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chevy0082

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Listening to both Finebaum yesterday and the OD this morning the question was asked how will Coach Saban compare to Coach Bryant if he does win a NC and has success at Bama? What impact has he had on Bama football already and will it continue?

I think that he has brought something special to the program and hope he stays. There is a certain buzz around the program now that has not been there in a while.. As of now, I dont think you can really compare the 2 coaches though.. Coach Saban has not been here long enough to prove himself so to speak. He has done great things in the short time he's been here and I hope that continues. Coach Bryant coached in a different time and had huge success. College football now and then is totally different. Teams are more evenly matched not only in the SEC but across the nation...

What you guys think?
 
I agree it's too early to compare, but what's a fan to do in the offseason?

I think there are a number of similarities, like the work ethic, recruiting prowess, singular focus on football, disdain for the press, ability to turn around programs.

In my opinion, for him to be mentioned in the same breath with Coach Bryant he'll need to stay at least 8 to 10 years and achieve more than one NC at Bama.

RTR,

Tim
 
It Takes Eleven said:
I agree it's too early to compare, but what's a fan to do in the offseason?

I think there are a number of similarities, like the work ethic, recruiting prowess, singular focus on football, disdain for the press, ability to turn around programs.

In my opinion, for him to be mentioned in the same breath with Coach Bryant he'll need to stay at least 8 to 10 years and achieve more than one NC at Bama.

RTR,

Tim

I agree. I know that we as fans are often criticized for living in the past and putting Coach Bryant on such a high pedestal, still if you look at his overall body of work it's hard to find a coach that comes close to comparing.

The interesting thing is, if Coach Saban is able to win a National Championship at Alabama he would be the fisrt coach to win a NC at two different Division 1 schools, thus putting him in a category by himself.
 
Wiseace615 said:
It Takes Eleven said:
I agree it's too early to compare, but what's a fan to do in the offseason?

I think there are a number of similarities, like the work ethic, recruiting prowess, singular focus on football, disdain for the press, ability to turn around programs.

In my opinion, for him to be mentioned in the same breath with Coach Bryant he'll need to stay at least 8 to 10 years and achieve more than one NC at Bama.

RTR,

Tim

I agree. I know that we as fans are often criticized for living in the past and putting Coach Bryant on such a high pedestal, still if you look at his overall body of work it's hard to find a coach that comes close to comparing.

The interesting thing is, if Coach Saban is able to win a National Championship at Alabama he would be the fisrt coach to win a NC at two different Division 1 schools, thus putting him in a category by himself.

He knows that, and whether you want to admit it or not he is driven by his ego. If you go to youtube and look up his interview with Mortenson you can see it coming out when he's walking around the Walk of Champions.

It's one of the reasons I think he'll be here for awhile.
 
TerryP said:
Wiseace615 said:
It Takes Eleven said:
I agree it's too early to compare, but what's a fan to do in the offseason?

I think there are a number of similarities, like the work ethic, recruiting prowess, singular focus on football, disdain for the press, ability to turn around programs.

In my opinion, for him to be mentioned in the same breath with Coach Bryant he'll need to stay at least 8 to 10 years and achieve more than one NC at Bama.

RTR,

Tim

I agree. I know that we as fans are often criticized for living in the past and putting Coach Bryant on such a high pedestal, still if you look at his overall body of work it's hard to find a coach that comes close to comparing.

The interesting thing is, if Coach Saban is able to win a National Championship at Alabama he would be the fisrt coach to win a NC at two different Division 1 schools, thus putting him in a category by himself.

He knows that, and whether you want to admit it or not he is driven by his ego. If you go to youtube and look up his interview with Mortenson you can see it coming out when he's walking around the Walk of Champions.

It's one of the reasons I think he'll be here for awhile.

I had the same thought when I saw the interview. Personally I've alway thought that he was one of the few if not the only coach with a stong enough ego not to be intimidated by the job.
 
He does remind me a lot of Bryant in his approach to the game. Coach Bryant always said that there were four or five plays that would decide a game, and you never knew which ones they would be, so you had to play every play as if that one was going to be one of them. Coach Saban has expressed similar thoughts about the imPortance of each play. Both stressed the importance of conditioning. One thing I will folloow with Coach Saban is his ability to adapt to changing times and rules. Coach Bryant was a great one at adapting to changes in rules, and even turning rules changes to his advantage.
 
It Takes Eleven said:
In my opinion, for him to be mentioned in the same breath with Coach Bryant he'll need to stay at least 8 to 10 years and achieve more than one NC at Bama.

Exactly. Let's put things into contrast a little though. There are almost NO coaches in football that can be compared to Coach Bryant.

If Coach Saban stays and wins more than one NC then he will be mentioned as one of the two or three great coaches at the greatest football program of all time. If he wins one (an incredibly hard feat in these days of parity) he will still be mentioned as one of the top two or three coaches here.

I would love to win another NC but there are a lot of good schools out there with good athletes and good coaches. I would love to win another NC but I truly would settle for just being in the race for now. First I would like to beat up on the barnturds for a decade and win a few more SEC titles to go with our record 21.

Roll Tide.

ps. I just can't post here without getting insanely fired up about our future
 
It Takes Eleven said:
I agree it's too early to compare, but what's a fan to do in the offseason?

I think there are a number of similarities, like the work ethic, recruiting prowess, singular focus on football, disdain for the press, ability to turn around programs.

