A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

BamaMoon

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

I think spurrier would've far exceeded at bama than USC. MUCH better recruiting at Bama than usce. But he would've had to face Saban every year
Oh, I agree...but would he had been better in this alternate west than he has been in a down eastern division?

I think he and Bama would have been a good match (like CNS and Bama). If he would have come here and we would have won 1 NC he'd be pretty heroic in Bama lore.
 

Crimson1967

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

Where would Toledo be if he had stayed there?


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WMack4Bama

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

Middle of the pack and still searching...

Couple more what ifs...If Tebow had chosen Bama over Florida, Shula would still be our coach and Tebow would still be in the league. We, however, would be resigned to accepting 10-2 every three years as acceptable.

What we're doing now is absolutely phenomenal, particularly in the landscape of college football and especially in the SEC. I can't express enough how Coach Saban not only coming here, but coming here when he did was the PERFECT storm; not just for us, but for the SEC and ultimately college football. He came here as Meyer, Tebow, and that great Florida team matured. Florida being the dominant team in college football at the time gave us a "local" tangible target/nemesis to shoot for in our quest to get to the top of the mountain. And what we have done is raise the bar within our state (Auburn was content with just winning the Iron Bowl, but because we are now championship or bust, they are too), but within our conference as well. The recruiting standards, the facilities standards, administrative commitment...all of it. Again, I can't stress enough how much Coach Saban coming here means.

Now...granted, he all but admitted that sometimes he wishes he'd stayed at LSU this past Thursday at SEC Media Days ("If I had to do it over, I'd have just tried to stay in one place and establish a great program, and not have all these goals and aspirations of things that, eventually, you weren't happy doing."), he is a professional, and he's happy here in Tuscaloosa. So we reap the benefits.

Roll Tide.
 
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JustNeedMe81

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

One thing we have to look at is that Coach Saban was at a different place in his life. I think He would've stayed at LSU for a while, and probably take the Texas job, take a job in SEC... Land at Kentucky, SC, or Tennessee or end up in NFL with different teams, bouncing around. I think coming to Alabama was the best thing that ever happened to him, because he values tradition and the history of winning. So I doubt he would've stayed at LSU any longer, but I do know if not for him, we probably would have up and down season in the last 7 years and still be somewhat respectable.
 
Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

Last years '13 team was more talented than most any other team fielded by Saban. If you lined up our team from last year against the 2002/3 LSU squad we would have blown them out of the water. I can't really See how you can put that 10- 2 LSU 1/2 national title team above 2013 crimson tide who went 11-2..
You know, I didn't even think about that.


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crimsonaudio

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

This has been gone over here many times. That said, Nick wouldn't have had the success he's had at Alabama nor would we IMHO.
Exactly.

More to the point, without the relative 'failure' (lack of success, whatever) in the NFL, I don't think CNS would ever have worked as tirelessly as he has at Bama. Had he worked this hard at LSU, they would likely have won five or more NCs since his arrival - but his record there wasn't as good as what it is at Bama. Part of that is what Bama's tradition brings, but part of it was the restart he received upon realizing he needed to pour 100% of his efforts into CFB.
 

Alasippi

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

I could care less. I'm just glad life sent him our way.
If LSU had been his lifelong coaching dream, he'd still be there.
He's where he is now because he's found a home.
It's that simple and I'm not going to argue with it--I'm just very happy that life's circumstances brought him to Tuscaloosa.
This question is like asking, "What If Paul Bryant Had Stayed At Kentucky"?
In all honesty, they would probably be an SEC Powerhouse in football.
That didn't happen. It's the way it is.
sip
 

CrimsonTheory

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

The what if game I play is, what would life be had Nick Saban had taken the Chicago Bears job? The job would go on to Lovie Smith, but what if he had taken the Bears job.

If fun to think about, but be thankful everything has turn out the way it has.
 

BigBama76

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

I believe it was Kirk Herbstreit who commented during Shula's 2005 season that a sack of flour could win 10 games at Alabama. He wasn't knocking Shula since it was an overall discussion of was Alabama really back and how long it would take for us to recover after sanctions no longer had an effect. Other sports commentators made similar statements during our unfortunate sanction period.

As for LSU had Coach Saban stayed there I think they'd be just about where they've been since he left, but LSU being LSU will implode at some point.

As for where would Alabama football would be post Shula I think it all depends on who we got as coach but almost anyone decent would have Alabama competing on the national stage.

Let's not forget what the injuries and lack of depth did to us during Shula's sanctions years. Even 2005's two losses could be pinned on the loss of Prothro and more directly the loss of our starting center, (JB Closner), with no backup to replace him.
 

RollinTider1335

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

I believe it was Kirk Herbstreit who commented during Shula's 2005 season that a sack of flour could win 10 games at Alabama. He wasn't knocking Shula since it was an overall discussion of was Alabama really back and how long it would take for us to recover after sanctions no longer had an effect. Other sports commentators made similar statements during our unfortunate sanction period.

As for LSU had Coach Saban stayed there I think they'd be just about where they've been since he left, but LSU being LSU will implode at some point.

