No One is Talking about Coach Saban's Demeanor against LSU

TideHiFlyer

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Sep 3, 2012
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I know I'm not the only one who saw our legendary Coach's demeanor on the sideline during the LSU game. My buddy said CNS looked "lost" in the second half, (he is a Tennessee fan). I said to him what you were looking at was a coach well in control. He doesnt have to be stark raving mad to be the coach everyone expects. Clearly, CNS was observing his team get beat in the second half by a better team, physically and mentally. We werent getting beat due to real mental errors we were just getting beat by a superior team and he was clapping and encouraging our kids to keep fighting. Indeed, Coach Nick is the best college coach in the nation. I hope he dies a very old man at The Capstone. ROLL TIDE!
 

BamaMoon

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I know I'm not the only one who saw our legendary Coach's demeanor on the sideline during the LSU game. My buddy said CNS looked "lost" in the second half, (he is a Tennessee fan). I said to him what you were looking at was a coach well in control. He doesnt have to be stark raving mad to be the coach everyone expects. Clearly, CNS was observing his team get beat in the second half by a better team, physically and mentally. We werent getting beat due to real mental errors we were just getting beat by a superior team and he was clapping and encouraging our kids to keep fighting. Indeed, Coach Nick is the best college coach in the nation. I hope he dies a very old man at The Capstone. ROLL TIDE!
I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed as much already. Glad you made a thread about it!

IMO, (you touched on it), I think he understood what was happening was some what "out of his hands" and that "blowing a fuse" would send the wrong message to the Bama players/bench.

It was obvious that LSU was having a lights out night and the we where struggling. I think he knew that a calmer approach would be the example the team needed to find a way to win. He didn't panic and neither did the team!

FWIW, his time management was spot on in the last 3-4 minutes of the game as he used his TO's too give us the time for a last minute drive.
 

CajunCrimson

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Mar 13, 2001
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I know I'm not the only one who saw our legendary Coach's demeanor on the sideline during the LSU game. My buddy said CNS looked "lost" in the second half, (he is a Tennessee fan). I said to him what you were looking at was a coach well in control. He doesnt have to be stark raving mad to be the coach everyone expects. Clearly, CNS was observing his team get beat in the second half by a better team, physically and mentally. We werent getting beat due to real mental errors we were just getting beat by a superior team and he was clapping and encouraging our kids to keep fighting. Indeed, Coach Nick is the best college coach in the nation. I hope he dies a very old man at The Capstone. ROLL TIDE!
sniff! sniff! -- is that fish? or troll I smell?

you have a friend who is a Tennessee fan? ;)
 

bigjue24

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Dec 2, 2009
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What I have noticed time and time again is that the tighter the game the more calm he is. This leaks over to the players as well. He gets more emotional the more out of hand the game gets. I think this is designed to keep the intensity and attention to detail high no matter the score, but the calmness at the start of a game or in the closing minutes of a nail biter is designed to elicit the same response from the 18-22 year young men he is leading. They follow his lead on an emotional level. The offense looked calm at the end of the LSU game just as they did at the end of the '09 Iron Bowl when McElroy and Julio led a similar drive to the one McCarron and Norwood led Saturday night. He was not lost he was calm in the midst of the storm.
 

TideMom2Boys

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Nov 17, 2010
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FWIW, his time management was spot on in the last 3-4 minutes of the game as he used his TO's too give us the time for a last minute drive.
I agree. We see time and time again where coaches (Les...Kiffin..etc) have horrible time management.
 

CapstoneTider

Suspended
Dec 6, 2000
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I personally would not feel very comfortable either if I was in his shoes. I don't think he likes to play there due to the some of the hatred that many of their fans still carry, which was rekindled with the NC game. I noticed that the security stuck very close to the coaches and players.

He was maybe attempting to not create attention, being toned down and less animated, but not effecting his coaching. And it is nothing that will carry over.
 

trenda

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May 17, 2000
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Clearly, CNS was observing his team get beat in the second half by a better team, physically and mentally. We werent getting beat due to real mental errors we were just getting beat by a superior team and he was clapping and encouraging our kids to keep fighting.
Coughcough...troll...coughcough.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Jones fumble on the punt return? Mental error. Yeldon's fumble on the 10? Mental error by AJ in trying to sell the fake reverse ahead of making sure of a sound hand-off. Better team physically and mentally?? When the chips were down, Bama drove down the field and scored in less than a minute to regain the lead. Then the Tide D stomped out any hope of LSU doing the same with a game ending sack.
 

selmaborntidefan

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Mar 31, 2000
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I was wondering that but I chalked it up to the fact CNS coached at Tiger Stadium and knew his team. He was trying to get enough out of them to get to the finish line.
 

TideHiFlyer

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Sep 3, 2012
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Coughcough...troll...coughcough.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Jones fumble on the punt return? Mental error. Yeldon's fumble on the 10? Mental error by AJ in trying to sell the fake reverse ahead of making sure of a sound hand-off. Better team physically and mentally?? When the chips were down, Bama drove down the field and scored in less than a minute to regain the lead. Then the Tide D stomped out any hope of LSU doing the same with a game ending sack.
Of course Im not a troll. Clearly LSU were making far less critical errors and certainly turnovers during the game but as Coach Nick said when it counted the most, we overcame great adversity to win the game. A hallmark of a championship team.
 

