On Tuesday, Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis told a Gator booster club that head coach Will Muschamp was a lot like their old boss Nick Saban in terms of planning.  But that’s where the similarities ended according to Davis:

“Will coached under the devil himself for seven years.  I only did three.  He did seven.”

Asked about that comment on Wednesday, ESPN’s Mark May sacked Davis with this verbal bullrush:

“I don’t know Tim Davis, but my opinion, he’s a classless backstabbing coward.  You’re talking about a guy in Nick Saban that gave you an opportunity to coach.  He gave you an opportunity to move up in the coaching ranks, so you could support your family, put food on the table, clothes on their backs.  Not for one years.  He gave you the opportunity for three years on his staff (two with the Miami Dolphins, one with Alabama).

If you have a problem with Nick Saban, pick up the phone, put you big-boy pants on and man up and say, ‘Coach, I got a problem with you and here’s why.’  You don’t go out in front of some group of friendly fans out there and say that about Nick Saban, a guy that gave you an opportunity to be a coach.”

Fifteen yards, unnecessary roughness.

Look, it was dumb of Davis — kidding or not — to publicly refer to a fellow coach as “the devil himself.”  If for no other reason than the fact that he should know that in this day and age it would become a national story that he, the other coach (Saban) and his current boss (Muschamp) would all get caught up in.  Dumb thing to say.

But to blast him as a coward?  That might be a bit over the top.  For one thing, perhaps Davis has put on his big-boy pants and called Saban.  Perhaps Davis isn’t pleased with the way things ended in Tuscaloosa.  The coach served as Saban’s O-line coach in Miami in 2005 and 2006.  He remained with the Dolphins in 2007 and then joined the Alabama staff as Saban’s director of player personnel in 2008.  In 2009, he left for Minnesota where he became the Gophers’ run game coordinator and offensive line coach.

At the time, Saban said nice things (whether he meant them or not) to the press:

“This is a great opportunity for Tim in terms of his position as offensive line coach and running game coordinator.  We’ve had the chance to work together here at the University of Alabama as well as with the Miami Dolphins, and Tim has been a hard worker and done an excellent job with each and every responsibility he’s had.  I know Tim is looking forward to getting up there in a coaching capacity that puts him back on the field interacting with the players.  He’ll do a great job with Coach (Tim) Brewster and the Minnesota program.  We wish Tim and his family the best.”

When Davis left the feeling was that Joe Pendry was about to retire as Bama’s offensive line coach.  Instead he remained on the job through the 2010 season.  Jeff Stoutland then replaced Pendry and worked with the Tide linemen in 2011 and 2012.  This offseason, Mario Cristobal was hired to replace Stoutland, who left to join the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.

Whether Davis and Saban had a falling out about the assistant’s role at Alabama — director of player personnel versus actual on-field coach — seems to be the big question.  And no one but those inside the program would know just how that situation was handled by both parties.

Either way, Davis goofed by making his comment publicly.  And May went way, way too far in his overreaction.

Watch it below…

SEC Football

1. Missouri now has nine commitments in its class of 2014 after Blue Valley West, Kansas offensive tackle Michael Fairchild and Nasvhille, TN cornerback  Finis Stribling verbally committed on Monday. Fairchild’s father played college ball at Kansas and professionally for the New England Patriots.  Stribling’s coach was impressed  by Missouri’s efforts at recruting in the Volunteer State. “I have noticed a more concerted recruiting effort inside the state lines. They’ve done probably the best of anybody in terms of getting information out and mailing it to kids.”

2. Alabama line coach Mario Cristobal is a big fan of big lineman.  California JUCO lineman Dominick Jackson is the latest in a string of offers to 300+ pound lineman.  He lists Alabama alongside UCLA as his two favorites.  ”I am a West Coast guy, but my dream has always been to play in the SEC.”

3. Auburn coach Gus Malzhan on the Tigers recruiting philosophy: ”It’s all going to start in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, but we’ll nationally recruit, and our guys are doing that.”

4. How is Auburn’s Dameyune Craig making an impact in the Mobile area? ”I don’t know what he does outside of football, but it can’t be much because he’s always recruiting.”

5. Auburn’s top five wide receiver recruiting targets for 2014.

6. 2013 LSU signee  Quantavius Leslie has reportedly gained his academic eligibility and will enroll in June, The JUCO wide receiver played at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Miss.

7. Former Penn State quarterback Steven Bench made an official visit to South Florida this week.  He’ll visit North Carolina State this weekend and Mississippi State next week.

SEC Basketball

8. No Andrew Wiggins for Kentucky, but the Cats recruiting class still considered the best in the country. 247 analyst Jerry Meyer: “It’s still kind of ridiculous, with six guys in the top 15,”

9. Memphis, Tennessee point guard Chris Chiozza is Florida’s first commitment in the class of 2014. ESPN recruiting analysti Dave Telep: “He’s a fearless player. Defensively, he’s a pest. He latches on to you. Offensively, he’s improved to where he’s a reliable scorer.” Chiozza chose Florida over Ohio State, Memphis, Ole Miss, Murray State and Butler.

