I disagree with this statement. It has just as much if not more to do with recruits than coaching. Gerry Dinardo and other coaches who are "nice" or "nicer" than Nick Saban have plenty of players in the NFL. Bear Bryant had quite a few also. Has nothing to do with being an icehole, no doubt that coaching and recruitment play a role but you don't have to be the Ayatollah for kids to make it to the NFL!
Bobby Knight attracted great kids for a while at Indiana, but after a while, after some of his worst incidents and stories about players quitting his team because he was an overbearing ahole, the great kids quit coming and he quit winning championships. He became irrelevant at Indiana. His Tech teams are sound and aggressive on D, but he's still irrelevant on the national level. Will the same happen to saban? Time will tell. But there are some other good coaches out there in the SEC and you don't have to spend 4 miserable years anywhere. Suppose saban pushes too hard, trying to make up for his failure in Miami? Most kids that transfer for playing time don't walk off complaining about the head coach not treating them with respect.
But players like JR may find the Ayatollah when they get there..... ALAMEDA, Calif. -- The Oakland Raiders canceled the final week of their offseason training program Friday after complaints from the NFL players' union about the intensity of the practices. In a brief statement, coach Lane Kiffin said the players' union believes the Raiders' offseason program violated league rules on practice standards. "The union has complained about the high level of intensity, player aggressiveness and fast pace of our practices and, as a result, has taken away the final week of our offseason program," said Kiffin, the NFL's youngest and least experienced head coach. The Raiders won't hold next week's scheduled offseason activities, which were expected to be mostly weightlifting sessions.
I didn't say you HAD to be an ahole to have you players in the NFL. I'm sort of comparing it to the armed forces. In basic training, the drill instructors are hardly nice and I think that maybe every person that has been through the rigors of every basic training branch has at least thought in their head that the intructor was an ahole. I guess I am comparing it that way. In the end, they are always thankful for the hard @sses they have to answer to. Like I said, it's accountablilityon the field and off.... Please excuse me if this didn't make sense...Wonderful 24th birthday filled with alcoholic beverages! :thumb:
There should be a doubt here...from the players I've spoken with in the last few months I haven't heard a peep about him being an *******. Demanding? Sure. It's a "do it right the first time" kind of approach. It's my opinion, and only an opinion, that you are getting caught up with the stories which are better described as rumors.
I agree with that statement, but have to interject this report lacks a lot when it comes to the facts of the matter. Neither of the two QB's ahead of Barnes on the roster (who work out with him daily) said there was ounce of truth in this story. In fact, JPW literally laughed at the article...to the point his Mom addressed him about using the term "bull****" at the family dinner table.
