Max
Member
ATLANTA - My job here Wednesday (July 18) at Southeastern Conference football media days was simple: Give all head coaches, players and fans of every SEC team not named Alabama a sliver of hope that Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban had any thought -- albeit a brief one -- about when he might retire.
You'd think a guy that turns 67 years old on Halloween might want to occasionally exhale. After all, he's already filled the fingers on one hand with national championship rings and is already one finger into his other hand.
Will Saban ever stop and smell the roses, ones that aren't necessarily associated with playing in Rose Bowl Stadium for the national championship?
Is it possible Saban will join former Florida/South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier as the only SEC football coach ever to coach at age 70 and beyond?
If the decision is left up Saban's wife, who he calls Mrs. Terry, he'll be coaching 'til death do they part or 'til a restless Saban isn't driving her crazy.
"Mrs. Terry does not want me at home, I can tell you that," Saban said. "She doesn't care if I'm 60, 70, or 80. So she's looking for something for me to do."
It's often marveled the way Saban, who also has a national title and two SEC championships to his credit in his five seasons at LSU from 2000-04, has consistently destroyed competition in the traditionally toughest college football conference.
Yet, it also causes anguish from victims absorbing beatings that often create job opportunities.
Since 2006 when Saban came to Alabama, where he has won five national titles, four SEC championships and has averaged 12.2 victories per year in his last 10 seasons, 27 head football coaches have been hired by the 13 other league members.
Saban has already seen two of his former assistants, Derek Dooley and Jim McElwain, get hired and fired and re-hired as in Muschamp's case as South Carolina's head coach.
Currently, there are four SEC head coaches (including two new contenders) vying to become the first of Saban's disciples to put the first loss on his 12-0 record vs. his pupils.
Tennessee first-year coach Jeremy Pruitt, Alabama's defensive coordinator the past two seasons, said he doesn't expect any help from the SEC's Obi Wan Kenobi.
"You better write down everything you can," Pruitt said of his time spent under Saban. "You better take it all in while you have the opportunity. Because as soon as you go put on the other uniform, I can guarantee you, everybody, even though everybody's friends, we want to beat the other guy."
Saban said he usually offers a consistent piece of advice to his underlings who become head coaches.
"What I tell every guy that when they leave, whether it was Jim McElwain or (third-year Georgia coach) Kirby (Smart) or whoever," said Saban, 'is the most important thing for you, when you go to be your own head coach, is you have to be who you are. You have to be yourself.' "
Two graduates of the Nick Saban School of Hard Knocks who have best taken that advice to heart are Smart and Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher, who won a national championship and three Atlantic Coast Conference titles in eight years at Florida State before signing up with the Aggies starting this season.
Fisher and Smart are 0-1 against Saban, both losing to Alabama last year.
Georgia's 26-23 overtime loss to Alabama in the CFP championship game will forever sting Smart until he can get revenge on Saban in the same situation one day.
Smart, who was on Saban's staff nine seasons through 2015, the last eight years as defensive coordinator, probably knows more about the way Saban coaches than any of his former assistants.
Yet, there was Saban at the start of the second half of the national title game, successfully rolling the dice by subbing true freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for struggling second-year starter Jalen Hurts.
Smart said afterward that he wasn't surprised Saban made that move, yet Tagovailoa still threw for 163 yards and three TDs, including the 41-yard game-winning strike to DeVonta Smith.
You can call that lucky, but the most remarkable and undeniable fact about Saban is he has won five national titles at Alabama with six different offensive coordinators and five different starting quarterbacks.
Like Saban's spot-on player evaluation assessments in recruiting, something he learned in the NFL as the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick from 1991-94, he knows exactly what he wants when hiring coordinators.
There might be some new wrinkles, such as former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin's speeding tempo and throwing the ball more in non-traditional throwing situations.
But Alabama football will always be based on having more bigger, stronger and faster players than their opponents. The Crimson Tide rarely loses a game because of lack of depth and fatigue.
The common denominator in all Alabama's titles in the last nine years is Saban.
"Coach Saban's consistency has always stayed the same despite the coaching changes," Alabama senior offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher said. "As players, having that stability is working, and it's proven."
Can Saban coach forever?
"He's going to try," Pierschbacher said. "Being part of a team is something he's always done and it's special, so he wants to do it as long as possible."
Saban said he's healthy and enjoys what he does. As he starts his 12thseason at Alabama and his 23rd as a college head coach, it wouldn't surprise me if he has at least five seasons minimum left in his coaching energy tank.
"I'm going to continue to do it and not worry about any numbers or what my age is or anything like that," Saban said. "I would not want to be in the position where I ever rode the program down because I wasn't capable of making a positive contribution.
"But as you know, our noontime basketball team (filled with Alabama coaches) was undefeated again this year. So that's always an indicator to me that I can make it through another season."
