Link: 'Beat Up Like a Drum' Hiring Kiffin, Saban Says Relationship Has 'Never Been Bad'

RTR91

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Link to article and video

Another article that discusses Saban "begging" the offensive coordinators to open the offense like he wants.

Nick Saban's been ordering the same thing for years.

Through four games, Lane Kiffin and a slew of talented, speedy perimeter playmakers are finally giving Saban the offense he's envisioned ever since he arrived at Alabama.

Saban bristled when he was asked Tuesday if he'd given Kiffin more latitude to open up the Crimson Tide offense than previous coordinators Doug Nussmeier, Jim McElwain and Major Applewhite. It served as the launching point for a loud, energetic set of answers from Saban about Kiffin, the Crimson Tide offense and the misperceptions associated with both.

"My philosophy hasn't changed at all," Saban said. "I've always asked for this. Why don't we throw the ball on this look instead of running this play where we can't block everybody? Which is what we do now. It's a pro philosophy, and Lane's got experience as a pro coach. That's his background, that's what he does.
 

selmaborntidefan

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The HUNH crowd may have simply ticked off the wrong guy.

"Hey, this is what we've got - you wanna play long ball, let's rock."
 

Chukker Veteran

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He sounds both defensive for hiring Kiffin along with a big dose of "I told you he was good" thrown in.

Now Saban is complaining he was "beat up like a drum" when he hired Kiffin. Are we back to under-appreciating him again?
 

Bamabuzzard

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He sounds both defensive for hiring Kiffin along with a big dose of "I told you he was good" thrown in.

Now Saban is complaining he was "beat up like a drum" when he hired Kiffin. Are we back to under-appreciating him again?
He was talking about the media beating him up. Not the fans. But in his defense he has the right to gloat a little bit because when he made the hire he was publicly ridiculed for a "dumb" and "desperate" hire. If we were ridiculed about a decision we made and we ended being right. We'd come out and defend ourselves as well. It's human nature.
 

Bamabuzzard

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How are you able to tell he was referring to the media and not the fans? Honest question...
I don't know for a fact but it only makes sense seeing that the media is a lot more visible and easy to see and hear than individual fans. Most fans do not have a national platform like journalists that is easily seen. Also, the media are the ones who've been asking perpetual questions about it directly to Coach Saban since he made the hire, not the fans.
 

RTR91

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How are you able to tell he was referring to the media and not the fans? Honest question...
Look at his comments. He was talking solely to the media.

"I mean, if I did what you all thought when I hired the guy, he wouldn't even be here," Saban said. "Maybe that was the assumption because nobody thought it was a good hire that all of a sudden something bad. I don't know. I thought it was a good hire. Nobody else did. Now, I got beat up like a drum for doing it and now all of a sudden it's great.

"You guys don't have any consequences for what you say and do. Our stuff ends up out there on the field on Saturday and if it ain't done right there's consequences in front of a whole bunch of people, however many people watched the game. How many people watched the last game? What was the rating, like 5.1? How many is that? And however many was in the stadium. It's a different kind of scorecard than you all have got to live with."
 

Chukker Veteran

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I don't know for a fact but it only makes sense seeing that the media is a lot more visible and easy to see and hear than individual fans. Most fans do not have a national platform like journalists that is easily seen. Also, the media are the ones who've been asking perpetual questions about it directly to Coach Saban since he made the hire, not the fans.
I hope you are right. After hearing him unload on the fans after a ball game "I don't care what you think!" I was starting to wonder if he had gotten tired of the Bama fan base.
 

TideFan in AU

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I don't buy the "I've been begging" previous OC's to open up the offense. Sorry coach. Don't buy that one. I would love for someone to go ask McElwain, Applewhite and Nuss to confirm what Saban said.
What I've seen out of Coach Mac's offenses at CSU doesn't look dramatically more dynamic than what he did here, and Nuss has looked totally inept at Michigan. I'm sure that's not a his fault, but a lot of plays he is calling at Michigan worked here worked because we have elite talent. You must remember Nuss was never a playcaller under Sark. I don't know how much CNS has limited or not limited his OC's, but I do know for 7 years that he said year in, year out that we need more "explosive plays". He is getting them this year.
 

