Hopefully this transfer saga can be over now that the SEC has ruled and Maurice Smith has transferred to UGA.
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Great, it's over, but it should have never lasted this long in the first place. All Nick Saban is guilty of throughout this process is standing up for a rule that the SEC put in place (not the coaches fyi) to govern transfers. The SEC could have easily stepped in weeks ago to settle the matter but instead opted to let Nick Saban and Alabama become the villains.
Sports Illustrated writer Andy Staples puts it very well in a piece published today, here is an excerpt:
"The SEC announced on Friday afternoon that Smith would be granted a waiver to a league rule that would allow him to play immediately. This is the correct decision, because the rule is a bad one in the first place. But the decision came at the wrong time. Instead of letting its most successful coach get blasted as being anti-athlete news cycle after news cycle, someone at the SEC should have stepped in much earlier in this process.
This never had to become a national debate. Had someone at the SEC told Saban earlier this month that Smith would get the waiver, then Saban—who is nothing if not pragmatic—probably would have simply released Smith and saved himself the negative headlines. He stuck up for the league's rule, but the league didn't. Had Saban known the SEC would cave, he probably would have released Smith weeks ago."
Smith is right on with his opinions that the SEC should not have let things go this far, but the damage is done and hopefully now we can move on, Tide fans can just add this to the list of attacks the haters will bring in 2016.
You can read Staples' full article here.
