Nick Saban Takes a Not-So-Subtle Jab At Alabama Hoops Coach After Suspending Freshman For Arrest

L. Nick Saban R. Nate Oats

Alabama’s head football coach Nick Saban suspended a freshman player and took a not-so-subtle jab at the school’s men’s basketball coach Nate Oats for comments surrounding star basketball player Brandon Miller.

After Jamea Jonae Harris was fatally shot in the early morning of Jan. 12, police arrested former Alabama player Darius Miles and Michael Lynn Davis for allegedly shooting at a car she was riding in near the campus. Police told a grand jury that Miller supplied the gun for the deadly shooting after being summoned to the eventual crime scene by Miles, who asked him to bring the weapon.

At a press conference later that afternoon, the head basketball coach gave a remarkably tone-deaf press conference over why Miller was still with the team.

“We knew about that,” Oats said. “Can’t control everything everybody does outside of practice. Nobody knew that was going to happen. College kids are out; Brandon hasn’t been in any type of trouble, nor is he in any type of trouble in this case. Wrong spot at the wrong time.”

Alabama football cornerback Tony Mitchell was arrested on Wednesday and charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to sell and/or deliver. A passenger in his car was charged with the same crime and carrying a concealed firearm without a permit. According to a police report obtained by AL.Com, Mitchell drove 141 mph as he evaded police.

The head football coach met with the media on Monday after the team’s first spring practice, and he announced that the freshman cornerback will not be with the team.

“Tony Mitchell has been suspended from the team and all team activities until we gather more information about the situation and what his legal circumstance is,” Saban said. “Guys, everybody’s got an opportunity to make choices and decisions. There’s no such thing in being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“You gotta be responsible for who you’re with, who you’re around, and what you do. Who you associate yourself with and the situations you put yourself in. So it is what it is, but there is cause and effect when you make choices and decisions that put you in bad situations,” he said.

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