RTR91

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I don't buy the "I've been begging" previous OC's to open up the offense. Sorry coach. Don't buy that one. I would love for someone to go ask McElwain, Applewhite and Nuss to confirm what Saban said.
He admits the defense and the running backs have allowed the coaches to call more runs while saying Jimbo is the best coordinator he's ever had because he did what Saban wanted. Jimbo uses balance while throwing the ball. I get what he means.

Saban went as far to say he's been "begging" his previous offensive coordinators to open up the offense in this fashion. He admitted, however, that the strengths of Alabama's personnel and the strong defense it had during its stretch of three national championships in four seasons catered to a run-heavy attack.

Saban said Jimbo Fisher, now the head coach at Florida State, was "the best offensive coordinator I've ever had that ever did what I wanted to do." During their five seasons together at LSU, the Tigers thrived on balance, but occasionally favored the pass. In LSU's 2001 SEC Championship season, Rohan Davey fed wide receivers Josh Reed and Michael Clayton with a flurry of throws on his way to 3,347 passing yards.
 

KrAzY3

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Now Saban is complaining he was "beat up like a drum" when he hired Kiffin. Are we back to under-appreciating him again?
I saw far more complaints about Kiffin's hiring here on this forum then I saw people saying he was a good hire. Far more. It's mostly Alabama fans here, right? So, if this was any indicator, yes, Saban got a lot of complaints.

May be it was the overall mood after the Auburn and Oklahoma losses, but I was in the minority when defending Kiffin and Sims. Under appreciated? Spoiled... close enough. Fans expectations have become not only to demand results, but to demand they approve of the method in which the team goes about getting them.

But... the idea that anyone here who saw the outcry can act as though Saban didn't catch a lot of flack over the hire is just ridiculous. No, it wasn't as bad as what Blake Sims supporters got here, but it was close enough that you still might get mocked a bit for suggesting Kiffin might actually be good at his job.

I'm not sure how insufferable fans understand they can be, while in the midst of being insufferable. But, I saw how exasperated some got over Blake Sims, how merely suggesting that yes he really can throw the deep ball could prompt a page full of responses to the contrary (even without any facts to back that argument up). He's not that fast, he somehow shrunk, bla bla bla, once people get emotional they get irrational. And, Kiffin got some of that sort of thing to. This is just a forum, we're just fans, imagine how that sort of thing could be if you're the head coach making decisions?
 
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bigjue24

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The HUNH crowd may have simply ticked off the wrong guy.

"Hey, this is what we've got - you wanna play long ball, let's rock."
I agree that this may be a case of "be sure your butt can cash the check your writing with your mouth." These folks want HUNH. They want to sling it all over the yard. They want play makers in space. They want smaller quicker disruptive D-Linemen. We can do that better than you. Bama is now transitioning to playing that style without abandoning a power running game element to compliment it. Bama is ahead of Oregon in offensive production. That should scare the crap out of everyone. They dismantled a good Gator defense. I know they suck now that Bama beat them. CNS appears to be adjusting to this new world of college football, and what will happen when he has a guy like Barnett under center.
 

uaintn

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I have heard the Coach say that on occasion last season he asked Coach Nuss to call some plays and to not call others and that he did not do as asked. And yes many fans and media were hard on him and second-guessed the hire. Tennessee fans, and pretty rational and knowledgeable ones, are still taking me to task about it. They for reasons I understand, detest him. I'd be pretty ticked if Fran was now the Vols OC.
 

theballguy

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I don't know for a fact but it only makes sense seeing that the media is a lot more visible and easy to see and hear than individual fans. Most fans do not have a national platform like journalists that is easily seen. Also, the media are the ones who've been asking perpetual questions about it directly to Coach Saban since he made the hire, not the fans.
For a coach like CNS's stature, he is not going to listen to fans much less take it personally when he's criticized by them. Media, different story. We'd all like to think we don't care what others think but if we were in his shoes, we'd be a little sensitive to the media. Especially when they don't know much either.
 

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