Saban agrees penalty for leaving sideline a necessity, but thinks new rule is overkill

ByALEX SCARBOROUGH
July 12, 2017, 11:55 AM

— -- HOOVER, Ala. -- Nick Saban isn't thrilled about a new rule that will penalize coaches for coming off the sideline to argue a call.

The penalty -- a 15-yard unsportsmanlike foul -- is a step too far, Alabama's head coach said at SEC media days on Wednesday.

"It's almost like taking a sledgehammer to a fly," Saban said.

Saban agreed that something needed to be done about coaches going too far, admitting that he's been guilty of crossing the line before. But he noted, "There was a rule before."

"I hope that this is not a circumstance and situation that affects a game in the fall," Saban said. "because it is pretty restrictive. But it is what it is. It's the same for everybody. We're going to do the best we can to manage it."

Saban said he understands the predicament officials are in. His father, Nick Sr. was an umpire in baseball ?growing up.

In a game fraught with intensity, Saban said it's going to take coaches being very cautious on the sideline.

"We've always had a get-back coach," Saban said of the person in charge of holding coaches back from leaving the sideline. "And we think we need more than one maybe."

Said SEC head of officiating Steve Shaw: "The goal is not to flag coaches, not in any way. The goal is really to change coaching behavior, keep them -- and if they stay in the white, if they stay on the boundary, they'll be given all of the latitude that they've gotten over all these years, but if they come out onto the field of play, then it's going be an unsportsmanlike conduct foul."

Saban has been critical of some changes in college football this offseason. In the spring, he came out strongly against a rule that would put restrictions on high school coaches working summer football camps.

With kids still coming to camp and no coach to bring them, Saban wondered whether it would open the door to "third-party" guys to taking on that responsibility.

"I don't understand the spirit of the rule," Saban said. "I don't really know why we're doing it. I really don't. I think sometimes we pass rules and don't really understand the consequences, and there's a lot of unintended consequences, and you think you're solving one problem, but really in reality you're going to create 10 more. I think it's bad for football, I think it's bad for high school coaches."