....with Bobby Williams joining the LSU football coaching staff AND leaving a pro job to return to working with Coach Saban, I wonder where all the people who said(mostly Mich. State & Tulane fans) that Saban was a poor coach and he was unpopular up there because none of his assistants made the transition with him. So what are they saying now?????
Actually Williams was let go by Mariucci and the Lions after this year. I still think it is great that he has come to work with Saban again and it definitely speaks about the mutual respect that each coach has for each other.
I guess I could have been more clear, but that sentence seemed like it was on the threshold of being a run-on... I knew he was let go by the Lions, but that he could have continued to look for a job at the pro level....
Most have changed their minds or are backtracking and practicing CYA with a story that goes something like this: A few years ago, Saban was indeed an a-hole coach and a mean boss who would run off assistants by the dozen. Many like to cite the story of how Saban invited his entire staff to come down to LSU and sent the plane up to East Lansing and how not a single MSU assistant came down with him. Saban, according to these geniuses, discovered the error of his ways right then and there, and vowed to change his mannerisms and make his assistants more comfortable and be less callous and overbearing toward them. I actually see it this way; Saban hires professional, career driven assistants who are quickly ascending in the college football world. Most of his assistants who leave take promotions elsewhere. Most of the Mich. State coaches stayed because they knew almost everyone would be getting a promotion and probably because many of them legitimately saw Michigan State as the better long-term oppurtunity. Little did they know that Bobby Williams, great WR coach that he is, simply isn't head coaching material. That's just the way it goes.
My understanding of the situation when Saban left was that MSU offered all of the asst's a raise and did everything possible to keep them there so Williams could keep the staff intact as much as possible. Could be wrong but that's how I remember it. GEAUX TIGERS!!!! :geaux: :helmet: :lsug: :helmet: :geaux:
Its funny the impression one can get of a coach at just 1 football game. Let's face it, I haven't watched a Michigan State football game my whole life until they played LSU. When LSU played Michigan State at the Indy bowl we pretty much dominated them and I really didn't know anything about thier coach. After that game if one would've told me that one day Denardo would be fired and Nick would be hired I never would've believed you. I'm not saying that I didn't think Nick was a good coach, I just didn't know and the overall impression of his record and us whippin them at the Indy bowl was that coach and his team doesn't make the cut. This whole thing is so ironic of sorts.................. When you look at his record at Mich St and then the things he's been able to achieve here compared to there. I guess you could say that State being on probation had something to do with the lack of success there.
Michigan State just wasn't the kind of program Coach Saban could fully max out his potential at. One of the many reasons he left is because Michigan State always has been and always will be second banana to Michigan. Not so here. LSU takes a back seat to no one, and he is in full control of one of the most talent producing states in the country. He saw, long term, what LSU could do with the right kind of leadership. He probably could've never won a national title at Michigan State no matter how hard he tried. And that's saying something, because he's a heck of a coach.
Saban probably is too hard to work for in the mind of many coaches and that's quite allright. They come here knowing about his rep and decide that they would like to learn from a master for a few years and then move on to another position if they can't take it anymore. The thing all of this tells me is that he is very good at recognizing who will teach and coach the way he wants it done, will install and implement his systems, etc. and if they leave he gets another guy equally capable. While it may not be the best scenario for him, LSU or the coaches that leave it is the way it is. I once worked for a head chef that was totally repulsive just so I could learn from the guy for a year or so. And when I say repulsive I mean totally. But he sure knew some stuff and set me up for a big raise down the road.
Michigan State coaches The Michigan State coaches stayed because they made a deal with the adminsitration to get Bobby Williams the job if they all stayed. There were other reasons as well, such as Morris Watts staying to get the last year of his state pension--a decision that Saban said he agreed with. But the bottom line is that MSU wanted to have some consistancy going into their bowl, (a Citrus win over UF) and beyond and decided to hire Williams to keep the staff together. Is Nick Saban tough on assistants? Probably only those who don't have his work ethic. Still, when I hear coaches leave, they usually are leaving for better jobs or better personal situations. It's not that they leave never to be heard from again, like assistants during the last years of Dinardo or the first years of Hallman. Great coaches make their assistants good coaches. Look at all the Bear Bryant disciples out there. Why so many? Because his coaching staff changed faster than Nick's. And look at all the Bobby Knight protege's. He's a jerk, but you have to credit him for teaching his assistants how to coach the game. Coach K sure learned a lot (and seems to be teaching it to his assistants!) Maybe in 20 years we'll be talking about all the coaches that who worked for Nick Saban. GEAUX TIGERS
Thorny, you are correct. the entire staff stayed as a package deal. They agreed to this with the administration, and the administration wanted this if they were to promote Williams. I have always thought it was a last jab at Saban by the school president who Saban was feeling a little tension with. That opinion was strengthened when it became apparent that MSU was not saying much on that deal publicly as all the media was ripping Saban for no one going with him.