Hate Nick Saban all you want, but his teams are still winning big and yours aren't
You'd think a guy that turns 67 years old on Halloween might want to occasionally exhale. After all, he's already filled the fingers on one hand with national championship rings and is already one finger into his other hand.
Will Saban ever stop and smell the roses, ones that aren't necessarily associated with playing in Rose Bowl Stadium for the national championship?
Is it possible Saban will join former Florida/South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier as the only SEC football coach ever to coach at age 70 and beyond?
If the decision is left up Saban's wife, who he calls Mrs. Terry, he'll be coaching 'til death do they part or 'til a restless Saban isn't driving her crazy.
"Mrs. Terry does not want me at home, I can tell you that," Saban said. "She doesn't care if I'm 60, 70, or 80. So she's looking for something for me to do."
It's often marveled the way Saban, who also has a national title and two SEC championships to his credit in his five seasons at LSU from 2000-04, has consistently destroyed competition in the traditionally toughest college football conference.
Yet, it also causes anguish from victims absorbing beatings that often create job opportunities.
Since 2006 when Saban came to Alabama, where he has won five national titles, four SEC championships and has averaged 12.2 victories per year in his last 10 seasons, 27 head football coaches have been hired by the 13 other league members.
Saban has already seen two of his former assistants, Derek Dooley and Jim McElwain, get hired and fired and re-hired as in Muschamp's case as South Carolina's head coach.
Currently, there are four SEC head coaches (including two new contenders) vying to become the first of Saban's disciples to put the first loss on his 12-0 record vs. his pupils.
Tennessee first-year coach Jeremy Pruitt, Alabama's defensive coordinator the past two seasons, said he doesn't expect any help from the SEC's Obi Wan Kenobi.
"You better write down everything you can," Pruitt said of his time spent under Saban. "You better take it all in while you have the opportunity. Because as soon as you go put on the other uniform, I can guarantee you, everybody, even though everybody's friends, we want to beat the other guy."
Saban said he usually offers a consistent piece of advice to his underlings who become head coaches.
"What I tell every guy that when they leave, whether it was Jim McElwain or (third-year Georgia coach) Kirby (Smart) or whoever," said Saban, 'is the most important thing for you, when you go to be your own head coach, is you have to be who you are. You have to be yourself.' "
Two graduates of the Nick Saban School of Hard Knocks who have best taken that advice to heart are Smart and Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher, who won a national championship and three Atlantic Coast Conference titles in eight years at Florida State before signing up with the Aggies starting this season.
Fisher and Smart are 0-1 against Saban, both losing to Alabama last year.
Georgia's 26-23 overtime loss to Alabama in the CFP championship game will forever sting Smart until he can get revenge on Saban in the same situation one day.
Smart, who was on Saban's staff nine seasons through 2015, the last eight years as defensive coordinator, probably knows more about the way Saban coaches than any of his former assistants.
Yet, there was Saban at the start of the second half of the national title game, successfully rolling the dice by subbing true freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for struggling second-year starter Jalen Hurts.
Smart said afterward that he wasn't surprised Saban made that move, yet Tagovailoa still threw for 163 yards and three TDs, including the 41-yard game-winning strike to DeVonta Smith.
You can call that lucky, but the most remarkable and undeniable fact about Saban is he has won five national titles at Alabama with six different offensive coordinators and five different starting quarterbacks.
Like Saban's spot-on player evaluation assessments in recruiting, something he learned in the NFL as the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick from 1991-94, he knows exactly what he wants when hiring coordinators.
There might be some new wrinkles, such as former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin's speeding tempo and throwing the ball more in non-traditional throwing situations.
But Alabama football will always be based on having more bigger, stronger and faster players than their opponents. The Crimson Tide rarely loses a game because of lack of depth and fatigue.
The common denominator in all Alabama's titles in the last nine years is Saban.
"Coach Saban's consistency has always stayed the same despite the coaching changes," Alabama senior offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher said. "As players, having that stability is working, and it's proven."
Can Saban coach forever?
"He's going to try," Pierschbacher said. "Being part of a team is something he's always done and it's special, so he wants to do it as long as possible."
Saban said he's healthy and enjoys what he does. As he starts his 12thseason at Alabama and his 23rd as a college head coach, it wouldn't surprise me if he has at least five seasons minimum left in his coaching energy tank.
"I'm going to continue to do it and not worry about any numbers or what my age is or anything like that," Saban said. "I would not want to be in the position where I ever rode the program down because I wasn't capable of making a positive contribution.
"But as you know, our noontime basketball team (filled with Alabama coaches) was undefeated again this year. So that's always an indicator to me that I can make it through another season."
Hate Nick Saban all you want, but his teams are still winning big and yours aren't
