Saban Strikes Again. Genius!

Skeeterpop said:

Every year I marvel at how Coach Saban stays several steps ahead of his players, fans and even the media. Sometimes its done right out in the open with so little ease and effort and others its a more devious and covert approach. Fans and the media fall hook line and sinker every time playing right into his hands and unknowingly helping him accomplish exactly what he set out to do. Whether its fire up the fan base to excite the crowd, poke at the media to get Alabama's name in the news, appear on various shows to be visible to recruits, downplay his players in order to control the team unity, snap the whip at other players to get the best out of them or to divert and deflect negative criticism from the media and fans by giving them new material to fuel a new fire.

Its obvious to few and so oblivious to the masses what he is doing many times. But he does it over and over and over every year. It may be one of his most skillful traits that he possesses the know how and ability to pull it off time and time again.

What Saban says is very important whether its fans, media or players listening. But what he doesn't say or I should say what his intent actually is may be the most ingenious of his coaching ability. I could go through a laundry list of examples over the last 7 years where he has single handedly controlled the conversation and topic of his most avid followers and biggest critiques. This week is another perfect example. The Tide follows up their first loss of the year at Ol Miss with a mistake filled, focus lacking, sloppy execution, almost half hearted effort for 3 quarters against Arkansas and comes away with a 1 point victory. What happens? The fans and media immediately begin to pounce on Bama's shortcomings and perceived deficiencies. They call out bad QB play, coaching, play calling, DB mistakes, ball handling, penalties, etc. Players are individually criticized and held responsible for a poor showing. Knowing his team is very young and presumably easily influenced by the outside negativity of their play or results, he goes into Saban mode once again. This time calling out the high expectations of a relentless and rabid fan base that seeks total perfection with no exceptions. They have become their own worst enemy from the recent success of their team. Why does he do this? Simple. In 5 min at the podium he is able to totally deflect 99% of the media and fan bases attention from spouting negative comments about the team and its players to focusing all that negative attention towards him and his comments. Its Genius. There is no other way to explain it. He has allowed his team to focus on A&M preparation this week rather than hearing fans and media's negative comments about their play. He also gains the respect of his players by taking up for them when no one else seems to be doing, even their own fans. He unites the team even more to build a closer bond with each other. He sacrifices his own image for the team. He knows he has talent and they are young so he has to keep there mindset from getting sidetracked and rattled.

I know some who read this will think its a bunch of crap and say No Way, thats not what he was doing. And I say to that. Keep that train of thinking and Saban will continue to be able to stay several steps ahead of the average fan and media member. I challenge the non believers to go back the last several years and identify each time Saban has presumably crossed a line or made waves with his comments or actions. You will find that every time there was some underlying issue, events or circumstance where he was simply diverting attention, sidetracking the conversation or even teaching the people listening directly or indirectly a lesson. He is a master at the game of psychology. Don't always take everything he says literally as his reason for saying it. RTR and keep it up Coach!

Click to expand...

cbi1972 said:

I was getting my school work done while Stallings was winning ugly.

Click to expand...

Coach25 said:

Everything Saban says is thought out very carefully and has a purpose. We do not always know or understand why he says them but trust me he does. Saban tells the media, fans, and his players what they need to hear not what they want to hear. He will be the hat nose coach when his players need the push and when they need somebody to pick them up that's what he does. He knows the pulse of the team better than anyone. In this case I believe it is more about Saban telling his team he believes in them and he is proud of what they have accomplished while everyone else is bad mouthing our players.

Click to expand...

Chukker Veteran said:

I was delivering Dominos pizzas while Bryant was in town.

Believe it or not: One night four girls were having a few cold ones and decided to play a joke on the pizza delivery guy (me) so when I got there with the pizza they were all topless. I made change like everything was normal, but I had one of those you-know-what kind of grins on. True story.

Click to expand...

Chukker Veteran said:

I understand the many good points you've made, and agree.

Question for the board...when recruits hear Saban complain about the Bama fans, does that make a recruit more or less likely to play here? I doubt a comment here or there makes any big difference, but I hate to see a general mindset evolve that paints Bama fans as a negative rather than a positive.

Click to expand...

TideEngineer08 said:

I actually was assembling burgers back then. Big Macs and Quarter Pounders to be exact. And I was pretty dadgum good at it, and we were under a LOT of pressure too. Let me tell you something. You've got a hungry mom with six hungry, screaming kids in tow, and you better by God get that order right or there will be hell to pay.

Click to expand...

CajunCrimson said:

FIFY

Click to expand...

Chukker Veteran said:

I understand the many good points you've made, and agree.

Question for the board...when recruits hear Saban complain about the Bama fans, does that make a recruit more or less likely to play here? I doubt a comment here or there makes any big difference, but I hate to see a general mindset evolve that paints Bama fans as a negative rather than a positive. I don't think we are at that point now, but I'll be glad when Saban turns his full attention back to coaching the team rather than the fans.

Click to expand...

Al A Bama said:

Look at politics, for example. People have short term memories. When those recruits are on campus, they are treated like royalty. Next week, 95% of the fan base won't remember what was said this week.

Click to expand...

colbysullivan said:

I remember something similar to this before the 2012 Championship. Coach Saban was in Miami and did a rare radio interview during game week. I don't really remember what he said exactly, but the interviewer marveled at how Saban completely turned the interview into a recruiting pitch for Bama and they didn't even realize it until it was over. They kept commenting on how genius it was. Was it Dan Lebetard? Anyone remember?

Click to expand...

selmaborntidefan said:

Speak for yourself on that short term memory.....

Click to expand...

Chukker Veteran said:

I was delivering Dominos pizzas while Bryant was in town.

Believe it or not: One night four girls were having a few cold ones and decided to play a joke on the pizza delivery guy (me) so when I got there with the pizza they were all topless. I made change like everything was normal, but I had one of those you-know-what kind of grins on. True story.

Click to expand...