As for where would Alabama football would be post Shula I think it all depends on who we got as coach but almost anyone decent would have Alabama competing on the national stage.

Let's not forget what the injuries and lack of depth did to us during Shula's sanctions years. Even 2005's two losses could be pinned on the loss of Prothro and more directly the loss of our starting center, (JB Closner), with no backup to replace him.
Great post. I agree. Especially on the Shula deal.
 

sanjosecrimson

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

I think he would have had similar success had he stayed at LSU. Look at all that talent he left Les Miles. Even LM squeezed out a NC.
I still can't believe LSU won the NC with 2 losses!! that will never happen again, esp. with the playoff format.
 

theballguy

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

Completely impossible to answer on this one. I can say with some confidence though: LSU wins a couple more NC's. Us, likely not one unless we managed to get a great coach and I don't see who that would have been. Not sure if Spurrier could win at Bama (assuming he ever could have taken a job here).
 

TideFan in AU

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

Last years '13 team was more talented than most any other team fielded by Saban. If you lined up our team from last year against the 2002/3 LSU squad we would have blown them out of the water. I can't really See how you can put that 10- 2 LSU 1/2 national title team above 2013 crimson tide who went 11-2..
Umm, you might want to brush on your history. "That 10-2 LSU 1/2 national title team" was actually 13-1 and had one of the best defenses in last 20 years. That defense was absolutely nasty, and if you think our O-line had trouble with Dee Ford and OU, it would be scary to think how we would have fared against them. That defense featured Marcus Spears, Corey Webster, Travis Daniels, Kyle Williams, Marquise Hill, who were all high draft picks, and several are still playing today. They had a very good O-line and they pounded the ball with 3 very good RB's. Matt Mauck was their QB, and he was nothing spectacular, but he was very a solid QB who made very few mistakes (sound familiar?) and they had 3 NFL caliber WRs.

That team would have been a stout test for any of Saban's teams here based on the defense alone. I'm not saying they were better or would have won against us, but that defense was better than any defense we faced in all three of our National Title games, except maybe 2011 LSU - and that's debatable.
 

BamaMoon

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

Outstanding discussion.

I'll probably ruffle some feathers with the following, but here goes:

I think we are selling CNS a little short on the "what if he would have stayed at LSU." While he might have gotten better and tried harder after the NFL experiment, he still would have gotten better and adapted to the changes in the SEC with time. I refuse to believe he wouldn't have won multiple NCs at LSU with the talent he had compliled and would have compliled had he stayed there.

I also think we are over-selling Bama without CNS. With the exception of the Stallings era, we had basically wandered through the wilderness for 25 years between CPB and CNS.

Now, it's true that a bad coach can win 10 games at Bama...Curry did it, Mike Dubose did it, Shula did it... Bama is not a program that is satisfied with winning 10 games a year.

I think Mal Moore would have found us a good coach after Shula, but I also don't know if that coach might have won a NC here with CNS still controlling the SECw, not to mention the fact that a guy named Tommy Tuberville might have stayed around at Auburn if they would have still been beating Bama.

I love Bama as much as anybody on this board, but I think we were very lucky that MM put all his eggs in a basket and was either heading home from Miami with CNS or that he was planning on going to Cuba if not. Bama and CNS is a perfect storm.

If we've learned anything since CPB, it's that it's the coach that makes Bama win NC not the other way around.
 

dave12

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

Not sure what would have happened at LSU, but we would be wondering around mindlessly in the middle or bottom of the pack in the SEC.
Thank God we don't have that problem.:smile:

RTR:biga2:
 

Chukker Veteran

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

Saban got out of LSU before the corndog mentality overtook him. Just in time. If you think Les talks gibberish, imagine trying to understand anything Saban might say after drinking that LSU water all those years.

I'm real glad we were not coached by Urban Cryer, but I wonder how he would have done at Bama the past eight years? When Saban was hired, Bama was overdue for a coach that knew how to take advantage of being the coach at Bama, and was up to the challenge. We got the best available, and hooray for that, but let's not underplay the advantage the name Alabama brings to the football world.
 

bamahippie

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Re: A "What If" Thread: What if CNS had stayed at LSU? Where would Bama be now?

I think in recruiting alone, you'd see an obvious, astronomical, exponential difference. Take Mississippi State's weekend, and their slew of commits. Go look up the names. At least 3 of those guys (Nick Gibson, Keith Mixon, Justin Johnson), and maybe one of the JUCO guys would have been natural targets for the hypothetical non-Saban regime. I had to absolutely change my mindset on Bama recruiting because of him. Expectations on who we could legitimately get, etc. It's off the charts. All the number one classes... Seriously, under a different regime, we would be giddy as schoolgirls over commitments from Gibson AND Mixon. And remember, there most likely would never had been (I'm talking RBs alone) a Derrick Henry, T. J. Yeldon, Eddie Lacy, Trent, or Ingram in Crimson. I mean, wow. Recruiting is sort of a passion of mine haha.
 

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