Nick Saban has brushed off Shane Gillis’s viral ‘cheater’ joke on College GameDay last week – before issuing a hilarious putdown to the comedian.
Gillis, a big Notre Dame fan, joined Pat McAfee on the ESPN show ahead of his team’s big game against Indiana and couldn’t resist the chance to taunt legendary ex-Alabama coach Saban on the panel.
Speaking to McAfee about his hopes for Notre Dame, the Tires star said it ‘felt different’ because ‘now that everybody can pay their players Notre Dame has a shot. Not just the SEC and Coach Saban.’
In an awkward exchange, Gillis went on to refer to Saban as ‘Alabama Jones’ – a joke about his hat making him look like Indiana Jones – before the college football great went on the defensive.
‘I do believe in integrity,’ Saban said before adding: ‘I always tried to run the program that way, so that players had a chance to be more successful in life.
‘That was how we cheated. We developed players.’
Nick Saban has brushed off Shane Gillis’s viral ‘cheater’ joke on College GameDay
Gillis joked that the legendary Alabama coach used to pay their players back in the day
One week on from the frosty moment, the 73-year-old was quizzed about Gillis during an appearance on McAfee’s week-daily sports talk show on ESPN.
And his response left McAfee and the crew in stitches.
‘He was trying to be funny, which I get it,’ Saban said. ‘My daughter Kristen loves him. So that’s kinda soothed the soul a little bit that somebody in our family likes the guy.’
Saban stepped away as Alabama coach earlier this year at the age of 72 after an iconic 17-year spell in charge.
He won a total of seven national championships and coached more Heisman winners than anybody in history.
Fans watching on from home were loving the tension between Saban and Gillis last week.
‘Seeing how mad Shane Gillis just made Nick Saban — while Nick was wearing that hat — is the peak of comedy,’ one fan said on X.
Another wrote: ‘Incredible TV moment. Just when I didn’t think I could love Shane Gillis more – he went and called the GOAT “Alabama Jones”. Coach Saban answered it perfectly too.’
A different comment said: ‘Shane Gillis calling Saban “Alabama Jones” made me snort laugh,’ while another fan picked up on the tension between the two men.
‘You just know Nick Saban hates Shane Gillis’ vibe,’ they wrote.
McAfee himself seemed to enjoy the moment too – tweeting it out with the caption: ‘You’re a bad guy, Shane Gillis.’