Maudiemae

All-SEC
Oct 18, 2003
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I know I'm not the only one who saw our legendary Coach's demeanor on the sideline during the LSU game. My buddy said CNS looked "lost" in the second half, (he is a Tennessee fan). I said to him what you were looking at was a coach well in control. He doesnt have to be stark raving mad to be the coach everyone expects. Clearly, CNS was observing his team get beat in the second half by a better team, physically and mentally. We werent getting beat due to real mental errors we were just getting beat by a superior team and he was clapping and encouraging our kids to keep fighting. Indeed, Coach Nick is the best college coach in the nation. I hope he dies a very old man at The Capstone. ROLL TIDE!
Well, I'll agree that the coach does not need to be a screamin' maniac to be coaching well. I don't really think the who's are a superior team, though, overall. I think they had a lot of things going for them, not the least of which, was a very driving need to extract vengeance, wildly hostile home field advantage and a bye week beforehand. They had a great night and we....did not. Personally, I think Saban was using his very good judgement and instincts. His players were definitely being bested and they were frustrated and exhausted. There was no question that they wanted the win. Hysterics and hissy fits would only have made them panicky and too desperate whereas he needed them to stay calm and able think well. He needed them to call up every ounce of knowledge, skill and strength that they had. I believe he was setting the tone and the example through his behavior. It worked.
 

davefrat

Hall of Fame
Jun 4, 2002
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i mentioned this in another thread, but my wife (a former bama athlete) was very concerned about saban's demeanor in the game, and she was voicing these concerns from the opening kickoff. but i agree with those who say that he was cognizant of the fact that we were simply getting whipped by the other team and that he probably realized that it wasn't a "come on guys, you can do better than this" situation, but rather, that it was a "man, they're pushing us all over the field so i need to encourage the players and keep them positive" situation.
 

CapstoneTider

Suspended
Dec 6, 2000
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Of course Im not a troll. Clearly LSU were making far less critical errors and certainly turnovers during the game but as Coach Nick said when it counted the most, we overcame great adversity to win the game. A hallmark of a championship team.
Your post clearly said that LSU was the superior team, but I think, hope, that you meant that LSU was playing superior at the moment. I don't believe you are a troll.
 

RollTide1224

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Feb 18, 2008
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I was talking about this earlier this morning. I think the players had enough anxiety and pressure on them without him blowing up on them. Coach realized that if he was screaming and going crazy it could've added to the sense of desperation that the players were always feeling.

In most games where he has the calm pregame demeanor we seem to win 09 SEC champ, 11 BCS Champ. In last years regular season game against LSU he was constantly blowing up and maybe he realized that it wasn't helpful.

When we are blowing teams out it is only the fear of Saban yelling at the players that can keep them motivated. In this game there just wasn't a need for it. Great job by Coach.
 

Im_on_dsp

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Oct 10, 2007
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Your post clearly said that LSU was the superior team, but I think, hope, that you meant that LSU was playing superior at the moment. I don't believe you are a troll.
We were the slightly superior team in the first half and LSU was far superior in the second half, except for the last minute and a half. Just because they kicked our tail for ALMOST an entire half does not mean they are the better team.
 

trenda

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Of course Im not a troll. Clearly LSU were making far less critical errors and certainly turnovers during the game but as Coach Nick said when it counted the most, we overcame great adversity to win the game. A hallmark of a championship team.
If you are not, sincere apologies. However, someone joining the board just a couple of months ago with a very small number of posts claiming that our coach was clearly observing us get beat by a better team physically and mentally kind of screams 'troll.' Especially when you add that we were just getting beat by a superior team and not due to any mental errors. Which is just not true.

If not a troll, hopefully you can see how your post certainly sounds like it comes from one. Kindly forgive my cynicism.
 

Ole Man Dan

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Apr 21, 2008
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We used to have a picture of 'a can of TROLL SPRAY'.
(I had it saved, but when my computer went down it got away.)
We may have to rely on a industrial disinfectant, to get the ones hiding under the bridge... ;)
 
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bamamc1

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Oct 24, 2011
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In tight games the players always look to their coach and often times take on the personality of them at that time. We were playing in a very hostile environment in a tight game. Had he been going nuts all night, I don't think we score at the end of the game. JMO RTR
 

IMALOYAL1

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Oct 28, 2000
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Of course Im not a troll.
CNS was observing his team get beat in the second half by a better team.... we were just getting beat by a superior team


I disagree with your assessment. Both.

============================

Our ypc proves they never really shut down our running game. AJ just seemed off on his throws. I've never seen AJ miss a wide open Cooper for a TD like he did in the 1st half. If we had never called a pass play in the 2nd half we may have won going away.

LSU couldn't find a way to stop our running game but we chose to keep the offense balanced.

It's a credit to our team that when the game was on the line the defense got the stop, the coaches managed the clock and the offense marched down the field for the winning touchdown showing the poise and confidence of a superior team.

LSU got the ball back with as much time as it took us to score but looked lost and unprepared.
 
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