As The Saban Turns…

January 1st, 2007 | Coaching, College Football, Nick Saban

Were we the only ones who got seriously freakin’ annoyed with ESPN for periodically interrupting their round-the-clock coverage of the Nick Saban Going to Alabama story with footage and commentary from some sort of college football bowl game or some such nonsense last night? What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they know we’d much rather hear the same speculation about the amount of Bama’s supposedly forthcoming offer, over and over again?

Frankly, we don’t see why either party would want to get in bed with the other. Why would Saban, or any other coach for that matter, go to a school fires coaches almost as often as we yank our blog offline for tweaking? Have a 10-win season, follow it up with a down year in which you still get to a bowl, and you’re OUTTA HERE, pal. And that’s just a guy with Shula’s salary. What would the expectations be if you were being paid in excess of four M’s per annum? If Saban wanted to go back to the college game, he could take his pick of schools that would still pay in the low millions and not have him looking over his shoulder even when he’s winning. If Saban wanted to go back to college, that is. Color us unconvinced of that little detail.

On the other side of the ~~coin~~ huge ass stack of bills, why would Alabama want Nick Saban? The deification of Captain Mock Turtle– by fans, the media, and potential employers– is truly baffling. The guy is clearly a great coach, but only in the lowercased g sense, and there are lots of those out there. His overall record as a head coach falls far short of several other active coaches and all of the true coaching legends.

erickson (miami) 87.50%

johnson (miami) 85.24%

carroll (usc) 84.37%

switzer (oklahoma) 83.70%

osborne (nebraska) 83.60%

spurrier (florida) 81.70%

tressel (ohio state) 81.40%

brown (texas) 81.37%

stoops (oklahoma) 81.25%

bryant (alabama) 80.80%

stallings (alabama) 80.46%

schembeckler (michigan) 79.60%

bowden (fla state) 78.11%

fulmer (tenn) 77.90%

carr (michigan) 76.38%

Saban (LSU) 75%

paterno (penn state) 74.48%

hayes (ohio state) 74.27%

davis (miami) 71.83%

tuberville (auburn) 68.96%

Let’s put the winning percentages aside, though, and look at the mo bigga pitcha.

Bama needs a winner right now, but more importantly, Bama needs stability. Bama needs a coach who, even if he wins a national title in his 3rd or 4th year, will stick around for awhile. Not sure if anyone noticed, but if you check out his old yearbooks, Nick Saban was NOT voted “Most Likely to Stick Around for Awhile” Seriously. Look it up. The man’s a job hopper. And if he leaves Miami after only 2 seasons, it’ll elevate him to Grand Poobah Job Hopper status. What makes Bama think it’d be any different if he accepted their offer? Nicky’s too smart to accept a contract with a prohibitive buyout. He’s going to make damn sure (or have Sexton make damn sure) if he gets the itch to go, he can go.

But wait! There’s more! Saban’s opportunism is only half the problem for Bama. What if he doesn’t live up to their ridiculous stellar expectations and they want to fire him 3 or 4 years into a 10 year deal? Has anyone stopped to think about what that’s gonna cost the Tide? See, Saban’s (Sexton) gonna make sure that it won’t cost him much to leave, but that if he gets run off, he get’s PAID, DAWG. Not to mention the further damage it’ll do to Bama’s reputation as a place with unattainable standards. People are scared to consider that job now– who’s going to want to coach there if they fire Jesus H. Saban???

Look, before you get your panties all bunched up, the point here is not to bash Saban. Dude’s a hell of a fooball coach. We wish he had stuck around here a little longer. And we’ve got nothing against aggressive career opportunists who relentlessly pursue mo money, because hell, that’s us, too. We’re just saying this isn’t a good fit for Nick Saban or for Alabama right now. He needs to stay at Miami and prove to himself and everyone else that he can win at the pro level. Aside from the money, that’s why he went there, and he needs to see it through. If he doesn’t, it’s only going to eat away at him until he goes back and tries again. That’s the kind of guy he is. And Bama needs to hire someone who’s proven they can turn a struggling team around and win a lot of games, someone ready to move up to a bigtime program with the resources to help them realize their potential, but most importantly, someone who’ll be wowed by and grateful for the opportunity to stand on the sidelines of a legendary football powerhouse and STAY ten years or more. That ain’t Nick Saban, folks.

In any case, ESPN says we’ll know tomorrow night at the latest.

FEARLESS PREDICTION: Saban stays at Miami, and this has all been a smoke screen to keep everyone’s attention off of a more suitable (and affordable) candidate whom they’ve already come to terms with but had to meet bowl or NFL obligations first.

FEARLESS PREDICTION (b): Patterson