Jimbo Fisher took heat Sunday on social media for a comment he made when asked his thoughts on the college football conference re-alignment over the last week.

“Unfortunately, we’re in a time now, everybody’s fighting over the dollar,” Fisher said.

The sentence, of course, was met with negative reaction. Fisher, after all, has a deal worth $95 million through 2031 last season, even with a record of 13-11 over the last two seasons. In October, AL.com reported Fisher’s buyout was $85,950,000. When that figure was reported Fisher and the Aggies had just lost to South Carolina, 30-24. He was 4-6 in his last 10 games at the points.

Then, of course, there was last year’s headline-grabbing comments from Alabama coach Nick Saban about Texas A&M buying players. Saban took the direct swipe at his SEC opponent as he answered a question about NIL and its nascent impact on the sport.

“(Texas) A&M bought every player on their team,” Saban said May 18, 2022. “Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player. Aight?”

So, naturally, you could see why people would consider Fisher’s comment hypocritical Sunday.

While Fisher’s quote circulated the Internet, it was merely the last sentence of a fairly long statement. There’s no doubt the comment was hypocritical, but Fisher did make interesting points. He specifically said he acknowledged both sides of the argument.

Here is the statement about the conference re-alignment and west coast schools joining the Big Ten:

“Nobody likes it because it’s too strung out. I heard the argument today how about the kids? How about the travel? The volleyball team? The baseball team? The soccer team? The gymnastics team. You’re talking about 3,000 miles.

“That’s one of the things I like about the SEC. It’s still within our footprint, which I think makes it a lot easier on the kids.

“In hindsight, I’m not saying I like it, but I understand the administrative standpoint of it. If you get left out of it from a financial standpoint of it, you become insignificant. I get both worlds of it. You have to be careful what you create as the monster that is college athletics.

“Like I said, is it a perfect world? No, but it is inevitable. Change is inevitable. It’s going to keep happening. …

“There’s a lot of things that are bad about it, but I also see the other point of view. You’re an administrator and you are out of those conferences, what do you do? … The growth of a school? Athletics is huge. The branding, the marketing, look at numbers when you have good years. … It’s a significant part of a university.

“Unfortunately, we’re in a time now, everybody’s fighting over the dollar.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.