Poor Nick. His coaches just won't listen to him

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/09/23/3318013/saban-says-he-wanted-to-open-up.html

Let me get this straight: the ultimate control freak coach, the capo di tutti capo, has to BEG underlings to throw the ball?
Somewhere in Gainesville, Will Muschamp is wondering why he didn't think of saying that.
No one's buying this crap. If he told his OC to throw every down and then bark like a dog on every first down they'd do it.

 

What a load of shit. Saban doesn't 'beg' his assistants to do nothin'; either they do what they're told, or they're outta there like shit through a goose.

 

When 'bama was called for motion near goal line Saturday tv
camera picked up Saban saying to Kiffin "why do you call that shit"?

 

So you guys are saying Saban's an asshole?

Dog bites man.

 

It's a popular notion but I would not go that far. Kevin VanValkenburg
tweeted a good anecdotal Saban story as a sidebar to a story he did on
Hal Mumme this week. Shows that Saban does have a sense of humor.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sbed6f

 

Saban is what he is but I think there's plenty of heart behind the granite exterior.

The people who handled Van Valkenburg's Hal Mumme story deemed this part unfit. I think it was a mistake because it would have added plenty of context (Mumme cared enough about defense that he sat through 4 hours of film and Saban-speak to understand how and why a great secondary works, for one) but it also shows a cool (and funny) side to Saban. I'm posting the link to the finished ESPN story (which has been posted elsewhere here) and the piece that died on the cutting room floor.


http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11547946/why-nick-saban-college-football-afraid-hal-mumme

KVV's twitlonger intro: One of the best things about Hal is that he's up for pretty much anything, as you can see from the photos in this feature. I told our photo staff Hal might think it was fun to dress up and stand in front of the Alamo and he, in fact, thought it was awesome. We drank a few bourbons together and had a lot of great conversation over dinner and breakfast while I hung out at his football clinic. But one story he told me didn't make the article (it wasn't *quite* relevant to the story I was telling) but was just too fun not to share. I asked Mumme what he thought of Nick Saban's comments that hurry-up, fast-break football (which Mumme helped bring to the SEC and Big 12, where it really took off) was like smoking cigarettes. One might not hurt you, but if you did it all the time, it might. I wasn't sure how he would respond, but Mumme launched into this awesome tale which I will let you read now:

The story: I love Nick Saban! He’s a friend. We’ve always been friends. You know, the first time I ever met Nick Saban was in 1987. I was coaching at Copras Cove high school football in Texas and my defensive coordinator goes to hear him talk and he comes back and says "This guy is a genius when it comes to coaching defensive backs. A genius." Well, he stalks him for two months. Calling him, trying to get a meeting with him. Saban finally calls him back and says “Ok, I’ll meet you such-and-such Saturday in April.” Well, it’s the Saturday before Easter. My defensive coordinator comes in and he's just crushed. "Coach, we’ve had this family trip planned forever, I can’t go. But how about you go? I’ll give you the list of questions! You go to the meeting, write down everything Saban says, and we’ll be a lot better on defense!"

I say alright, I guess, and I go to Houston. He was the defensive backs coach with the Oilers at the time. I call Saban, I call him, he says meet me at the team facility at 3 p.m.

I have no idea what I’m doing. None. I have a list of questions on a yellow legal pad that I think should take about 30 minutes. Well, we watch film for four hours! Four! We watch all the film from mini-camp, Nick takes all this time with me. He’s so patient. He doesn’t know me from the defensive coordinator who was idolizing him. I’m just some high school coach. I write everything down. About four hours go by, we’re leaving, he’s locking doors he grabs me by the arm and says “Now don’t tell anybody we did this because Mr. Adams will fire me.” I'm like, "Don’t worry about it coach, your secret is safe in Copras Cove.

Flash forward like 20 years, we’re in the SEC, I get the job at Southwest Lousiana, and Nick is the head coach at LSU, and he hasn't won many games yet by LSU standards. He calls me up, he says I want you to come speak at my clinic. I say, "I’ll be there on one condition. You speak at my clinic too." He laughs. His clinic is going to have like 500 coaches. My clinic is going to have like 40.

But I get up to speak to his clinic — and keep in mind he ain’t won a national championship yet —so a lot of guys here are still grumbling because he's not recruiting their kid or whatever. He's only won eight games, which isn't enough at LSU. I thought what the hell. So I get up and I tell that story about him watching film with me for four hours. Everybody's listening, thinking that's pretty neat.

Saban gets up and says “That’s exactly what happened. And on top of that, that’s the last time Hal Mumme ever talked to a defensive coach.”

 

Saban isn't as evil as Spurrier is, but he's portrayed as such because Spurrier plays the media better than Saban does.

 

No. What I'm saying is that Saban exudes and oozes power. He's in charge, by God and the hell with everyone else. There is no college football program in America where it's more clear that the coach has all the clout than Alabama. And he expects everyone to buy into this horseshit? Then again, given the starry-eyed, hero worship he gets from the Alabama media, he probably thinks he can.

 

Alabama's number of offensive plays per game is up bigtime this year. Isn't Saban putting his players health at risk?

 

This. Saban required complete control when he took over, and he has solidified that since, given his record and NC's. When he started, the first thing he did was come in with a chainsaw and clear off all the deadwood, followers, and hangers-on. Big booster, used to sideline access? Give your money to the AD, stands are over that way. He dictates who can speak to reporters and when. It's his show, top to bottom, and there is no detail too small for him to manage. I don't buy for a minute that his OC's disobeyed him, not consistently. He wouldn't stand for it.

As to the "starry-eyed hero worship", there is some of that, as he is "the new Bear Bryant"... but more than that, for a sportswriter in Alabama, there is *nothing* more important than access to the Crimson Tide. Get on Saban's bad side, get shut out of covering that team, and you're screwed. Sure, critical stories get written, offenses by team members get reported... but the awareness is always there that if you are perceived as over the line you could get on the enemies list, and no one wants to be there.

 

By contrast it seems like Jimbo Fisher has no control in his program. Examples keep
coming up:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/24723011/yep-florida-state-served-visiting-recruits-crab-legs-at-clemson-game

 

That's more funny than anything.