Superaggie79
01-04-2007, 09:53 PM
"I'm not going to be the Alabama coach," these are the words that came out of the mouth of former Miami Dolphins coach, Nick Saban, during a press conference in which he was asked about the rumors that he would be taking the Crimson Tide job. Just a couple of weeks later it would http://tarpon.tamug.edu/~goldleadr/nicksaban.jpgseem that Saban learned from Borat on how to pull off a "NOT!" joke after he did indeed take the Alabama job.
Should this really be a surprise to us? Alabama has become a hotbed for controversy in the coaching world with Franchione leaving for A&M, Mike Price and his dancing girls, and now the luring of Saban from the NFL. Saban has gone through many changes in the past 7 years as well. After a record setting season at Michigan State in 1999 he left before the Citrus Bowl to take over at LSU. After bringing LSU back to prominence and an eventual national championship he jumped ship again this time to take over as the Miami Dolphins head coach. I guess it would seem that Alabama and Nick Saban are truly a match made in heaven.
The biggest story inside of this story is Saban's repeated denials of even being interested in the Alabama job. Here are a few quotes over the past couple of months from wikipedia:
Nov. 27 -- "No, I haven't. [i] don't care to be. [i] don't want to be. I've got a job to do here. My focus is on our players, this team, us getting better, us playing good winning football here. I'm not interested in any other circumstances or situations anyplace else. This is the challenge I wanted. I had a good college job, so why would I have left that if I was going to be interested in another college job?"
Dec. 3 -- "I'm not going to continue to respond to rumors and innuendo, which this obviously is. I'm committed to a group of guys here and a football team and a football staff, and we're working hard to get this season right. It really challenges your professionalism and integrity to even talk about it. People throw it to the wall, see what sticks."
Dec. 7 -- "They called [agent] Jimmy [Sexton] and said, 'Is Nick interested?' and Jimmy said, 'No.' And Jimmy asked me on several occasions and I said, 'No, I'm interested in staying here. I'm flattered that they may have been interested in me, but it really never progressed because we never let it progress. It's ridiculous. I haven't even talked to anybody and all of a sudden somebody's coming here to interview me."
Dec. 11 -- "I in no way wanted to indicate to him [Sports Illustrated's Peter King] or anybody else that there was any possibility of that [having interest in Alabama]. I have no intentions of going anywhere. Hell, they might not want me here after this season. Did you ever think of that? I've addressed this enough. When does this become a dead story?"
Dec. 21 -- "I guess I have to say it: I'm not going to be the Alabama coach. I shouldn't even have to comment on this. I think I've said this over and over again. What they do with their position is their business."
Jan. 1 -- "I'm committed to doing my job well here. This is my job. That's what I've done all day, and that's what I'll continue to do."
With all of these denials you've got to wonder how it's going to affect the rest of his coaching career. You know that there is going to be a lot of negative recruiting from competing schools in the notoriously dirty SEC, and you've got to wonder how many recruits will believe anything he says to begin with.
All in all you've got to admit that Nick Saban is an above average college football coach that was in the right place at the right time in Baton Rouge and then wasn't able to cut it in the NFL. At MSU he only had 2 seasons with more than 6 wins and at LSU he was much improved playing in two SEC championship games and winning one national championship. But when he went to the big time it was apparent that he was going nowhere. He succeeded at the college level because he was able to control who he brought in and could control what those players did. The NFL is a business and the players have already made the "big time" so he had little to hold over them.
In the end I don't think that Saban is a mercenary but he is very smart to get out of Miami while he was still desirable. After a couple more mediocre years he might not have been able to take on a high profile job like Alabama, but it will still be a couple of years before we can evaluate whether or not this was the best move for Bama.
Should this really be a surprise to us? Alabama has become a hotbed for controversy in the coaching world with Franchione leaving for A&M, Mike Price and his dancing girls, and now the luring of Saban from the NFL. Saban has gone through many changes in the past 7 years as well. After a record setting season at Michigan State in 1999 he left before the Citrus Bowl to take over at LSU. After bringing LSU back to prominence and an eventual national championship he jumped ship again this time to take over as the Miami Dolphins head coach. I guess it would seem that Alabama and Nick Saban are truly a match made in heaven.
The biggest story inside of this story is Saban's repeated denials of even being interested in the Alabama job. Here are a few quotes over the past couple of months from wikipedia:
Nov. 27 -- "No, I haven't. [i] don't care to be. [i] don't want to be. I've got a job to do here. My focus is on our players, this team, us getting better, us playing good winning football here. I'm not interested in any other circumstances or situations anyplace else. This is the challenge I wanted. I had a good college job, so why would I have left that if I was going to be interested in another college job?"
Dec. 3 -- "I'm not going to continue to respond to rumors and innuendo, which this obviously is. I'm committed to a group of guys here and a football team and a football staff, and we're working hard to get this season right. It really challenges your professionalism and integrity to even talk about it. People throw it to the wall, see what sticks."
Dec. 7 -- "They called [agent] Jimmy [Sexton] and said, 'Is Nick interested?' and Jimmy said, 'No.' And Jimmy asked me on several occasions and I said, 'No, I'm interested in staying here. I'm flattered that they may have been interested in me, but it really never progressed because we never let it progress. It's ridiculous. I haven't even talked to anybody and all of a sudden somebody's coming here to interview me."
Dec. 11 -- "I in no way wanted to indicate to him [Sports Illustrated's Peter King] or anybody else that there was any possibility of that [having interest in Alabama]. I have no intentions of going anywhere. Hell, they might not want me here after this season. Did you ever think of that? I've addressed this enough. When does this become a dead story?"
Dec. 21 -- "I guess I have to say it: I'm not going to be the Alabama coach. I shouldn't even have to comment on this. I think I've said this over and over again. What they do with their position is their business."
Jan. 1 -- "I'm committed to doing my job well here. This is my job. That's what I've done all day, and that's what I'll continue to do."
With all of these denials you've got to wonder how it's going to affect the rest of his coaching career. You know that there is going to be a lot of negative recruiting from competing schools in the notoriously dirty SEC, and you've got to wonder how many recruits will believe anything he says to begin with.
All in all you've got to admit that Nick Saban is an above average college football coach that was in the right place at the right time in Baton Rouge and then wasn't able to cut it in the NFL. At MSU he only had 2 seasons with more than 6 wins and at LSU he was much improved playing in two SEC championship games and winning one national championship. But when he went to the big time it was apparent that he was going nowhere. He succeeded at the college level because he was able to control who he brought in and could control what those players did. The NFL is a business and the players have already made the "big time" so he had little to hold over them.
In the end I don't think that Saban is a mercenary but he is very smart to get out of Miami while he was still desirable. After a couple more mediocre years he might not have been able to take on a high profile job like Alabama, but it will still be a couple of years before we can evaluate whether or not this was the best move for Bama.