Saturday, August 27, 2016

Saban: Don't see myself ever leaving Alabama


 This is a reminder to Crimson Tide fans that the greatest coach in college football history, next to the Bear, is here to stay and will be for a long time.


No, I really don't. I don't see it ever happening, and I know every year somebody has me going somewhere else," Saban told ESPN.com in a wide-ranging interview. "I think a lot of it isn't just about the coaching part. What people don't understand is they forget you're a person. They forget you have a wife and two kids and a grandbaby, and they all live in Birmingham.
"They all work here. My wife goes to Birmingham five times a week. My mom lives in Birmingham now after moving from Myrtle Beach. It's not just the job. A lot of people don't get that. My life is here."http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/14425927/nick-saban-says-see-ever-leaving-alabama-crimson-tide 
(Article ran on Dec 24, 2015)


Ten reasons why Saban is the G.O.A.T of the BCS era:

1. Alabama has won the national championship in four of the past seven years, the best run in history.

 Only Notre Dame, during the war era of 1943-1949, can boast the same. Just like Alabama, they all came with one coach — Frank Leahy. The difference is, of course, how the college football landscape was entirely different, so much so that the game and its teams would hardly be recognizable today. Oh yeah, and there’s this. The other three times to win that Notre Dame reign: Michigan (pretty normal) and Army, twice.

2. Nick Saban has won as many or more national titles than the following schools:

 Texas, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Auburn, Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, Clemson, Georgia, Texas A&M, UCLA.

 3. Seven of the last 10 national champions have been coached by either Nick Saban or Urban Meyer.

Alabama (2015), Ohio State (2014), Alabama (2012), Alabama (2011), Alabama (2009), Florida (2008) and Florida (2006).

 4. Seven of the last nine national champions came from the SEC.

Only Florida State (2013) and Ohio State (2014) broke the streak, which was at six after Alabama’s previous championships. Besides ‘Bama or UF, the other two SEC champs were LSU and Auburn. In the 25 years before that, the SEC had three titles in total.

 5. In the past five seasons, Alabama has seven losses.

 The team is 62-7 since 2011 (Clemson, remarkably, is a nearby 56-12). Can you name the seven losses? They’re amazingly easy to remember even if you’re not a diehard: LSU (2011, overtime in that year’s “game of the century”), Texas A&M (2012, the Johnny Manziel game), Auburn (2013, the field-goal return), Oklahoma (2013, a meaningless Sugar Bowl), Ole Miss (2014), Ohio State (2014, College Football Semifinals), Ole Miss (2015, again). That’s a grand sign of success: Each of your failures from the past decade is memorable in its own right.

 6. Alabama has been No. 1 in the AP poll at least one time in the past nine seasons.

 This year’s reign at the top broke a record the Tide had held with the Jimmy Johnson Miami teams. No other school has more than five.

 7. Saban has five titles overall and is one behind Bear Bryant’s record.

 The coach one his first title at LSU, then has the four since coming back to college with Alabama. Bryant won all six at Alabama. And nothing against The Bear, but he was doing it in an era with 20-30 contenders for the national title, tops. I suppose there are just as few today, but with recruiting an intense as ever and the non-contenders playing better football than ever before, Saban’s five has to outdo Bears’ six.

 8. Saban has the best record ever against top-three teams.

And it’s a winning record too! His squads are 13-8 against one the best three teams in the country. Alabama’s win Monday broke a tie with Lou Holtz for the most such wins ever, though Holtz didn’t win 16 of those games to get to his 12 wins.

 9. Since the BCS era began (and turned into the playoff era) Alabama has twice as many titles as any other school.

Florida, FSU, LSU and Ohio State all have two but, of course, one of those LSU titles in via Saban himself.

 10. Alabama missed out on all this glory and gloating on Feinbaum by *thismuch*:

From an Associated Press article about Saban departing the Miami Dolphins for Alabama, Jan. 4, 2007
After Saban turned down the Tide in early December, they offered the job to Rich Rodriguez, but he decided to stay at West Virginia.



(Original article found here http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/01/alabama-nick-saban-best-college-football-team-ever-run-four-titles-how-many-championships)

 

Nick Saban chooses two QB's to start the season

Nick Saban gave a little more insight into Alabama's quarterback competition on his radio show Thursday night. But it was cryptic.
Asked if he'd made a decision about the battle, Saban added some insight.
"Look, we have two guys that have really done a nice job in the last couple weeks that we have confidence in, that I believe in that can win the game and do a really good job with the quarterback position," Saban said.
He didn't identify either quarterback.
"Neither one of them have really ever done it in the game so to me, the final sorta proof in the pudding is who can go do it best in the game," Saban said. "So how do you know who can do that. You can only speculate, as a coach, how they did in practice."
Jake Coker is the only returning play who has thrown a pass in a college game. Both Alec Morris and Cooper Bateman were long shots who both emerged as contenders during preseason camp.
What's the plan from here?
"When you have two guys that are doing pretty well that you're really pleased with, why do you have to choose? Maybe it's best to give both guys an opportunity at some point in time in the game and they both have the opportunity to prove what they can do in the game, which is ultimately the most important thing to our team."
original article found here ( http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2015/09/nick_saban_says_alabama_qb_bat.html)

We are pretty sure those two guys are Cooper Bateman and Jalen Hurts, as those are the two seen prepping for the USC game with the first teamers in practice. It looks like Nick is going to repeat last years process and play two QB's until one separates himself on the big stage.