We talk to a lot of coaches about a lot of things. I really never did offer this guy a job. We did interview him, and he did a nice job in the interview. But when we did the background check, and we decided that there was a better opportunity to hire somebody else, and that’s what we did.”
According to the documents, a text message from Meyer to Smith read: “After much thought, I want u to stay. I have personally invested far too much in u to get u in position to take the next step. U need to step away from other situation and let’s go win it all… again.”
Another read: “We got u through the [expletive] — now go be a difference maker in the staff room.”
Smith responded: “Yes sir I agree. They offered me the job and I wanted to sleep on it last night before deciding but it doesn’t feel right. I love this place, my players and am loyal to you for everything you’ve done. I just want to grow and keep my career on track but I’m confident that’s here. I’m ready to be a difference maker and ready to win it all again. I appreciate everything coach.”
While Alabama was never addressed in the exchange, a separate conversation between Meyer and Ohio State President Michael Drake revealed that Saban had supposedly offered Smith a job.
“Zach Smith was offered wr/passing game coord at Alabama,” Meyer told Drake via text. “Went there to talk to Saban. At first thought maybe he should go then decided that all effort I’ve put (into) him and it’s Alabama. I told him to stay and he turned it down. Every f—— day it’s something.”
The text exchanges came six months before Smith was fired by Ohio State. Alabama went on to hire Josh Gattis as its co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach. Last season, Gattis helped the Crimson Tide rank No. 6 in the nation in total offense, averaging 522 yards per game. He also played an instrumental role in developing Biletnikoff Award winner Jerry Jeudy.
Gattis left to take the offensive coordinator position at Michigan this offseason. Alabama replaced him by hiring Holmon Wiggins as its receivers coach.
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