First, what’s said at a booster club probably shouldn’t make national news.  But in a world with social media, cell phone cameras, and booster events attended by media members, what’s said at those luncheons and dinners does make national news.

For that reason, Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis probably shouldn’t have said this in front of a Gator fan club yesterday:

“I’ve always wanted to work with Will (Muschamp).  Will’s got a plan.  Will coached under the devil himself for seven years.  I only did three.  He did seven.  And his DNA is not any different than Nick…

Will’s like the other guy, only he’s got a personality.  He’ll smile at you.  He’ll talk to you.  You understand?  that’s what he’s all about.  That’s Will.  I’m proud to work for him.”

Right.  And here comes Prince Charming now:

Davis is the second SEC coach to make a Luciferian reference to Saban this offseason.  Vanderbilt’s James Franklin called Alabama’s coach “Nicky Satan” at a high school awards banquet in Georgia back in January.  He later called the Tide’s coach to apologize.

At least Davis made his comment in front of Florida fans.

Of course, the fact that Davis actually worked with Saban in the NFL and for a year at Alabama makes his comment seem a bit more serious than Franklin’s poorly-timed joke.

Earlier today we told you that Auburn’s six-person panel looking into the the school’s athletic department had generally given AD Jay Jacobs good marks, though they did find “room for substantial improvement.”  With the backing of the committee and president Jay Gogue, Jacobs now says he’s ready to start fixing an athletic department that’s recently suffered through a shocking drop in football, ongoing struggles in basketball, and a barrage of bad press off the field.

Speaking yesterday, Jacobs said Gogue’s “expectations are high” but that he intends to meet them:

“What comes next sits squarely on my shoulders…

I think that in the business we’re in, your job is always on the line.  I think I’m going to be here for a while, and I look forward to the challenge of taking this program where Dr. Gogue and I and all the Auburn fans expect it to be.  I’m up for the challenge.  I’m ready to move forward.”

He won’t be moving forward alone.

Not only did his boss put together a panel to review Jacobs’ running of the AU athletic department, it turns out he also hired JMI Sports as consultants to aid Jacobs.  That hire was made back in December.

JMI Sports says its company mission is to “increase revenue, reduce costs, recruit and retain top coaches and administrators, mitigate risk by identifying and implementing innovative solutions to the issues facing collegiate athletics today.”  In other words, JMI Sports do what an athletic director and his staff are supposed to do.

As we noted earlier today, it’s better to get a vote of confidence (even if it comes with a team of consultants to help you do your job) than it is to receive your termination papers.  But Auburn’s athletic director — as well as anyone in the state of Alabama who can read between all these lines — must know that Jacobs is treading on shaky ground heading into the 2013-14 academic year.

Twitter lit up with photos of shiny, flashy rings yesterday.  Auburn fans, you might want to look away.

The BCS championship rings presented to Alabama’s football players are now on display (you can see other angles here).  You’ll note the traditional Alabama “A” is topped off by three footballs, one for each of Crimson Tide national crown in the last four years.

Alabama’s 13-1 record is featured on the side of the ring as is the final score from the Tide’s 42-14 win over Notre Dame in January’s BCS title game.

We’ve gone down this road ourselves a time or two (or three) over the years, but it’s good to see others are in agreement: Good football coaches are worth the millions they are paid.

When it comes to football coaching salaries, yes, they may be too high in the grand scheme of things.  In a perfect world — at least in our view — educators and ministers and social workers and others who dedicate their lives to the well-being and growth of others should be paid more than a guy who draws Xs and Ox on a chalkboard.  But we don’t live in a perfect world.  We live in a world where colleges depend on multi-million dollar football programs for cash and exposure.  Because of that, successful college coaches aren’t overpaid at all.

Tom Van Riper of Forbes Magazine made that case yesterday when writing of Alabama’s Nick Saban:

“If you think that a top college football coach earning seven figures is overpaid, think again.  To appreciate just how modest Saban’s $5.3 million salary is, take a wider look around campus.  Since 2007, Tuscaloosa has swelled its undergraduate ranks by 33% to over 28,000 students.  Faculty count has kept pace: up 400 since 2007 to over 1,700.  But it’s more than growth — it’s where the growth is coming from.  According to the school, less than a third of the 2007 freshman class of 4,538 students hailed from out of state.  By the fall of 2012, more than half (52%) of a freshman class of 6,397 students did.  Various data from US News and The New York Times shows that the school’s out-of-state tuition cost — nearly three times higher than the rate for in-state students — rose from $18,000 to $22,950 a year during that period.

Add it up — more students from outside Alabama paying ever-increasing premium tuition bills — and the school realized $50 million more in out-of-state tuition revenue for last fall’s incoming class than it did for the same class in 2007 ($76 million vs. $26 million).  Kick in the additional $8.5 million in in-state tuition, which rose to $9,200 a year from $6,400 over the same period, and overall tuition revenue rose to $104 million from $46 million for the respective 2012 and 2007 freshman classes.  And to boot, the school’s most recent capital campaign (i.e. donations from alumni and others) raised $600 million for scholarship and facilities, the most ever.”

One can debate whether a school’s mission should be to educate the people of its area or to make more cash by luring in students from elsewhere.  One can also debate how much focus a school should place on athletics.

What’s not up for debate is the fact that successful coaches bring in more money — through increased ticket sales, increased merchandise sales, donations, exposure on national television, etc — than they are paid out.

That’s not just true of football coaches.  While the guys on the gridiron typically earn more, winning basketball coaches like Kentucky’s John Calipari can also up a school’s revenues.  And while a monocled professor of advanced themodynamics or Sanskrit might argue, those increased revenues do aid the school as a whole… not just its athletic department.

With athletics serving as the best advertisement for a school, hiring and paying a successful football or basketball coach is nothing more than an investment of the university’s funds.  Officials at Alabama and Kentucky can tell you that sometimes a big investment can result in big rewards.

New Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson says last year’s AU team was “a lot better than a three-win team”
LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis says that his rebuilt defense has “got to build depth”
Georgia OL Chris Burnette says the Bulldogs’ offensive line can be one of the greatest in school history
Florida G DeVon Walker has changed his mind and decided not to transfer
Auburn president Jay Gogue has written a letter to Auburn fans supporting AD Jay Jacobs
Tennessee has fired its director of the Office of Student Judicial Affairs after reports surfaced of inappropriate relationships between the director and student-athletes
Tennessee is investigating the situation
Follow SEC football, basketball and recruiting all year long at MrSEC.com

Florida has hired former BCS championship-winning QB Chris Leak as a quality control coach
Georgia junior OL Kolton Houston is still fighting to be cleared by the NCAA…
During his high school career he was given a steroid to treat a shoulder injury, but Houston says he was unaware of what he was taking…
He and Georgia are appealing a lifetime ban handed down by the NCAA
Alabama coach Nick Saban said last week that he is in favor of the biggest five conferences playing only amongst themselves in football…
Saban’s comment continues to get national coverage as the debate over rich schools versus poorer schools rages
Follow the SEC all year long on MrSEC.com and twitter.com/mrsec

It was the kind of decision that typically winds up permanently affixed to a coach’s bio.  Like Tom Osborne’s decision to go for two — and the win — against Miami (FL) in the Orange Bowl in January of ’84.  Like Les Miles’ decision to eschew a field goal, risk the clock running out and throw for the end zone against Auburn in 2007.

Faced with a bang-bang decision and a clock quickly working its way down to double zeroes in last December’s SEC Championship Game, Georgia coaches elected not to spike the football to stop the clock.  Instead Aaron Murray completed a pass short of the goal line on the game’s final play and Alabama secured the SEC title and a berth in the BCS Championship Game by protecting the final five yards of Georgia Dome turf.

Five months later, UGA offensive coordinator Mike Bobo now says the Dawgs were ready with one more call had the final seconds not evaporated.  Interestingly, that play would have come from Urban Meyer’s old playbook and not Georgia’s:

“We had actually gone back to, I don’t know what it was, it was one of the Florida-Alabama games, where Alabama had given up three red zone scores to Florida (2008 SEC Championship Game).  It was a play that Florida had actually ran against Alabama.  It was an empty set, and had two primary frontside, and a double-slant backside.  It was something from ’08 or ’09 that Tebow had completed against them.  Because I remember after that game, (Alabama defensive coordinator) Kirby (Smart) was talking about how, ‘We just couldn’t stop them in the red zone.’  So we just studied that hard…

We had some plans, we just didn’t have a chance to call those plays.”

Bobo, saying his team will have to learn to live with the end of the 2012 SEC title game, admitted that “I don’t think we’re ever gonna get over that game.”

You can find highlights of that game below:

SEC Football

1. The case of Georgia offensive lineman Kolton Houston is becoming a national story.

2. High expectations have arrived quickly at Texas A&M. Kevin Sumlin better be ready, writes Barrett Sallee.

3. Alabama’s current dynasty is the fourth best of the AP era, according to Braden Gall. Here are the top 25.

4. From Athlon Sports: Will LSU or Texas A&M finisher higher in the SEC West?

5. Tennessee’s recent hires show the importance of “familiarity and trust” for the program.

6. Georgia safety Tray Matthews is one of ten early enrollees to watch this fall.

SEC Basketball

7. Here’s an early projection for the upcoming SEC basketball season. (Andrew Wiggins’ decision pending)

SEC in the NFL

8. “The sky’s the limit” for Cam Newton with the Carolina Panthers, according to offensive coordinator coach Mike Shula.

9. Former Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker is trying to embrace a leadership role with the San Diego Chargers.

10. Former SEC players Sam Montgomery and D.J. Swearinger are reunited in Houston after playing together in high school.

11. Tyler Bray is happy to have a shot with Kansas City after making “a lot of mistakes” during his time at Tennessee.

Extra

12. What if there were an NFL team made up of former Alabama and LSU players? Let’s look.

13. Let this be a lesson to other young players: former NFL WR Titus Young was arrested for the third time in a week.