Still in charge
Nick Saban has the number of his former Bama assistants, as in 16-0.
HOOVER, Ala. — Nick Saban figures he’s the wrong guy to ask if he’s difficult to work for.
“You have to ask some of the people who’ve worked for me,” the iconic Alabama coach said on Wednesday, the third of four SEC Media Days.
Then Saban fired a preemptive strike for any of his critics — former subordinates or otherwise.
“It’s always interesting that they might say that, but then when they get a job and they go do it, they do it exactly like we did it,” Saban said.
Perhaps so, but his former assistants’ flattery through imitation hasn’t translated into victories against their mentor. Saban is 16-0 against his former understudies, including victories over Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt, Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Louisiana’s Billy Napier last season alone.
“What is it going to take? Sixty minutes of great football,” Fisher said of one of Saban’s former assistants finally toppling the boss. “You have to expect to win the game — you don’t hope to win it. … They’ve established themselves — they deserve it. We’ll see in time.”
Saban waved off his Bittersweet 16, in a semi-defense of his former assistants and the situations they strolled into.
“That’s not a very fair stat,” he said of 16-0. “They don’t take over a program that has the established talent and culture and all that we have at Alabama. When they get the opportunity to establish those things in their program, they’re going to be able to beat Alabama and compete with Alabama.”
In providing cover for his former assistants, Saban put their lack of success against him on their predecessors.
“Most of the time when you get a job, it’s because the guy that was before you didn’t do a very good job, so you have lots of work to do to bring that team to a (new) level,” Saban said. “It’s a matter of time until those challenges get greater and greater for us.”
Alabama is the only program in the nation that can lose in the national title game and it’s considered a disappointing run. Clemson defeated the Crimson Tide 44-16 in January, giving Alabama (14-1) its lone loss of the season.
“If you’re a competitor, you’re going to respond in a positive way and learn from the things that you didn’t do,” Saban said. “Whether those things were in preparation, game-day decisions, the habits you created leading up to games in the second half of the season.
“All those things contribute to whether we’re going to have success against one of the best teams, or the best team, in the country. We obviously didn’t do that, and that’s my responsibility.”
In years past the Crimson Tide have kicked off the season against formidable foes, such as Wisconsin in 2015, Southern Cal in 2016 and Florida State in 2017. This year they open with comparative lightweight Duke in Atlanta on Aug. 31 and follow that with a home game against New Mexico State.
Alabama opens SEC play on Sept. 14 at South Carolina against one of Saban’s former assistants in Will Muschamp, whom he’s defeated twice to date.
“He’s the best football coach in college football history,” Muschamp said of Saban, who’s won six national titles, which includes one at LSU in 2003. “The consistency he’s maintained at Alabama is phenomenal, and in this league, that’s difficult. But you’ve got to go beat Alabama — you can’t hope and wish something (bad) is going to happen.”
Alabama plays at A&M on Oct. 12, in its first SEC West road game. Saban has defeated Fisher twice, first against FSU in 2017 and then with A&M a year ago. The Crimson Tide, along with Clemson once again, will enter the season as one of the nation’s top two ranked teams.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who led Alabama to the 2017 national title game victory, finished second in the Heisman Trophy race to Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray last season. Tagovailoa said Alabama players learned plenty from losing by four touchdowns in the title game.
“It was a good experience for our team, because a lot of us are back, and it’s something we don’t take for granted now,” Tagovailoa said. “Winning isn’t something you should take for granted.”