Assistant Bama Strength Coach Suspended for Providing Clinton-Dix with Money

Published on 3-Oct-2013 by Stacey Mickles

Football - NCAA    NCAA Football Daily Update

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Assistant Bama Strength Coach Suspended for Providing Clinton-Dix with Money

Forgive Alabama coach Nick Saban if he seemed a bit snippier then usual in his press conference, but he had to get a few things off his chest.

First of all, he announced the indefinite suspension of one of his best defensive players, HaHa Clinton-Dix, for a violation of team rules.

Saban didn't say what the suspension was for or how long Clinton-Dix would be gone. But reports are now coming out that an assistant strength coach with the team has been put on leave for providing money to Clinton-Dix

The amount is said to be less than $500. If reports are true, Dix could be off the team or made to pay the amount back before he's allowed to play again. 

"I'm going to be consistent. When guys get suspended, I never ever say what it's for. All right?" Saban snapped. "So, I'm not going there, so don't ask me. It's the way it always happens. Every guy."

"If they do right, they wouldn't be getting suspended. I don't know for how long this will be, so don't ask me that, either. That's the only new news we have right now."

Yikes! He didn't sound like he was in a good mood, but to be honest, when is Saban ever in a good mood?

The Tide's top honcho also took time out of his busy evening to take a shot at ESPN's NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper Jr for hyping players such as Cyrus Kuondrjio before the draft and putting what he sees as unrealistically high expectations on an athlete.

 "I hate it when Mel Kiper and all these guys say this is the No 1 guy at his position. They don’t know that. They don’t even have an idea, a’right?  And most of the teams haven’t even evaluated them yet when they are an underclassmen. But what it does create is an expectation that this guy is the best left tackle that’s ever played the game. So every time he gets beat, it’s like he’s not playing very well. But the fact of the matter is, he still plays pretty well. Has he gotten beat a few times? Yeah. Is that unusual for any player? Probably not.”

Frankly, that had to be said.

After what Saban has had to dealt with this season to date -- the Clinton-Dix suspension, several others, and a possible NCAA violation by another one of his players -- maybe he's right when he says he may be getting too old for this kind of stuff.

Hear that, Texas?

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