In my opinion, for him to be mentioned in the same breath with Coach Bryant he'll need to stay at least 8 to 10 years and achieve more than one NC at Bama.

RTR,

Tim

I also agree. If he can win a NC during the 8 year length of his contract, AND THEN sign a SECOND contract to stay longer, THEN we can start comparing because that will show the love he has for our program like the Bear did.
 
Speaking strictly about the possibility of Saban being mentioned in the same sentence as Coach Bryant from a success stand point: It's going to be hard...Coach Bryant and BAMA seemed to have fit like peanut butter and jelly, much like Belichek and New England seem to be a perfect fit. Coach Bryant, like Belichek have/had been other places that neither were as successful at. While both were good coaches at other places, neither were truely ledgandary until they were at a place that their style of coaching meshed with perfectly. Saban's style of coaching has a lot of similiarities with great coaches like Coach Bryant: hard work ethic, recruiting, etc.

I couldn't agree more that Saban is going to have to stay here for long than five or six years for him to mentioned among the greatest coaches in BAMA's history...that's a lot of great history.
 
Swamptick said:
It Takes Eleven said:
In my opinion, for him to be mentioned in the same breath with Coach Bryant he'll need to stay at least 8 to 10 years and achieve more than one NC at Bama.

Exactly. Let's put things into contrast a little though. There are almost NO coaches in football that can be compared to Coach Bryant.

If Coach Saban stays and wins more than one NC then he will be mentioned as one of the two or three great coaches at the greatest football program of all time. If he wins one (an incredibly hard feat in these days of parity) he will still be mentioned as one of the top two or three coaches here.

I would love to win another NC but there are a lot of good schools out there with good athletes and good coaches. I would love to win another NC but I truly would settle for just being in the race for now. First I would like to beat up on the barnturds for a decade and win a few more SEC titles to go with our record 21.

Roll Tide.

ps. I just can't post here without getting insanely fired up about our future
I completely agree. You have good reason to be fired up about the future.
 
re

He has to win multiple championships to be even close to Bear Bryant's impact on this University and program.

Maybe at the time that BB was winning so many games people took it for granted. But lately we've been starving for excellence and we realize how much he meant, and how hard it must have been.
 
The buzz around the program is obviously linked to the fact that you guys have a successful coach for the first time since Gene Stallings. Saban has a proven track record of winning. My concern would be he also has longevity issues. He is absolutely the only coach in America that can put up with (no offense meant) the Alabama fans, alums, etc. But, how long will he be around to do it? I don't want to compare him to Bobby Petrino just yet, but you certainly have to worry about whether he's in this for the long haul.

That being said, if he does hang around for a while Alabama certainly becomes a scary team. I still don't feel he is the best tactician in the country, but if he can always bring in top ten recruiting classes, he won't have to be. Alabama will always be a relatively easy school to recruit from simply because of the history--when you combine that with someone so dedicated to recruiting as Saban, it looks like a tough road for the rest of the SEC.

I'll stop rambling after this, for him to be truly compared to Bear he'll have to win multiple national titles over a very long period of time. He'll also need a gimmick. Bear had the hat, so far Saban has tan sports coats and team colored polos--that won't catch on :)
 
Great point, Duder. Just looking back at Coach Bryant's career, taking the period from 1961-1980:

He won the NC in 61, 64, 65, 78 and 79.

He was in serious contention for it in 62, 66 (we wuz robbed), 71,72,73,74,76,77 and 80. No one has had a period of sustained success for that long.
 
psychojoe said:
Great point, Duder. Just looking back at Coach Bryant's career, taking the period from 1961-1980:

He won the NC in 61, 64, 65, 78 and 79.

He was in serious contention for it in 62, 66 (we wuz robbed), 71,72,73,74,76,77 and 80. No one has had a period of sustained success for that long.

^^ This
 
Duder said:
The buzz around the program is obviously linked to the fact that you guys have a successful coach for the first time since Gene Stallings. Saban has a proven track record of winning. My concern would be he also has longevity issues. He is absolutely the only coach in America that can put up with (no offense meant) the Alabama fans, alums, etc. But, how long will he be around to do it? I don't want to compare him to Bobby Petrino just yet, but you certainly have to worry about whether he's in this for the long haul.

That being said, if he does hang around for a while Alabama certainly becomes a scary team. I still don't feel he is the best tactician in the country, but if he can always bring in top ten recruiting classes, he won't have to be. Alabama will always be a relatively easy school to recruit from simply because of the history--when you combine that with someone so dedicated to recruiting as Saban, it looks like a tough road for the rest of the SEC.

I'll stop rambling after this, for him to be truly compared to Bear he'll have to win multiple national titles over a very long period of time. He'll also need a gimmick. Bear had the hat, so far Saban has tan sports coats and team colored polos--that won't catch on :)

What about the straw hat? lol
 
I had completely forgotten about the straw hat! That could do it, although he would look silly wearing it during an actual game. Anyone with enough pride to put something like that on and still scream at people is alright with me!
 
Coach Bryant returned during a time when the program was in even worse shape (IMO) than when Coach Saban did. Standards were arguably just as high then as the current crop of students only remember one NC at best. It was within this environment that Coach Bryant stepped in and won 6 NC and robbed of his 7th.

That standard is os out of reach during these days of scholarship limitations that the initial question is unfair to Coach Saban.

That said, I think Coach Saban can be as big of a success as possible during these times.
 
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