Your first impression of Coach Saban?

dvldog

Hall of Fame
Sep 20, 2005
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Didn't think much about him until I saw him get off the plane in TTown. I thought, " that guy looks like a serious football coach". In spades....:)
 

crimsonbleeder

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Dec 1, 2002
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Birmingham, AL
I didn't really follow Coach Saban that closely before he found his way to Red Stick, but I was impressed with his LSU teams.

I remember keeping track of the Dolphins, hoping they would keep losing, before Shula was officially fired. IIRC, the Phins reeled off around 4 wins in a row to close out the year, and I wasn't expecting CNS to leave Miami. Glad it worked out though. 😁
Agreed, we were right there with you at the end. Also, IIRC, one of those 4 wins in a row was over the Pats, wasn't it?
 

ValuJet

Moderator
Sep 28, 2000
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I just thought he was an ok coach. You have to remember when he left the Dolphins, I was traveling to Miami a lot & you just would not believe the stuff on the radio. I have not heard such hatred ever in my life, which was hard for me to understand since he had a losing record there.

I really think he is much much more than a good coach now but you have to give the entire university, fans & his assistants a lot of credit.

Alabama was just a very good fit for Saban to be himself, not sure it would work everywhere, but I'm sure glad it's a perfect fit here.
That Miami thing was unfortunately, a fiasco for him. I was living there during the two years Coach Saban was there. The owner was as hungry for a good coach as anyone following Dave Wannstadt, Jimmy Johnson's old buddy. Wayne Huizenga had an obsession for going after those at the pinnacle of their coaching career (Jimmy Johnson, Super Bowl winner, Jim Lelyand, World Series manager, etc.). Coach Saban was available. I think CNS and Huizenga had a good relationship, but it was frosty with the South Florida media, who still loathes him to this day for leaving.

CNS flatly told the South Florida media "I am not going to be the coach at Alabama." But every time he took to the podium following a practice he was peppered with questions about Alabama. He had to say something to keep the focus on the task at hand - and that was trying to keep a group of overpaid prima donnas focused to try to win a game. He was in a no-win situation in Miami with the Dolphins. This was the same media who will go to their graves defending the "Cane Thang" mentality of the thugs of Coral Gables.

Tom - you may be speaking of "Mad Dog" Jim Mandich who was a very popular radio host and gave the perception of being an everyday, regular guy. He said some ugly things about Coach Saban but never put himself in Nick's place. Even earlier this year, the boo birds of the South Florida media were still harping on their discontent about Saban's return to Miami.

Coach has proven where he's effective but I agree his success has been amazing in such a short time.
 

Go Bama

Hall of Fame
Dec 6, 2009
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16outa17essee
I remember thinking CNS was a good coach at MSU, but it was MSU. When he went to LSU and started winning I despised him, just like all our rival fan bases do now, but I did respect him. I was tickled when he left LSU high and dry and absolutely ecstatic when he was hired at Alabama. I thought we would have a good football team again, but no one expected this kind of run.

I hope he lives to be a hundred and coaches until he's 99. His style of coaching, like Coach Bryant or Coach Wooden who were both very different in style, will be good a hundred years from now.
 

bamachile

Hall of Fame
Jul 27, 2007
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I was working all over South Louisiana in '99 when LSU hired Saban from MSU, so he hit my radar in a large way then. I had barely heard of him, but had a good impression of him. I remember that I thought that he would probably make LSU a pretty decent team. Of course, I was thinking in terms of 9-3 or 10-2 seasons and an occasional SEC title, not in terms of National Championships, and considered even decency as an ambitious undertaking.

During the 2003 season, I was at the Flora-Bama in Gulf Shores during the LSU-Bama game. I remember the Cajun playing guitar on stage saying "We gonna kick some Bama posterior" or something to that effect and thinking, "I hope we at least make it respectable". We didn't. That was the day I starting realizing that CNS was more than just a pretty good coach.

I didn't think we had a shot at him in 2007. Watching the locals (since by now I had moved to Lake Charles) recoil in horror at the prospect of facing their erstwhile hero across the field was a beauty to behold. It's been a great ride since.

Nice thread, TommyMac. Thanks.
 

Catfish

Hall of Fame
Oct 11, 2005
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When first hired at LSU the media was already speaking negatively of him. They alluded to the fact nobody on his Michigan St. staff chose to follow him to Baton Rouge. That he was too difficult to work for, blah blah blah. Being demanding is part of the reason he is so successful and he proved himself quickly at LSU. I, like you was very happy to see him leave and go to the NFL because I thought he was the best coach in college football. When Shula was fired he was the first coach I thought of and actually thought we had a shot at him. Luckily for us Mal was able to bring him home to Tuscaloosa and the rest is history.
This summs up my impressions perfectly, except I didn't think we had a realistic shot at him. Fortunately, you were right about that part, too.
 

