Saban will find crowded pond in Tuscaloosa By Ivan Maisel ESPN.com Wealth just triumphed over imagination. The power of college athletics once again ran right up the middle against higher education. Alabama's hiring of Nick Saban takes everything that is skewed about college football, shines a spotlight on it and says, "Hey, watch this!" Which, if memory serves me, is a punch line to one of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" jokes, as in, "Has anyone in your family died after saying, 'Hey, watch this!'?" Yep, Alabama done gone and bought itself a football coach. Read the rest of the story . . .
Great article For instance, Saban, for all his success, has found a reason to leave the last three coaching jobs he's had. At Michigan State, he didn't like being The Other School to Michigan. If Saban wins and bolts, as he did at Michigan State and LSU, or if he fails to win $32 million worth of games, Saban will have done more to make Alabama football smaller than anything the three Mikes ever did. The way to success in the SEC, as Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida have illustrated, is to hire coaches on their way up who will build programs that last. That Moore chose to spend the money to hire Saban shows how desperate the university is. It's an all-or-nothing bet, and the early line is pick 'em. Those are my favorite quotes. Everyone is playing the Saban quote now where he says he's not going to coach at Alabama. The guy is taking hits and has lost respect as a person as far as his word is concerned. The only ones that have blinders on and not listening are the Bama fans.
Pat Forde of ESPN has a real zinger too. Calls saban a "LIAR". http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2718798 PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. -- With Nick Saban en route to a coronation in Tuscaloosa, it's officially time to change the vocabulary used to describe college coaches. "Integrity" is out. "Character" is out. "Teacher" is out. "Leader of men" is out."Liar" is in. Joel Auerbach/US Presswire Nick Saban was 15-17 in two seasons as the Dolphins' head coach. I can see this whole thing blowing up in Bama's face.
What do you expect these wieners to say? ESPN looks like the idiots ans sh*theads that they are. A month of laughing at Bama for wanting to get a good coach. Herbstreit was the only objective talking head at espn.
Don't be angry about the Alabama fans for Saban. Miami stole him from you, not us. We just want a team to cheer similar to the one you guys have. We just want to see our tram in a BCS Bowl occasionally also. Agree with picking an up and coming coach. I was hoping for Paul Johnson from Navy. He is outstanding!!! However, the leaders have made their choice, and I will be the loyal fan and support my team and new coach. In any event, good luck tonight and go kick some Notre Dame ass.
Yes - LSU fans shouldn't be mad at the Alabama fans, and I don't think they are. They are mad at Saban.... just two years after leaving a LSU team he supposedly loved (and of course SAID he wouldn't leave - but later did), he's now willing to coach against LSU each and EVERY season (and for the next two years, the kids he recruited)? Don't you think that makes sense that it leaves a bad taste in mouths of LSU fans? Come on... it isn't Bama; it is any team in the SEC West that takes him two years after he left LSU. Bama fans have to understand that the Bama AD/Boosters and Nick Saban have created what I fear will be the nastiest rivalry in the SEC for YEARS to come. It is just a fact.
Maisel can say nothing else. He was one of the chorus of ESPN know-it-alls that said there was no way Saban would even consider the Alabama job. His suggestion that Alabama go the route of Auburn, Georgia, etc is sort of misleading too. Georgia took a chance with an assistant, but Auburn didn't. They hired a head coach from another SEC school who said the only way he'd leave Oxford was in a pine box. This, after firing a coach who took them to a perfect season. I believe that much of Tubberville's success is tied to Alabama's missteps in the coaching arena. Tennessee doesn't look too much like a program that will last, it looks like one that's ready to implode. I'm not convinced that Saban is the be-all end-all for Alabama football. Only time will tell. It's for sure though, Bama fans have a lot more reason to be optimistic than we've had with the last four "up-and-coming" coaches to grace our campus. JMO
