Nick Saban says he was scared in the moments after Tennessee’s victory against Alabama, and Saban said that Jermaine Burton was scared, too.
That seems to be the reasoning that Saban used when he made the decision to play Burton in Alabama’s 30-6 victory against Mississippi State rather than suspend his receiver for striking a female Tennessee fan. A video surfaced after Alabama’s 52-49 loss to Tennessee of Burton reaching out and making contact with a fan in the wild moments immediately following the game.
It was bad.
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Should Burton have been suspended for hitting a fan? Should he have been kicked off the team for striking a woman? These were fair questions after Saban said earlier this week that Alabama was gathering more information about what happened. Let’s not downplay any of this because it was a serious situation that demanded critical attention.
Obviously, and this should go without saying, but striking a woman cannot be excused. Burton was wrong for what he did. Period.
After looking into it, Saban said he made the decision not to suspend Burton, but to provide counseling for his player. As for Burton’s playing status, he started against Mississippi State and contributed to the blowout victory on Saturday night.
Here’s everything that Saban said when I asked him after the game against Mississippi State about what went into the decision to play Burton.
“Look, I don’t know how many of you have been in a situation like that, but I talked to him,” Saban said. “He was scared. I was scared. Some of our other players were scared. I think you learn to respect other people because we have a responsibility to do that regardless of the circumstance that we’re in.
“And, I talked to the guy. We have him in a counseling program. It’s not an anger management program, which people announced today. Nobody ever said that. That’s not the problem. That’s not the issue.
“But it’s about having the proper respect for other people. And I didn’t think it was necessary to suspend the guy. So, if you knew the whole story, then maybe you wouldn’t either, but I’m not going to divulge that.”
That doesn’t pass muster for me, and Saban is leaving out critical information for reasons that are hard to understand.
Part of me appreciates Saban standing by his player through this unfortunate situation and taking the brunt of the criticism, but that doesn’t mean Saban made the right call here in playing Burton or even allowing him to remain on scholarship with the team. It’s fair to question Saban’s decision on this, and remember this moment. Some level of discipline seems appropriate, or even warranted, for Burton’s actions.
Am I missing something here?
Apparently, yes, according to Saban, but he then said he wouldn’t offer an explanation about what it could be. Saban is a great coach, and I respect him, but he’s not above being questioned for playing a player who hit a female fan a week earlier, and he’s not above being criticized for an evasive answer about something so important.
I shrugged off the boilerplate rhetoric from talking heads this week about Alabama slipping competitively, but the decision to play Burton requires a closer look.
Does it benefit Alabama to play Burton? Yes. Does Saban gain a level of trust from recruits for backing a player even under these controversial circumstances? Potentially.
Saban has opened himself up to these questions with his decision.
There’s another way to look at this, too. For team building, does backing Burton help Alabama create better team chemistry? Players were scared, Saban said.
Scared? Scared of what, exactly? Fans rushing the field, or was it something else? It was chaotic after Tennessee’s win against Alabama, and so I can understand a certain level of fear in those moments.
When asked about the decision to play Burton, Saban’s tone was weirdly condescending, considering the circumstances. Of course it was appropriate, and necessary, to ask about the decision. This is a big deal, but questions remain.
The video wasn’t clear enough to see exactly what happened, but it was a disturbing sequence of frames nonetheless. Did Burton smack the woman, as someone claiming to be the fan alleged? It’s hard to tell by the amateur video shot from the stands of Neyland Stadium, but it was certainly enough contact to question how Alabama was going to handle the controversy.
Saban’s dismissive answer missed the mark.
Counseling is vital, and it’s good that Alabama has those valuable resources for its players. It also has the best coach in college football history, but for a lot of people that’s going to mean something different after today.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.