Coastal Carolina head coach Joe Moglia isn’t seeing eye-to-eye with Alabama boss Nick Saban’s comments on not knowing when the recent U.S. election took place.
The two head coaches preached opposite political sentiments during the U.S. Election. Moglia encouraged his team to vote, going so far to bus Costal Carolina players to the polling station together as a team. Saban, meanwhile, avoided election comments like the plague. In a press conference following the election last week, the Crimson Tide head coach said he “didn’t even know yesterday was Election Day.”
Moglia told Myrtle Beach Online that he was disappointed with Saban’s no-comment stance.
“The reason I’m disappointed, No. 1, he’s the highest-paid public employee that exists in the United States, but it’s far greater than that for me,” Moglia said following his weekly press conference. “The threat of terrorism is probably going to be with us for the next couple generations. So it’s the military that has to protect us, and I don’t think ever before in the history of mankind has the world needed the economic and military leadership of the United States.
Moglia called Saban’s comments “disrespectful,” adding he couldn’t believe Saban claimed to not know the election took place.
“… In a democracy we get a chance to pick those leaders. So to pick the leader of the free world last Tuesday was the most important thing going on in the world that day, and to not realize that and not to be aware of that frankly is disrespectful to his team, to his school, to his state, to the country. There’s still a piece of me that can’t believe he even said that.”
The comments about terrorism aside, Moglia chastising Saban’s idiotic comments is appropriate. Saban’s platform in Alabama is massive, and while he’s not obligated to speak out on politics, at least urging students and players to take place in the democratic process of the U.S. election was the least he could do.
Playing dumb and claiming he didn’t know the election took place was a silly route to take. Saban, like Moglia, didn’t need to take his players on a bus trip to polling stations, but at the very least, he could have done something to encourage his group to vote.
