Nick Saban

[Bama My Heart 5]

Actually lemme rephrase the above a bit.

When Shula was at Bama, you guys elevated him to a 10 in your minds and when he failed to live up to that he became a 1. All along he was a solid 7 with potential to get better.

Now Saban is here and he is a 10 in your minds and if he fails he will be reduced to a 1 by you guys and all the things we have been saying you will parrot and act like it was original. All along Saban had been a Solid 8.

Its not that you don't have a decent coach at Bama, its the fact that you elevate your coaches to a star level when they don't deserve it and haven't shown it. Other fan bases are excited and warey when a new coach comes in. When they falter their first year they are nervous and question his ability. When the coach proves himself they elevate his status.

Its never been your coaches ability that we question as much as your concepts of your coaches ability.

I just don't understand why you care enough to question how we feel about our coach. You have stated that you could not tolerate the record that we had last year and would expect more this year. That is a good reason for you NOT to be a Bama fan, so you have made a wise choice for yourself. We on the other hand are satisfied with the way our Coach is doing things, and that makes it a wise choice for us to be Bama fans.

Why question us? We only play you 1 game a year.

It's called blind faith BMH. You guys had it with Dubose, Fran, Price, Shula and now Saban. It's the #1 reason every fan outside of Alabama makes fun of you as a fan base. You guys could hire Rush Probst to be your next coach and the first thing we would hear is that he's the best coach in the SEC. Constructive criticism is good sometimes.....

Well, sometimes blind faith is not a bad thing. I certainly wouldn't want us to hire a coach and say that he is worst coach in the history of coaches. If you hire them, you should support them for as long as you keep them. If you were talking to fan of another school and you heard him talking about his coach(right after the hire or before the season started), and all he could say was "he's the worst coach that we could have gotten". Wouldn't you immediately think " I would never say that about my coach"?

[WAR-MATT 2]

Actually lemme rephrase the above a bit.

When Shula was at Bama, you guys elevated him to a 10 in your minds and when he failed to live up to that he became a 1. All along he was a solid 7 with potential to get better.

Now Saban is here and he is a 10 in your minds and if he fails he will be reduced to a 1 by you guys and all the things we have been saying you will parrot and act like it was original. All along Saban had been a Solid 8.

Its not that you don't have a decent coach at Bama, its the fact that you elevate your coaches to a star level when they don't deserve it and haven't shown it. Other fan bases are excited and warey when a new coach comes in. When they falter their first year they are nervous and question his ability. When the coach proves himself they elevate his status.

Its never been your coaches ability that we question as much as your concepts of your coaches ability.

I just don't understand why you care enough to question how we feel about our coach. You have stated that you could not tolerate the record that we had last year and would expect more this year. That is a good reason for you NOT to be a Bama fan, so you have made a wise choice for yourself. We on the other hand are satisfied with the way our Coach is doing things, and that makes it a wise choice for us to be Bama fans.

Why question us? We only play you 1 game a year.

It's called blind faith BMH. You guys had it with Dubose, Fran, Price, Shula and now Saban. It's the #1 reason every fan outside of Alabama makes fun of you as a fan base. You guys could hire Rush Probst to be your next coach and the first thing we would hear is that he's the best coach in the SEC. Constructive criticism is good sometimes.....

Well, sometimes blind faith is not a bad thing. I certainly wouldn't want us to hire a coach and say that he is worst coach in the history of coaches. If you hire them, you should support them for as long as you keep them. If you were talking to fan of another school and you heard him talking about his coach(right after the hire or before the season started), and all he could say was "he's the worst coach that we could have gotten". Wouldn't you immediately think " I would never say that about my coach"?

I agree but the majority never questions any of his very questionable actions. Every bama fan thought Mike Shula was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Where anyone that knew anything about college football knew he was in way over his head.

[WarTiger 3,915]

Actually lemme rephrase the above a bit.

When Shula was at Bama, you guys elevated him to a 10 in your minds and when he failed to live up to that he became a 1. All along he was a solid 7 with potential to get better.

Now Saban is here and he is a 10 in your minds and if he fails he will be reduced to a 1 by you guys and all the things we have been saying you will parrot and act like it was original. All along Saban had been a Solid 8.

Its not that you don't have a decent coach at Bama, its the fact that you elevate your coaches to a star level when they don't deserve it and haven't shown it. Other fan bases are excited and warey when a new coach comes in. When they falter their first year they are nervous and question his ability. When the coach proves himself they elevate his status.

Its never been your coaches ability that we question as much as your concepts of your coaches ability.

