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A national recruiting site CEO called Nick Saban out for bullying local media in a now deleted post. Shannon Terry, founder of On3 Sports, blasted the Alabama head coach online for his apparent strong-arming of local reporters.
The message received immediate backlash on social media, leading Terry to delete the post and apologize on Monday.
Terry’s not the first major sports personality to criticize Saban’s relationship with the media. Tim Brando and Paul Finebaum had similar views earlier this offseason.
In his now-deleted post, Shannon said, “Going to take some bullets for this one, but it needs to be said. I have tremendous respect for coach Saban as a coach and CEO. He is the greatest college coach and college coach CEO in history. But the way, he treats the local sports media is disrespectful and uncivil.”
He continued on to say that Saban treats the national media with a much different respect than he does his local crews.
“If he treated Herbstreit similarly, I would have no problem with the way he treats the local team. But he doesn’t! The press group in Alabama needs to start punching back. They deserve the same respect as the Herbstreits, Lows, Thamels, etc.”
Fans and followers online immediate responded, with many threatening to boycott Terry’s On3 Sports news coverage for the bullying take about Nick Saban.
The criticism led to an apology from Terry, which came on Sunday.
Yesterday, I crafted a tweet criticizing Saban and how he treated the local media. I deleted the tweet after thinking more about the take. The Alabama SID/Saban has been tremendous to our orgs and BOL over the years. Plus, I commented on something that was out of my lane. My job…
— Shannon Terry (@ShannonTerry) September 4, 2023
“Yesterday, I crafted a tweet criticizing Saban and how he treated the local media. I deleted the tweet after thinking more about the take… I plan to learn from this mistake.”
While Terry has since retracted his comment, he’s not the only one thinking it. Paul Finebaum said just last week that he held the same gripe with the Alabama coach.
“What I don’t like – and everybody in Alabama gets mad – is the bullying of the media. Don’t bully people because you can. [Nick] Saban has made a career of bullying people who are weaker than him… It’s not a good look.”