Why is Nick Saban so much better at Alabama than he was at LSU?

BamaPokerplayer

All-American
Oct 10, 2004
3,112
149
82
LSU Total Conference
2000 8–4 5–3
2001 10–3 5–3
2002 8–5 5–3
2003 13–1 7–1
2004 9–3 6–2
Total 40–16 28-12

Bama Total Conference
2007 7–6 4–4
2008 12–2 8–0
2009 14–0 8–0
2010 10–3 5–3
2011 12–1 7–1
2012 13–1 7–1
2013 11–2 7–1
2014 12–2 7–1
Total 91-17 53-11

Three more years at Alabama. I more loss total, and one less in the SEC. I love numbers. :)
 

Al A Bama

Hall of Fame
Jun 24, 2011
6,658
934
132
Because the Alabama Crimson Tide has a tradition of winning under great coaches: Wade, Thomas, Bryant, Stallings, and Saban.
It's in our Crimson Blood to be winners!

LSU is just one of those Johnny Come Lately's to this game of football. Just look at out total record against LSWho! Corndogs
just don't know how to win consistently.
 

TrampLineman

Hall of Fame
Jul 21, 2010
7,287
6
57
Alabama
Well with LSU he had to basically rebuild the whole thing. They were not quite a powerhouse when he stepped foot in Baton Rouge.

Even when Bama has been in the down years, we were a few players away from being a 10+ win football team. Big difference.
 

GreatDanish

Hall of Fame
Nov 22, 2005
6,079
0
0
TN
I'll give a real answer, I guess.

Perfect timing, perfect coach, plus 7 additional years of experience.

Saban had undoubtedly learned some things in the 7 years between taking the LSU job and taking the 'Bama job that he wanted to do differently.

He was also the perfect coach for 'Bama. He is a defensive guy who likes to run the ball. He has a no nonsense attitude and tells it like it is. He's not satisfied with anything less than perfection. That wouldn't work at USC, but it works perfect at Bama.

And it was perfect timing. In 2008, Alabama had one of its best crops of HS talent in a long time. Julio Jones, Marcel Dareus, BJ Scott, Tyler Love, Mark Barron, Jerrell Harris, Robert Lester, Courtney Upshaw, Michael Williams, and Brad Smelley were all part of that class and from Alabama.

We already had guys like Eryk Anders, Rashad Johnson, Javier Arenas... I mean, those guys were hardly even recruited... and combined them with that crazy 2008 class. I know we like to think that the rest of the SEC was "Sabanized" but they weren't. They were just exposed. Tuberville, Fulmer, Houston Nutt... the SEC West just wasn't very strong then. Florida and Georgia were the big dogs. So we got to win the West pretty quickly.

I think that immediate success began a cycle - recruits were amazed by how quickly Saban turned us around and were much more easily convinced to come to Tuscaloosa. They were immediately convinced that Saban was building a giant.

So our recruiting just went off the charts. Our talent level has been so high the last several years that they have allowed our rocky seasons to be 10-3, 11-2 type seasons. As good as Saban's recruiting at LSU was, his recruiting at Bama has been even better. And I think it's just a cycle - the better we do, the better we get at recruiting. The better we get at recruiting, the better we do.

Just pontificating.
 

RobK

All-SEC
Aug 27, 2004
1,506
7
0
47
Holts Summit, MO
knodell.blog-city.com
1. Better players in the beginning. As was previously stated, he inherited a better roster than he did at LSU, accounting especially for the difference in wins during years 2 and 3 for us vs. LSU. Granted there was housecleaning to do and bad apples to prune, but there were some playmakers.

2. Better recruiting. It look a couple more years at LSU for Coach Saban to start signing super-elite recruiting classes. He wasn't the "name brand" coach when he first arrived at LSU as opposed to being a rock star from day one in Tuscaloosa. LSU hadn't previously signed as many in-state guys. You could make the case that Les Miles was the beneficiary of Coach Saban's greatest recruiting successes in Baton Rouge.

3. The Alabama tradition/mystique. It means something. I actually think it is worth a few points when we play the Ole Miss's, Miss State's, and Arkansas' of the world. Those teams believe they can beat LSU. Historically, they haven't always believed they could beat us.

4. Experience. Having coached in the league previously, having recruited athletes in SEC territory, and building on his LSU experience by knowing what worked and what didn't had to make a difference.
 

scrodz

1st Team
Jan 29, 2008
430
60
52
Baltimore, MD
1. Better players in the beginning. As was previously stated, he inherited a better roster than he did at LSU, accounting especially for the difference in wins during years 2 and 3 for us vs. LSU. Granted there was housecleaning to do and bad apples to prune, but there were some playmakers.

2. Better recruiting. It look a couple more years at LSU for Coach Saban to start signing super-elite recruiting classes. He wasn't the "name brand" coach when he first arrived at LSU as opposed to being a rock star from day one in Tuscaloosa. LSU hadn't previously signed as many in-state guys. You could make the case that Les Miles was the beneficiary of Coach Saban's greatest recruiting successes in Baton Rouge.

3. The Alabama tradition/mystique. It means something. I actually think it is worth a few points when we play the Ole Miss's, Miss State's, and Arkansas' of the world. Those teams believe they can beat LSU. Historically, they haven't always believed they could beat us.

4. Experience. Having coached in the league previously, having recruited athletes in SEC territory, and building on his LSU experience by knowing what worked and what didn't had to make a difference.
This. Who really cared about the new coach from Michigan State? How much press did he get? It took a while to build that street cred...
 

TommyMac

Hall of Fame
Apr 24, 2001
14,040
33
0
83
Mobile, Alabama
You are Alabama. It is really that simple.
It really is.

Alabama is the best football program of all-time based on wins, schedule, major bowl wins and NCs. You combine a heritage like Alabama's with a driven, organized, relentless HC like Coach Saban who constantly seeks perfection and you have something really special.

I've been lucky enough to have witnessed the Coach Bryant Era and all of the Coach Saban Era so far. I just hope y'all are aware of how blessed we are during this run and appreciate it as it should be appreciated because you may never see it again.

Alabama + Coach Bryant or Coach Saban are natural fits and are as good as CFB gets, appreciate it.


:biga::biga::biga:
 

Alasippi

Suspended
Aug 31, 2007
12,875
2
57
Ocean Springs, MS
He's not "better". He just has more resources and tradition.
But don't look down at LSU, like he saved their program, "in spite of themselves".
Joe Dean had the ingeniousness to hire Saban while Mal was playing musical chairs with A-Z of coaches who "didn't have a clue".
So Dean gets the upper hand on this debate. He had foresight in hiring Coach S.
Mal had "proof" that Saban was the best.
Mal finally had it beaten into him that his legacy was either going to be, "Go for the best", or be percieved as a total failure. He finally made a great decision, and for that we should be thankful.
But, with all due respect, Bama didn't make Saban better. Saban, under the circumstances, made Alabama better, because when he came to T-Town, we were pathetic.
sip
 

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