I just don't understand why you care enough to question how we feel about our coach. You have stated that you could not tolerate the record that we had last year and would expect more this year. That is a good reason for you NOT to be a Bama fan, so you have made a wise choice for yourself. We on the other hand are satisfied with the way our Coach is doing things, and that makes it a wise choice for us to be Bama fans.

Why question us? We only play you 1 game a year.

It's called blind faith BMH. You guys had it with Dubose, Fran, Price, Shula and now Saban. It's the #1 reason every fan outside of Alabama makes fun of you as a fan base. You guys could hire Rush Probst to be your next coach and the first thing we would hear is that he's the best coach in the SEC. Constructive criticism is good sometimes.....

Well, sometimes blind faith is not a bad thing. I certainly wouldn't want us to hire a coach and say that he is worst coach in the history of coaches. If you hire them, you should support them for as long as you keep them. If you were talking to fan of another school and you heard him talking about his coach(right after the hire or before the season started), and all he could say was "he's the worst coach that we could have gotten". Wouldn't you immediately think " I would never say that about my coach"?

I agree but the majority never questions any of his very questionable actions. Every bama fan thought Mike Shula was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Where anyone that knew anything about college football knew he was in way over his head.

not only that, but once they are hired they are automatically gonna save uat and its program. We've seen it with every coach since Perkins and every one of them is gonna come in and bring uat back to where it used to be. The problem is when they fail, and they have all failed, the uat fans turn on them quicker than wimp sanderson can slap a secretary. They are automatically considered the bottom feeders of the coaching world once they leave uat. Saban will be no different. He'll end up being hated by the bammers worse than any TWO of the previous 7 coaches combined...

[SCBusPilot 72]

You can see National Championship Trophy's. Our faith in our coach is anything but "blind". Again, you'd expect the fan of a team who went undefeated and still didn't get one to understand how truly difficult one is to obtain.

That settles it. Les Miles will DEFINITELY be the new Bammer coach when Saban leaves. How's that strike you bama fans?

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

i think the problem is you guys have gotten so used to us not supporting a coach.

I almost choked laughing when I readc this. Every coach you have had since the Bear (except Curry) you guys siad he was the new savior. He could do no wrong and all I would read is "don't worry, coach knows best." Then as things began to unfold they were all lousy.

Contrarily, I think most Auburn fans were like me when we hired Tubs. I didn't care for him and didn't like hiring a coach from another SEC school. It's obviously worked out well (no thanks to a jealous man for Pres. and a couple of maverick BOTs) and as I have gotten to know him I think he is the perfect guy for us. In other words, we didn't put Tubs on a throne when he first came. He had to EARN our respect and admiration. I don't expect you to understand the difference.

[WAR-MATT 2]

When did he win a MNC at Bammer? He didn't win one with Alabama, nor have I ever said he did. Me mentioning that he is a MNC winning coach is in regards to your comment of saying that we have "blind faith". We have faith in Nick Saban as a coach, but once again, because we've physically seen him win a National Championship it's not "blind".

He backed into one at LSU where he didn't even have to play the best team that year. You say "LSU didn't even have to play the best team that year" but isn't it also true that USC didn't have to play the AP #2 (BCS #1) team either. You might look at recent National Championships winners and who were ranked #2 before the game was played. And in any event, Nick Saban in NO way "backed in" to a MNC, he had the BEST record in college football. The BCS put the team with the best record in the National Championship game, please explain what your problem with that is?

Most people outside of this state see AU's 04' season just as impressive if not more than Saban's MNC year. By the ranking of SEC teams the past decade..... I'd ask for some form of evidence that you have of how you know what the people outside the state of Alabama feel about this matter but I'm going to assume that there isn't any. If I'm wrong than I apologize. On the contrary, if you actually do have a real reason to make a statement like this I would love to see what you have.

Did you not see all the ESPN articles on the best BCS teams over the first 10 years? The only teams in front of AU were 04' USC, 05' UT and FSU 99'.

Top 10 SEC Moments of the BCS Era....espn

Chris Low is a college football writer for ESPN.com. Send your questions and comments to him at espnclow@aol.com.

1. Croom becomes SEC's first black coach: On Dec. 1, 2003, Mississippi State made an historic announcement. Longtime NFL assistant and former Alabama player Sylvester Croom had been hired as the Bulldogs' new coach, becoming the first black head football coach in SEC history.

2. Kramer unveils BCS formula: SEC commissioner Roy Kramer introduced the college football world to the BCS standings just prior to the 1998 season. Kramer, now retired, devised a formula utilizing the polls, computer rankings, quality wins and win total to determine the national champion.

