Former assistants marvel at Saban
Sixth in a series previewing the 2019 SEC football season.
HOOVER, Ala. — Alabama Coach Nick Saban has beaten so many of his assistant coaches so many times they could form a support group.
Eight of Saban’s former assistant coaches at Alabama, LSU or Michigan State have tried to beat him since 2010.
All have failed. Going into this season, Saban’s former assistants are 0-16 against him.
“I’m well aware,” Georgia Coach Kirby Smart said at SEC media days last week.
In most cases, Saban’s Crimson Tide have crushed teams coached by his former assistants.
Alabama has outscored teams coached by Smart, Jimbo Fisher (Florida State and Texas A&M), Jim McElwain (Colorado State and Florida), Mark Dantonio (Michigan State),
Derek Dooley (Tennessee), Will Muschamp (Florida), Jeremy Pruitt (Tennessee) and Billy Napier (Louisiana-Lafayette) by a combined score of 647-220.
That averages out to a 40-14 victory for the Tide.
“I’ve never heard that,” Fisher said with a smile when asked about Saban’s perfect record against his assistant coaches. “Never, ever heard that before.”
Smart’s Bulldogs are the only team led by a former Saban assistant to test Alabama.
Alabama rallied to beat Georgia 26-23 in overtime in the College Football Playoff title game in January 2018, and 35-28 last season in the SEC Championship Game when the Bulldogs couldn’t hold second-half leads of 13 and 14 points, respectively.
“Am I confident somebody’s going to beat him?” Smart said in answer to a question. “It depends how long he coaches. It depends on how many opportunities they get. Inevitably, with enough opportunities, anything can happen.”
Saban’s Tide went 4-0 against his former assistants last season with victories over Texas A&M 45-23, Louisiana Lafayette 56-14 and Tennessee 58-21 before the close call against Georgia.
This season, Saban will get at least three games against former assistants when Alabama plays South Carolina — where Muschamp is going into his fourth season as coach — along with Texas A&M and Tennessee.
“As far as Nick goes, it’s going to take 60 minutes of great football,” Fisher said of beating the Tide. “We all know Alabama has established itself as a great program. Nick is a great coach.
“You have to line up and play. And more importantly, you have to expect to win the game. Don’t hope to win it. You got to expect to win.
“Don’t worry about winning it. Worry about playing well in the game, performing, making the plays when you have to, and then you’ll get the results you want. But we’ll see in time.”
When Muschamp was asked about Saban’s 16-0 record in matchups with his assistants, he jokingly replied, “He give you that stat?”
Of course not. Saban seems to hate talking about how much he beats his former assistants.
“I think that’s not a very fair stat,” Saban said. “All of the former assistants that we have, they get jobs. They don’t take a program over that has the established talent, culture and all that we have at Alabama.
“So 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.”
Saban said he expects his former assistants to improve their programs.
“I think a lot of those guys are going to be able to do that extremely well,” he said. “Some have done it already. So I think it’s a matter of time until those challenges get greater and greater for us.”
Alabama started 13-0 last season before falling to Clemson 44-16 in the CFP title game.
It was a shocking result, but Tide junior quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said at SEC media days it was a good wake-up call for Alabama.
“I know this sounds bad, but I am glad I had that opportunity to feel a loss like that, because what can you learn from winning?” Tagovailoa told a pack of reporters. “You can’t learn as much.
“But when you lose, you start appreciating things a lot more, definitely in a different perspective as well. I am kind of glad that we did [experience losing]. Many lessons have been learned from that loss.”
Tagovailoa — who last year finished runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting to Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray — is among 10 Alabama players who were voted to the All-SEC first-team offenses and defenses in balloting by reporters at media days.
The Tide are heavily favored to win the SEC West while Georgia is favored to win the East, so Saban and Smart could meet in Atlanta for a third consecutive season.
Smart was an assistant coach with Saban at Alabama for eight seasons, including defensive coordinator from 2008-15 when the Tide won three national championships.
Saban has won six national championships — one at LSU and five at Alabama.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for the job he does,” Smart said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for the program. The success he’s gotten has been earned. Make no mistake about that. He’s earned it.
“There’s not one thing he asked assistant coaches to do that he doesn’t do himself.”
Saban is 67, but he has a contract to be Alabama’s coach through the 2025 season. He underwent hip surgery in the offseason, but he quickly returned to work.
“Well, it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down very much,” Muschamp said. “The hip injury didn’t put him out. He wasn’t on the disabled list very long. He was out there, based on what he said, on the golf course pretty quickly.
“I wouldn’t put a timetable on him on anything.”
Muschamp was asked whether he expects a former Saban assistant coach to ever beat the master?
“As far as beating Alabama, you’ve got to go beat Alabama,” Muschamp said. “They are not going to beat themselves. They are very well coached. They have really good players.
“They’re going to attack you in all three phases. That’s how you’ve got to approach that game as far as beating that football team.”
Saban is 146-21 in 12 seasons at Alabama, including 83-13 in SEC games.
“Nick’s doing a fantastic job. He’s the best football coach in college football history,” said Muschamp, who was Saban’s defensive coordinator at LSU. “The consistency that he has maintained at Alabama is pretty phenomenal.”