Alabama fans want a title - regardless

[bigsixfive 328]

Alabama fans want a title — regardless

Saban's grouchy demeanor no big deal, as long as coach wins games

Caller to an Alabama sports-talk radio show: “I think it’s about time to bring in an SOB to take Alabama by the throat. And I think Nick Saban is the man to do it.”

Show host: “He’s certainly supposed to be an SOB.”

Alabama football fans are greeting Nick Saban with open arms and closed hearts. He does not arrive in Tuscaloosa a beloved figure. This is no former hero returning to his alma mater (hello, and goodbye, Mike Shula), no folksy quipster who likes to mingle with the people (Mike Price, we hardly knew you).

Saban is being hired for one reason and one reason only: to win football games. Specifically, to beat hated rival Auburn before the Tigers start using their big toe to count their victory streak in the series (Auburn made it five in a row this season, fulfilling the prophecy on a T-shirt once worn by Coach Tommy Tuberville to “Fear the Thumb”).

Crimson Tide officials are well aware of Saban’s curmudgeonly reputation. They don’t care. It has been 14 years since Alabama won a national championship. This from a program that used to claim two or three a decade. These days, the Tide can’t even break into the top half of the Southeastern Conference.

When Alabama falls behind Arkansas in the SEC pecking order, you know the folks in Tuscaloosa are prepared to make some drastic changes.

Enter Saban. The issue here is not with Saban’s record. He went 48-16 during five seasons at LSU, capturing two SEC crowns and the 2003 BCS national championship. Plus, he managed to beat Auburn twice. Right now, Alabama would love to have such a five-year stretch.

But at what cost? The big-money powerbrokers around the Alabama football program — especially the ones who date back to the glory days of Paul “Bear” Bryant — are accustomed to having a certain amount of access to the head coach. Crimson Tide fans expect their coach to be a visible part of the state beyond the football field, showing up at alumni functions and charity golf events.

By nearly all accounts, that’s not Saban. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with boisterous boosters or fans who wear elephant trunks on their face. This is a man who passed up an opportunity to have dinner with President Bush last year because training camp had already started for the Miami Dolphins. Now he will find time to speak to the Etowah County Alabama Alumni Club?

Saban is going to do things his way, and he doesn’t care what the fans, boosters, media or even his assistant coaches think about it. A head coach entering the good-ol’-boy world of Crimson Tide football – especially an outsider who is not part of the ‘Bama family – never could have gotten away with such aloofness as recently as five years ago (exhibit A: Dennis Franchione). But the program has become so starved for success that the only criterion for the job is to win and win big.

Alabama fans and officials appear willing to tolerate Saban’s heavy-handed approach as long as he can slap down the cocky hands of all those gloating Auburn fans. That’s probably because, deep down, they know Saban is exactly what the Crimson Tide needs.

Other than a brief period of happiness while Gene Stallings was head coach in the early 1990s, the Alabama program has been a dysfunctional lot since Bryant’s death in 1983.

Ray Perkins succeeded Bryant in Tuscaloosa and immediately angered Tide fans by removing the iconic tower that the Bear used to watch practice. Perkins’ personality was similar to Saban’s in many ways, but at the time such an attitude was not acceptable to the ‘Bama Nation. So despite having a decent record, Perkins left his alma mater for the NFL after only four years.

Bill Curry followed. His biggest mistake was playing football at Georgia Tech, not Alabama. He was criticized by Tide fans from day one as being an outsider, and after a homecoming loss to Mississippi, somebody threw a brick through his office window. After three years and three consecutive losses to Auburn, Curry jumped before being pushed and fled to Kentucky.

Stallings gave Alabama a national title, but the Tide also went on NCAA probation for the first time in program history during his tenure. Stallings was replaced by one of his assistants, Mike Dubose, who had a bickering staff, was accused of sexual harassment with a university employee and was fired in 2000 after a 3-8 season, the program’s worst record in 43 years.

Franchione never felt comfortable during his two years in Tuscaloosa, and Price was fired before ever coaching a game at Alabama after he became a little too comfortable with dancers at a Florida strip club.

That led to Shula, who arrived with no head-coaching experience and constantly seemed overwhelmed and out of touch. He, too, was fired after three non-winning seasons and four consecutive losses to Auburn.

So now the Tide turns to a coach who is not from Alabama, who is not one of Bear’s boys and who most observers believe is somewhat of a, well, SOB.

And they do so gladly, with the expectation that this time — at long last — they finally have found the person to cut through the noise and clutter, grab the Crimson Tide by the throat, and lead the once-proud program to a lengthy period of sustained success.

If that happens, Nick Saban doesn’t have to be anybody’s friend. He will still be the most popular man in Alabama.

Cary Estes is a freelance writer based in Birmingham, Ala.

Couple of observations:

1) So they're willing to settle for a losing record against Auburn, as long as they win at least some of the games. Interesting.

2) I wouldn't say they've found their person yet. As of now, Price has a longer tenure at that school than Saban does. He's gotta last to validate such statements.

[otterinbham 0]

Well, I really don't see Alabama closing the talent gap anytime soon. Meanwhile, Saban will find himself fighting a delaying action against Byzantine politics, the howling Mullet nation, and unreasonable expectations. If he manages to last four years, then he's out of there. But God help him if he's not winning 9 games in 2007 and 2008, because the halfwits will pounce on him and tear him to shreds.

[Tigermike 3,041]

Alabama fans want a title — regardless

regardless of the consequences?

regardless of how they get it?

regardless of what they have to do to get it?

[AUChizad 0]

That was a good read.

Nothing I didn't already know, but it was put together and worded nicely.

Sounds like a GG post.

[abrnfanatc 6]

Alabama fans want a title — regardless

regardless of the consequences?

regardless of how they get it?

regardless of what they have to do to get it?

Yes

[SKCAUB 0]

That was a good read.

Nothing I didn't already know, but it was put together and worded nicely.

Sounds like a GG post.

NOOOOOOOOO...it never mentioned Bamar BOBO Honking one time!!!

[Gulf Coast Tiger 0]

Didn't they do the same thing for the 92 title? Win at all costs and then get probation. Does history repeat itself?

[Tigermike 3,041]

Didn't they do the same thing for the 92 title? Win at all costs and then get probation. Does history repeat itself?

Not sure about 92, but it was obvious that they did what it took to win the SEC in 1999. In the spring/summer before the football season, Dubose was caught bumping nasty with his secretary. They talked about everything but firing him. He should have been fired then, but they knew they had a good team coming back and would do absolutely nothing to disrupt the team's "chemistry". After all, this was the best team money could buy. They won the SEC that year. The coaches were in turmoil, the NCAA was snooping around because the team was paid for and it carried over to the next year. The losses mounted and Dubose was fired. The NCAA hammered them, Fran ran, Bama was Price's Destiny, Shula was anointed then fired. Now Saban is the savior.

[Bottomfeeder 244]