3. Unbeaten Auburn left out: Despite going a perfect 13-0 in 2004 with one of the best SEC teams in years, only a year removed from your savior's MNC Auburn never got a chance to play for the national title. The Tigers finished third in the BCS standings and could only watch helplessly as USC routed OU in the Orange Bowl for the national title.

4. Stoerner's stumble paves way for Vols: Arkansas was on the verge of upsetting No. 1 Tennessee in 1998 at Neyland Stadium. But in the final minutes, Arkansas QB Clint Stoerner stumbled and fumbled. The Vols, miraculously pulled out a 28-24 win and went on to win their first national championship in 47 years.

5. The Head Ball Coach starts over in the SEC: Steve Spurrier, who won six SEC titles at Florida, returned in 2005 to the league he revolutionized in the 1990s with the passing game. But instead of coming back to his alma mater, which had an opening after firing Ron Zook, Spurrier landed at South Carolina.

6. Saban returns to SEC as the $4 million man: After stating that he was not going to be the Alabama coach, Nick Saban did just that following the 2006 season and left the Miami Dolphins to return to the SEC as the Crimson Tide's coach for a staggering $4 million per year.

7. Alabama placed on NCAA probation, fans blame Fulmer: Alabama is placed on NCAA probation for five years on Feb. 1, 2002, for violations involving boosters and the illegal recruitment of Albert Means and Kenny Smith. Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer became Public Enemy No. 1 in Alabama for his role as a secret witness in the NCAA's investigation.

8. Tebow ends SEC's Heisman drought: Florida quarterback Tim Tebow became the first SEC player since Florida's Danny Wuerffel in 1996 to win the Heisman Trophy. The first sophomore in history to win the Heisman Trophy, Tebow finished the season with an SEC-record 4,181 yards of total offense.

9. Georgia gets out "hobnail boot" in epic win over Vols: In one of his more memorable calls in a career full of memorable calls, Georgia legendary play-by-play announcer Larry Munson bellowed in 2001 that "We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot," after David Greene tossed the winning TD to upset Tennessee, 26-24.

10. LSU shows its mettle: With hurricanes ravaging the Louisiana coast in 2005, the LSU football team was a symbol of hope for the rest of the state. The Tigers' players and coaches helped in the relief effort, as the LSU campus became a medical triage and safe haven for evacuees. The Tigers persevered to finish 11-2 and No. 5 in the polls.

[weagle251 1]

Most people outside of this state see AU's 04' season just as impressive if not more than Saban's MNC year. By the ranking of SEC teams the past decade..... I'd ask for some form of evidence that you have of how you know what the people outside the state of Alabama feel about this matter but I'm going to assume that there isn't any. If I'm wrong than I apologize. On the contrary, if you actually do have a real reason to make a statement like this I would love to see what you have.

With a little bit of work, I could probably dig up some links. At least from '06 to present, any article or column that discusses the BCS on just about any site from ESPN.com all the way to the fringe blogs at least mentions how Auburn was left out of the '04 game, with many of them at least implying that the team didn't deserve to be. Now whether or not that means they're held in the same regard as the '03 LSU team is entirely subjective, but I will submit that a team that goes undefeated in one of the major 6 conferences is generally considered impressive, regardless of what post-season game they played in.

EDIT: Oh, and what WAR-MATT said above ^

[Birmingham 0]

WAR-MATT, you lost me at "Did you not see all the ESPN articles"

weagle251: You hit on it a bit but I want to go ahead and reiterate that I along with almost everyone in the country think Auburn should have had a shot in the National Championship game. But that wasn't the statement that was made. The statement that was made was... "Most people outside of this state see AU's 04' season just as impressive if not more than Saban's MNC year." What do you know that you would say Auburn '04 was equal if not more impressive than LSU's 03 Championship in the eyes of those outside our state?

[weagle251 1]

Maybe I know more rational Bama fans (read: not mouth-breathing bammers) than most, because I didn't know anyone that was particularly pleased with the Shula hire. Sure, they'd spin it a little or look for something positive to take out of it, but the majority of close friends I know that root for the other side had a "how long are we going to have to put up with this?" approach to his entire coaching tenure. Many of them attached their enthusiasm to assistants like Kines or players like Brodie or Prothro, rather than give Shula any credit, and many of them weren't all that high on the team even during the 10 win season in '05.

Now Dubose, Fran, Price, and Saban? You've got a point. But I never saw the worship with Shula. Instead, you got what amounted to a desperate defense of the guy. I really miss that coach.