Even retirement won’t allow legendary Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban to escape being part of the college football lexicon.
Another coach’s comments on Alabama’s illegal recruiting tactics, as well as Saban’s own admission to tampering this past spring, have surfaced allegations and questions about the Crimson Tide’s talent acquisition strategies.
Transfer Portal Rumors: Did Crimson Tide Steal Miami (OH) Kicker Graham Nicholson?
When Miami (OH) head coach Chuck Martin was asked about “losing” his star kicker, Graham Nicholson, he didn’t mince words, speaking the usually unspoken truth about college football tampering.
“We didn’t lose him. He’s at Alabama. We know exactly where he’s at,” Martin said.
“You media people, it’s all pretend. Alabama stole our kicker. They illegally recruited our kicker and stole him from us. That’s a fact, but we act like it’s not. We live in this la-la world, like, ‘Hey, let’s not talk reality.’
“I don’t know why because everybody knows what is going on. Alabama stole our kicker. Couple other schools tried to get him, but — okay, what’s the question?”
In 2023 with the Redhawks, Nicholson became the first player from the MAC to win the Lou Groza Award for the nation’s top kicker. He is 60 of 71 (84.5%) for his career, including 27 of 28 (96.4%) last season.
Current Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer responded to the allegations, saying, “I don’t know anything about that — that comment. Yeah, he entered the portal, and we reached out to him. So, that’s how it goes, right? We did everything that we were supposed to.”
Nick Saban All But Admits to Tampering With Former Toledo Standout Quinyon Mitchell
Those allegations from Martin carry a little more weight considering Saban’s own admission of attempting to poach Toledo corner Quinyon Mitchell from the Rockets even though Mitchell wasn’t in the transfer portal.
“(Mitchell) was our No. 1 guy in the portal last year to try to get him to come out of the portal, and he would never get in the portal,” Saban said on ABC during the 2024 NFL Draft.
For college football, tampering is defined as when a coach or other party tries to persuade a player to enter the transfer portal to enroll at another school.
NCAA rules prohibit coaches from contacting players before they submit their names to the portal, and it’s also impermissible to contact an enrolled student-athlete at another institution.
The worst kept secret in college football is the prevalence of tampering in recruiting, specifically a Power Four program siphoning talent from a Group of Five team, like Alabama allegedly did to Miami (OH) and tried to do Toledo.
Saban’s affinity for the MAC and attempting to coerce their players likely stems from his time in the conference. He played in the MAC at Kent State (1970-1972) and won a MAC title as the head coach at Toledo in 1990, leading to his induction into the MAC Hall of Fame.