Question for the board trying to kill time to January 7.
Saban's LSU teams had some undoubtedly great years. But they tended to follow up the championship seasons with slightly down years. Not bad ones, just not up to the championship standard. He was at LSU five years, and won 10+ games twice. Won 11+ games only once. Lost fewer than three games only once. In his first year there, he had four losses (understandable), but lost five in his third year, including a first class butt-whipping against us.
But he's been at Alabama six years now, and failed to win 10+ games only once...the 2007 rebuilding year. In four of the six, he's won 12+ games. And the program gives no sign of slacking off.
So what's changed? What is he doing different now from what he did at LSU?
And don't say it's because we're Alabama. LSU has comparable facilities, and maybe even a better recruiting base (great HS football in the state, and no credible in-state competition for the elite athletes). A goofball like Les Miles wins big there.
On top of that, "being Alabama" didn't save us from consistently inconsistent performances under other coaches.
I agree that it allowed several mediocre coaches to achieve more than they could have elsewhere. But it didn't save us from wandering in the wilderness for most of the 25 years between Bryant and Saban (Note: 1991 - 1994 exception under Stallings acknowledged, along with 1989, 1999, and 2005 years where "being Alabama" made Curry's, DuBose's and Shula's otherwise somber tenures). Still, "being Alabama" didn't work for 19 of the 25 intervening years.
What is Saban doing now that even he didn't do in the past?
Saban's LSU teams had some undoubtedly great years. But they tended to follow up the championship seasons with slightly down years. Not bad ones, just not up to the championship standard. He was at LSU five years, and won 10+ games twice. Won 11+ games only once. Lost fewer than three games only once. In his first year there, he had four losses (understandable), but lost five in his third year, including a first class butt-whipping against us.
But he's been at Alabama six years now, and failed to win 10+ games only once...the 2007 rebuilding year. In four of the six, he's won 12+ games. And the program gives no sign of slacking off.
So what's changed? What is he doing different now from what he did at LSU?
And don't say it's because we're Alabama. LSU has comparable facilities, and maybe even a better recruiting base (great HS football in the state, and no credible in-state competition for the elite athletes). A goofball like Les Miles wins big there.
On top of that, "being Alabama" didn't save us from consistently inconsistent performances under other coaches.
I agree that it allowed several mediocre coaches to achieve more than they could have elsewhere. But it didn't save us from wandering in the wilderness for most of the 25 years between Bryant and Saban (Note: 1991 - 1994 exception under Stallings acknowledged, along with 1989, 1999, and 2005 years where "being Alabama" made Curry's, DuBose's and Shula's otherwise somber tenures). Still, "being Alabama" didn't work for 19 of the 25 intervening years.
What is Saban doing now that even he didn't do in the past?
Last edited: