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So is Saban worth $100m?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Neutral Corner, Jul 16, 2014.

  1. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    I think a lot of people go to a school (in part) because they have a kick-ass football team. It's not the only reason, but going to college football games as a student is such a great experience, and if you're going to a school like Ohio State or Alabama or Texas or Oklahoma, it just adds to the college experience.
     
  2. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    It does, but to paraphrase the economic studies on this, I believe, it's generally not cost-effective, similar to how pro sports stadiums work. Yes, a renovated Big League Park does attract X number of people to your city. However, spending $100M on that is $100M you don't have to spend on, say, tax breaks to lure high tech companies to your city. If you're taking about a college program, then the money you're spending on the football program is less that you can spend on full-ride scholarships to high school valedictorians.
     
  3. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    U of A Tuscaloosa benefits substantially from the increased prominence of its football program, but the link is subtler than is usually understood. You wind up getting more than your share of full-freight out-of-staters, who might have stayed home but for the chance to experience a championship season. This mining of the mediocre has been a deliberately pursued strategy by U of A.
     
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    He already had essentially unlimited power with the Dolphins, and shit the bed.
     
  5. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    The didn't respect The Process like college kids do.
     
  6. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Actually, he didn't respect Drew Brees' MRI and instead thought it was wiser to burn a 2nd round pick trading for the corpse of Culpepper. Had he put his foot down with the Dolphins medical staff and signed Brees, he'd still be coaching there.
     
  7. Bradley Guire

    Bradley Guire Well-Known Member

    I can only provide my anecdote: I went to Alabama in 1999, when the football team was nothing to get excited out (other than that fluke season). Damn it, I went for the journalism school!

    (And I went because my parents and grandparents worshiped at the altar of the Bear and Stallings. I was brainwashed at a young age. They would have disowned me had I went elsewhere. I gave a half-a-day's thought to going to Auburn and living with my best friend, but the j-school wasn't that great. Plus, I didn't trust my buddy not to drop out and join the Army and leave me twisting in the wind, which he did.)
     
  8. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Even in college I find him to be more of a talent-acquirer than a strategist. You see how poorly he deals with the spread and how his answer is to demand rule changes instead of diversify. I don't think he would have done well in a system designed to level out the talent and prevent dynasties, even if he did have Brees.

    I also don't think Brees would have become DREW BREES! working with Saban instead of Payton.
     
  9. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Saban wasn't a wild success with the Dolphins, but the narrative that he was a disaster there is overblown. He went 9-7 his first season and 6-10 his second, and was still in the playoff race heading into December. Not saying he'd have won big there, but it's not like he was as bad as Lou Holtz with the Jets or even Steve Spurrier with the Redskins.
     
  10. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I agree with some of this. To say he's just a Bobby Bowden-esq talent acquirer, though, I think sells him short. In terms of coaching defensive backs, there are a lot of smart people in football who think he might be the best ever. He's such a humorless sourpuss that people wouldn't just say that if there wasn't a lot of truth to it. Has he struggled with the spread and the hurry up? A little, but I'd say less so than just about any other college coach.

    As for Brees, yeah, he wouldn't be BREES if he wasn't playing on turf and if he WAS playing for a guy who'd only let him throw 19 times a game. But he still would have been the better choice than Daunte Culpepper, who I believe played four games for the Dolphins.

    Anyway, it's clear Saban wants us to believe one thing, while Brees remembers it differently.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/shutdown-corner/nick-saban-says-wanted-drew-brees-miami-brees-184657441--nfl.html
     
  11. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    Brees wouldn't be the player he is today if he'd played under Saban, because Saban would not likely to be running a pass-happy offense like New Orleans does. Payton also is considered a QB guru, and obviously, Saban doesn't have that tag, which is not to say he couldn't bring someone in who was.

    The Dolphins front office is also one of the worst in the NFL and has been for more than a decade.

    If Saban ever went back to the NFL, it would have to be a situation similar to what Carroll has in Seattle. That might not even be enough power to satisfy Saban.
     
  12. Neutral Corner

    Neutral Corner Well-Known Member

    You ain't from 'round here, are you?
     
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