Saban forced coaching changes
Success of Alabama causes paradigm shift around SEC football
HOOVER, Ala. — This column is a public service for all of those college administrators who hire and fire coaches in the Southeastern Conference.
Listen closely to what I am about to tell you because it will save you a lot of anxiety and uneasiness.
Here it is — the best piece of advice you will ever get:
Pay no attention to what Nick Saban is doing at Alabama.
Ignore it.
Base none of your decisions on how your old coach or new coach compares to Saban.
Saban should be eliminated from the equation when judging your coach and your program. Just treat him as if he is in a league of his own, which he is, and adjust accordingly.
For instance, Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity should give Kirby Smart a bonus for the 2018 SEC Championship even though he lost to Saban in the championship game. And LSU’s Ed Orgeron and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher should call themselves SEC West co-champions even though they finished three games behind Saban in the standings.
You see how it works? If you
finish second to Saban, you actually finish first. This, in my opinion, makes it much more equitable and gives ADs and school presidents a much more accurate gauge of where their program is.
I came up with this brilliant idea as I was listening to the great Saban talk at SEC Media Days on Wednesday and it struck me just how unfair and un-level the playing field is when he’s in your conference. Every coach and every program in the league is measured against a man who is the greatest college football coach of all time.
Can you imagine the anxiety level of all the other SEC coaches, whose bosses are telling them, “If you want to keep your job, you have to beat Saban.”
This would be akin to a record company signing a new artist and telling the poor schlub, “Oh, by the way, you need to crank out more hits than Elvis or you’re gone.”
Why do you think so many schools hire Saban disciples in hopes of trying to copy what the King has built at Alabama? Georgia hired Smart, Texas A&M hired Fisher, South Carolina hired Will Muschamp and Tennessee hired Jeremy Pruitt.
The problem is, none of these guys is Saban. They may have all been tutored by him, but he obviously didn’t teach them everything. Otherwise, how do you explain the fact that Saban’s former assistants are a combined 0-16 against the master?
“That’s not a very fair stat,” Saban explained when asked Wednesday about his complete dominance of his assistant coaches. “All of the former assistants we’ve had, when they get jobs, they don’t take over a program that has the established talent, culture, and all that we have at Alabama. When they get the opportunity to establish those things in their programs, they’re going to be able to beat Alabama and compete with Alabama. 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 that level.”
Kudos to Saban for his graciousness, but who is he kidding? Saban is like an insatiable male lion eating his young. He is not just a coach-maker; he’s a coach killer. He’s probably gotten more SEC coaches fired over the years than the NCAA Committee on Infractions.
LSU’s Les Miles won a national championship and had the highest winning percentage in school history, but he was fired because he wasn’t Saban. Georgia’s Mark Richt had the highest winning percentage in school history and averaged nearly 10 wins a season but was fired because he wasn’t Saban. Who will be the next coach Saban gets canned? Gus Malzahn, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
When you think about it, Saban’s dynastic dominance likely changed the course of college football in the state of Florida. Can you imagine how drastically different history in our state might be if Saban never existed?
After all, it was Saban’s Cyborgs destroying undefeated Florida in the 2009 SEC Championship Game that made Tim Tebow cry and was the beginning of the end of Urban Meyer’s championship run at Florida. Who knows, without Saban, maybe Meyer wins a third national title in six years and stays at UF.
It was Saban’s Cyborgs who methodically dismantled Florida State in the season opener two years ago, knocked FSU quarterback Deondre Francois out for the season and marked the beginning of the end of Jimbo Fisher’s run at Florida State. Without Saban, who knows, maybe FSU wins the game, Francois stays healthy and the Seminoles go on to have a great season and Jimbo stays in Tallahassee.
And what about Jim McElwain, another former Saban assistant, who led the Gators to the SEC Championship Game in his first two years as a head coach only to get crushed by Saban’s Cyborgs both times by a combined score of 83-31? Without Saban, who knows, maybe McElwain wins an SEC title or two, never feels the need to make up any death threats and is still coaching at UF.
All of you SEC presidents and ADs, are you getting the idea now?
You must act as if Nick
Saban doesn’t exist and judge your coach accordingly.
I guarantee that if you take my advice, it will save you a lot of stress and grief — not to mention millions in contract-buyout money.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWritesand listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on FM 96.9 and AM 740.