During a wide-ranging and entertaining (except when I was talking) segment of Tuesday’s PFT Live, former Patriots V.P. of player personnel and Chiefs G.M. Scott Pioli reacted to the recent comments from former Dolphins assistant coach Tim Davis regarding former Dolphins head coach and current I’m-not-going-to-be-the-Alabama-coach Alabama coach Nick Saban.
Davis called Saban “the devil,” and Pioli called Davis out on that.
Reminded that Saban said in response that he was “terribly disappointed” by the comments, Pioli agreed. “I’ve got to be honest, I was terribly disappointed,” Pioli said. “You know, I know Nick Saban, I’ve worked with Nick Saban for a number of years back in Cleveland. First of all, I didn’t like it for Nick. I know Nick is a tremendous coach and he’s a tough worker and he’s a tough boss but I know a lot of people who are tough bosses.
“I’ll say this about Nick, though: I think he’s tough but he’s fair. He doesn’t ask anything of people that he hasn’t done himself or that he won’t do himself.”
Pioli also pointed out the inconsistency between the subsequent claim from Davis that it all was a joke to the lack of an apology from Davis. There’s another inconsistency that undermines the comments; Davis worked two years for Saban at Miami, and then later accepted another job with Saban at Alabama.
"[Davis] spends a year out of football, can’t get a job, Nick creates a position at the University of Alabama to help a guy who’s been unemployed he shows his loyalty to the guy, brings him in, creates a position, pays him. This guy made the choice to come work for Nick and now a couple years later, he’s bashing a guy who really helped him,” Pioli said. “And to me this is something within the industry that I really struggle with, Mike, because I’ve see it happen to Bill Belichick, I’ve seen it happen to Bill Parcells, I just don’t understand the mentality of people who are given opportunities, they seize the opportunity, they get paid, and then some time in the future they start to air dirty laundry or their hard feelings toward someone. I just don’t understand why people can’t keep their mouths shut and move on. So, to me, it’s one of these trends in sports that I see, that I just, truly
disappoint me.”
Looking at it that way, it really is disappointing that Davis would fire public shots at Saban, in jest or otherwise. If Saban was “the devil” or something close to it, Davis knew it based on their time together from 2005 to 2006 -- and yet Davis signed up for another tour of duty in 2008.
And if it was all a joke, it was a bad joke from a guy who benefited from Saban’s willingness to hire him not once, but twice.
The ultimate message is fairly simple. If you have a problem with your current boss, find a new one. And if you had a problem with a former boss, try not to accept another job offer from him.