Terry...you are taking this way to seriously. My original post starting this thread was simply a theoretical question. I never meant to imply that Saban was in play. On Lowder, et.al., let's just say they are little smarter than they were a few years ago:grin: I have NO evidence that the bama is fanning the rumor fires on Tubs. Do I think so? Damn right I do. :grin:
On who's the better coach... Saban is a much better recruiter, but Tubberville does more with less. Overall, I'd say they are pretty even as far as who's the better coach. Tubberville had a winning record vs Saban even though Saban had more talented teams (refs also favor AU at home, but that's beside the point).
LSU is on a different level than Ole Miss & Auburn. They don't have near the resources that Saban had access to here.
I'd prefer to grade it looking at career winning percentages- Tuberville has a .662 winning percentage over 145 games in 12 years; compared to Saban with .685 through 135 games in 11 years. Not much discrepancy in that context is you ask me.
Does the fact that Dan Marino never having won a Super Bowl mean he can't be the greatest QB? Who's a better hitter, the guy who consistenly gets you a base hit or the one hits it over the wall............if he doesn't strike out. In the context of the two coaches, the consistency speaks to their abilities- the "Big ones" are about a lot of things falling into place- incidently, Saban's problem isn't winning the "Big ones", it's the Lil ones he needs to work on. :lol: Saban can't sniff Tuberville on the "Big ones" if we define them as ranked teams.
That's fair. Don't get me wrong, I think Tubs has done a good job down on the Plains. A thought I had yesterday but didn't post it seems to have some bearing here. I'd have to look back at the records and climate of Auburn pre-Tubs to know this answer but let me ask you this tiga. Do you think CNS walked in to a situation at LSU that was on par with the situation CTT walked in to at AU?
I don't know if it's "Fair" Terry, there are so many intangibles that go into defining a "Good" coach. I kinda meant it in fun to show we can conveniently take different facts/figures in making a case one way or the other. As far as your question, I'd say, "No", Saban inherited a lot of talent when he took the team and I'm not familiar with who was on Auburn's roster in TT's first year but because AU was 10-3 in '97, then went, 3-8 the next year, and TT's first year they only winning two conference games- I guess the roster was lacking........or was it lacking "Good coaching"? I know there was a huge turnaround his second year with a 9-4 record and a win over Bama in Tuscoloosa so maybe he had more talent than I recall........or was it "Good coaching"? Here's a look at what Saban had shelved upon his arrival: Saban has his work cut out to do what TT has- five Western Division titles- outright championships in 2000 and 2004 and co-championships in 2001, 2002 and 2005, in the same amount of time. He basically wins at least a share every other year. Just an interesting sidenote, Saban was the recipient for the Bear Bryant Award in 2003. :grin:
