Alabama coach Nick Saban took the higher road when asked to respond to recent comments from former assistant Tim Davis.

Davis, who worked for Saban with the Miami Dolphins and at Alabama for a total of three years, is currently Florida's offensive line coach. He called Saban "the devil himself" and said he was glad to be working for UF coach Will Muschamp, another Saban protege.

"It's a tough, demanding job. And at the same time, if anybody had an issue or problem with me, I would want them to just tell me," Saban said.

Davis was the director of player personnel at Alabama in 2008. Prior to that, he was the Dolphins' offensive line coach under Saban for two seasons.

"I've always wanted to work with Will," Davis told the boosters. "Will's got a plan. Will coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three. He did seven. And his DNA is not any different than Nick."

Saban has taken criticial comments in stride before. In the height of recruiting after Alabama's national championship win over Notre Dame, rival coach James Franklin at Vanderbilt referenced Saban as "Nicky Satan." Franklin said the comments were made in jest and meant to be a joke, but later apologized.

"It's just disappointing," Saban said Thursday. "If somebody has a problem with me, I'd appreciate it if they'd tell me. If I'm doing something to offense somebody, I'd certainly like to do whatever I have to do to fix it. It's not our intention. It's not what we try to do. We're in a tough business. It's very competitive. Sometimes you've got to demand that people do things that maybe they don't want to do, but it's not personal."