TideEngineer08

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Jun 9, 2009
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I didn't think much of him when LSU hired him. I was a junior in high school, and mainly just focused on Alabama. I didn't pay attention to recruiting all that much, and so I didn't realize Louisiana was such a fertile recruiting territory. I had no idea he was thought of as a great recruiter. I remember watching a couple of Michigan State games - they had a pretty good RB, Sedrick Irvin - in those days.

I was still under the impress that Mike DuBose was building us into a powerhouse again to really care what LSU was doing. Of course, by the time we played in Baton Rouge that year, the season had gone off the rails. Again, I didn't pay much attention to them and really only cared about how we were going to replace DuBose. fRAN certainly seemed to have things going in the right direction and even though Rohan Davey and that WR, Reed, moved the ball all over the field on us that day, I was optimistic about the future. We destroyed them in 2002 (but they had injury troubles that year, especially at QB). Then 2003 happened. At that point, I was well aware of what Nick Saban was building. After he left for the NFL after the next season, I was relieved, but everyone knew he had established that program as a staying force in the SEC.

I followed this board anxiously during the coaching search after the 2006 season. A few Auburn friends I had, one in particular, continually mocked Alabama fans for thinking we had even the smallest of shots of landing Saban. But on this board, there were a few that kept hinting that it was very possible. Of course when we were played for a fool in the Rodriguez deal, I'd just about given up hope. Then, somehow, Coach Moore got him and Terry on a plane to Tuscaloosa.

Now, I had absolutely no idea it was going to be this good. Frankly, I didn't think any coach or team was capable of this in the current era of college football. But I knew we had a coach that could get it done and bring Alabama back to where she belonged. What I figured was that we'd win the SEC by the time his first recruiting class were juniors, and perhaps challenge for the NC in the ensuing years. I figured that would be a wonderful development. Obviously, reality has been leaps and bounds better.
 

tidefanbeezer

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Sep 25, 2006
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I thought he was an upgrade over Shula. He had college experience and SEC experience, which was a plus.

I was worried that he would be gone after 4-5 years.

Never expected that he'd be this good. Glad every day that he is this good.
 

Al A Bama

Hall of Fame
Jun 24, 2011
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I just wonder what he really thought about that Bama 30 to 0 win against LSU @ LSU in the early 2000's when the Fran man was here.

Hopefully, he thought those boys in Crimson Jerseys will give it their all even under a creepy character like the Fran man.

I just wonder if he thought he could win at a level even greater than anything that ever happened at LSU? Did this have an effect in addition to Mal on his knees begging Mrs. Terry
to get him to sign on the dotted line?
 

uofaJO1987

1st Team
Oct 25, 2011
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Didn't really know who he was and really didn't care. In the fall of '99 I was in 7th grade so I hadn't been bitten by the football bug quite yet. Then I remember when they beat Tennessee in that SEC Championship essentially ending the vols chances at a national title I was ecstatic. Then I can remember pulling for them to beat OU in '03. Then he went to the NFL, and I too thought he'd be successful. When it didn't work out I laughed when the rumors started flying about him coming to t-town. Then low and behold he did, and now here we are talking about it 3 national championships later.
 

bonehouse81

All-SEC
Jun 30, 2006
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I'm ashamed to admit I had quite the Barner-ish initial reaction when he started racking up recruits at lowly LSU: This guy's gotta be cheating. To that point, I never really realized how much talent the state of Louisiana had. It's really inexcusable for that program to have been so bad for so long.
 

TommyMac

Hall of Fame
Apr 24, 2001
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How many remember ex-LSU coach Bill Arnsparger? He was Don Shula's former DC with the Dolphins. He was LSU's HC for 3 years in the 80's, like Coach Saban, he had things on the rise in BR, went 2-0-1 against us and looked to be building a monster program there. I was really happy to see him leave the bayou too, but maybe it would have been better had he stayed becuse he went to be the AD at Florida and hired Spurrier as HC which didn't turn out too good for us. Probably wouldn't have mattered, Spurrier was gonna get the Gator gig sooner or later anyway.
 

Nolan

Hall of Fame
Jul 4, 2006
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Seeing him at LSU, walking the sidelines with his arms folded, a slight scowl on his face.

My first impression was "That guy is intense."

And I couldn't get over how big and well-conditioned his players were.

I wanted that for Alabama. Well...

:cool2:
 

TideEngineer08

TideFans Legend
Jun 9, 2009
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I know it's been mentioned before, but isn't it ironic that Coach Saban is responsible not only for rebuilding the Alabama empire, but also building up it's most powerful rival?

Oh, don't blow a gasket, lurking LSU fan. Yes the program belongs to Miles now, but it got to where it is by Saban's hand.
 

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