How Close was Saban to Coaching Texas

billonthehill

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I was taken back when Terry made that statement but when it sunk in and I realized she was right "the context" it didn't bother me. Once she decided not to go to Austin all is forgiven in my book.
 

KrAzY3

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Like I said...I believe a substantial raise would have happened after the 2012 season if Mal had lived. When Coach Battle took over, he took a little while to "survey the landscape". Then the season started, then Texas probably unofficially contacted Sexton...and it took off from there.
I don't think there's any doubt that things would have gone smoother with Mal. That doesn't necessarily excuse all parties for their behavior, but the change in bosses had to be a factor. To advocate for Saban's side, it might have been that he wanted to secure concessions that were a given with Mal, but he didn't feel he could take for granted with Battle. In either case, I'm not mad about it. I'd have been upset if he left, but after that wore off I wouldn't have held ill will.

In the long run though, what will Nick Saban be to Alabama football? I'm not sure. I remember seeing how close Gene Stallings became to the Texas A&M program and feeling a bit jealous. I wanted him to be "our" guy but really, he's more of a A&M guy. That's just how it is sometimes, these coaches worked elsewhere, they played elsewhere, their loyalties might not be as clear cut.
 
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davefrat

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I was taken back when Terry made that statement but when it sunk in and I realized she was right "the context" it didn't bother me. Once she decided not to go to Austin all is forgiven in my book.
being paid millions and millions of dollars and having a statue erected in your honor while you're still alive isn't exactly what I'd consider underappreciated.


perhaps it's just me, but she came off as a snotty, entitled pain in the rear end.
 

Con

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As much as I hate to admit this, I agree 100% with ya Brad, it was a situation I too think, Coach Saban could have & actually "Should" have ended those Texas rumors, all it did was cause unneeded drama at Bama, especially with recruits at that time..It is what it is though & I will support Coach Saban to the bitter end no matter how it plays out..I think Coach Saban will retire from Bama & it will be his "Coaching Legacy" with a couple more NC's before it's all said & done..I may get flamed by some for stating that, but, I truly think "The Best Has Yet To Come for Coach Saban here at Bama..I'll buckle up & enjoy the ride til it's over with Coach Saban at Bama..JMHO..
Good to see you again tideman09. I agree that the next few years will be great. Coach Saban seems to be adapting things to combat the changing college game and I can't wait to see it.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

KrAzY3

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being paid millions and millions of dollars and having a statue erected in your honor while you're still alive isn't exactly what I'd consider underappreciated.


perhaps it's just me, but she came off as a snotty, entitled pain in the rear end.
Yeah, at least you toned it down a bit from what you said before. But, you're really consistent with your disdain. I really think you completely misunderstood what was said. Did it ever occur to you the context was in terms of appreciating all those wins and championships? Not a desire on her part to have flower petals laid at her feet?

Honestly, I think you kind of make her point. Despite all Saban has done for the Alabama football program, there are still those that essentially demand more. Just winning isn't enough. I don't care if Saban says tomorrow that all Alabama fans smell bad and they're ugly, as long as he'll keep coaching the team. That might not have a positive impact, sure, but he's still better under those circumstances than pretty much any other option. He's there to coach, to get results, not to make us feel good about ourselves. And you know what? Sometimes may be we should feel bad, in the same way sometimes may be the team should feel bad if it doesn't perform up to the level it's capable of.

Edit:
To make sure that I was remembering the article correctly, I went and dug it up. Interestingly enough, I saw so many words put in her mouth like people just took what she said and inserted so many different meanings. A few had the wisdom to at least contemplate what she meant vs. just making something up and running with it. Anyway, here is the exact quote.

"You come to a crossroads and the expectations get so great, people get spoiled by success and there gets to be a lack of appreciation"

Now, you can read a lot into that if you want, but to me it seems pretty clearly to say that people are "spoiled by success", and that the lack of appreciation is lack of appreciation of the success. I'm not sure exactly what she did to warrant people arriving to so many disparate conclusions, but that statement seems 100% factual to me, if not prophetic if you see how fans acted after the following game.
 
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81usaf92

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Apr 26, 2008
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Nope, not all of it.

Saban could have put an end to all of this had he wanted to. He let it play out, let the smoke billow for a few weeks with a new contract sitting on his desk, unsigned.

I could list a number of reasons why I'm not a 'Saban fan', but there's little point in diving into it here. I'll support him as long as he's at Alabama and wish him the very best while he's our coach, but that's the extent of it.
There is a huge problem with him nipping it in the bud quickly. " I am not going to ALABAMA". Saban, if any of the ordeal was truly serious as Texas alums and the media make it out to be, was probably trying to avoid all conversations about in order to avoid looking like a liar again if he did take the Texas job
 

BadgerTidefan

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Dec 2, 2006
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I believe a lot of the article has truth to it. I also think if Coach M. Brown had gotten on board CNS would be in Texas right now. I've always thought the comments about Alabama fans expectations being too high and the fans being unappreciative was a sort of cover in case he did leave, however the articles out there right now are the first I've read about powerful alumi talking 3 peat immediately after winning number 2, so I can certainly understand that rubbing him the wrong way. All that said I truely believe he's here until retirement now. I think he had to come to some kind of change within himself to accept coaching other than in a turnaround and rebuilding mode. I did lose a little of my respect for him because of the whole episode. That doesn't in any way affect my enthusiasm for Alabama football and our coaching staff though.
 

CullmanTide

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Coach is a hired gun, plain and simple. He is the absolute best at what he does and I am thankful he is our coach. He is human and has made mistakes but haven't we all?
 

RTR91

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Yeah, at least you toned it down a bit from what you said before. But, you're really consistent with your disdain. I really think you completely misunderstood what was said. Did it ever occur to you the context was in terms of appreciating all those wins and championships? Not a desire on her part to have flower petals laid at her feet?

Honestly, I think you kind of make her point. Despite all Saban has done for the Alabama football program, there are still those that essentially demand more. Just winning isn't enough. I don't care if Saban says tomorrow that all Alabama fans smell bad and they're ugly, as long as he'll keep coaching the team. That might not have a positive impact, sure, but he's still better under those circumstances than pretty much any other option. He's there to coach, to get results, not to make us feel good about ourselves. And you know what? Sometimes may be we should feel bad, in the same way sometimes may be the team should feel bad if it doesn't perform up to the level it's capable of.
Yet when someone questions Saban, he gets upset, and you're the first one here to defend him while attacking anyone that questions him. He can't simply stand behind his podium and tell the fans to do this and that but get upset when the fans show displeasure with him.

Edit:
To make sure that I was remembering the article correctly, I went and dug it up. Interestingly enough, I saw so many words put in her mouth like people just took what she said and inserted so many different meanings. A few had the wisdom to at least contemplate what she meant vs. just making something up and running with it. Anyway, here is the exact quote.

"You come to a crossroads and the expectations get so great, people get spoiled by success and there gets to be a lack of appreciation"

Now, you can read a lot into that if you want, but to me it seems pretty clearly to say that people are "spoiled by success", and that the lack of appreciation is lack of appreciation of the success. I'm not sure exactly what she did to warrant people arriving to so many disparate conclusions, but that statement seems 100% factual to me, if not prophetic if you see how fans acted after the following game.
Why didn't you mention this quote?

Recent media reports have suggested Saban may be interested in coaching at Texas if that job comes available. Some reports said Terry Saban had been house hunting in Austin. Asked if these reports were accurate, Terry Saban called them "rumors with absolutely no foundation."

"We're staying," she said. "We're not going anywhere."
Clearly, there was some foundation to these "rumors."

Didn't want to include this one, either?
"We are trying to educate ourselves, to change ourselves," Terry said. "We can't change expectations or change lack of appreciation. We have to change our mind-set. We have decided: this is where we are going to end our career.
 

gtowntide

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Coach is a hired gun, plain and simple. He is the absolute best at what he does and I am thankful he is our coach. He is human and has made mistakes but haven't we all?
Exactly! RTR! We do want to win but name me an alumni base that doesn't. This article has 3 things going against it.
1. foxsports
2. Barrett Sallee
3. bleacher report.
All 3 are flame thowers.
 

RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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Exactly! RTR! We do want to win but name me an alumni base that doesn't. This article has 3 things going against it.
1. foxsports
2. Barrett Sallee
3. bleacher report.
All 3 are flame thowers.
Heaven help if Barrett wrote about a Saban biography. Wouldn't want him to do his job. :rolleyes:
 

KrAzY3

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Yet when someone questions Saban, he gets upset, and you're the first one here to defend him while attacking anyone that questions him. He can't simply stand behind his podium and tell the fans to do this and that but get upset when the fans show displeasure with him.
Eh I managed to lose part of my reply (lucky you, heh). But, I'm here posting, he's not. I think he's far less emotional on the subject than you imagine. From what I can tell he's results oriented. He doesn't like things that get in the way, but at the end of the day do I think he really cares about fans beyond us wanting to play our role? Nope, not really. We're just part of the process, and one that he isn't really personally involved with. I could be wrong, but I read him as being far more cold and calculating vs. this emotional, adoration seeking, type thing some people read into his actions. In either case, when I express my thoughts, opinions, and yes feelings, that's clearly not Nick Saban speaking.

My main issue isn't some deep seeded resentment that some fans have built up, that alone isn't troubling to me a great deal, it's when they miss the point. If he says you know, stay for four quarters, it's not because he feels better when the fans stay for four quarters, it's because it impacts the team. If tries to get the fans to show more enthusiasm, I don't interpret that as, it boosts his ego when they cheer louder, but rather it positively impacts the team. Could I be wrong? Sure, but it certainly makes sense to me and my responses are born of that.

I said something about the Saban house thing, but it's gone. All I really said was that I've seen 0 proof that they went house shopping, but I fail to see how that really matters one way or the other.

Didn't want to include this one, either?
Yeah, because you know I have this huge problem with not being honest. I'm honest on here to a fault, to the point of rubbing people the wrong way, you know that. I actually found that quote first when reading through the article, but I knew that wasn't the pertinent one. What did she say here? "We can't change expectations or change lack of appreciation.". Ok, let's see her first quote: "You come to a crossroads and the expectations get so great, people get spoiled by success and there gets to be a lack of appreciation"

Ok? How did that remove the success qualifier? It didn't from what I can tell, but obviously by the reactions the qualifiers could have been better placed, but how is what she said not pertaining to success? Or furthermore, how can you take those two quotes to unequivocally say that she or Nick were personally seeking adoration or appreciation? Nothing at all indicates that, that's just... speculation run amok. If she's said one thing, one thing that says I am not appreciated enough, or Nick is not appreciated enough, then you'd have your smoking gun, but it's not there! You can read it over and over and it won't show up because it simply isn't there! Words do matter, even if she'd said something like "What Nick has done isn't appreciated enough" vs "Nick isn't appreciated enough", it could mean something completely different. But she didn't even go that far.

The way I read it from the first time I read it, until now, still reads as the fans are spoiled by success (and I agreed completely with that at the time, I felt the fans had set themselves up for nothing but a let down, which they got and then some) and do not appreciate it enough. The leap to conclude that this means Terry herself wants some like, worship of some sort is just... I don't understand it, honestly, I don't. The media ran with it, people claimed it, but she never actually said that, and that much is just the truth. Could that have been what she was thinking? Yeah, may be she misspoke and put it in such a way that it read differently, may be she meant to say she wanted more appreciation personally or something, but it's not what was said... Did fans appreciate the SEC championship last year enough? I still think it's an issue.

Let's get past all of that to what this subject really means to a lot of fans. This is about the feelings of Alabama fans, right? We feel bad that may be Nick Saban was flirting with Texas (although the closest we come to proving that was Sexton's actions, which we then infer wouldn't have been taken without Saban's approval, which we then infer meant he was serious), but you know what? I do not care. I don't, I cared when there seemed to be a possibility that he might leave, but when he was retained it was no different than my favorite team keeping my favorite player under contract. This isn't like my wife talking about leaving for another man, this is about a football coach, potentially looking at other employment opportunities. And the only reason I think I see so much emotion about this is just because I guess Alabama fans when you get right down to it are really sensitive on the subject. They don't want to be left, they want to be wanted, they want to be appreciated (ironically), and they clearly get their feelings hurt if they don't think that's the case.
 
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TitleWave

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This article has 3 things going against it.
1. foxsports
2. Barrett Sallee
3. bleacher report.
All 3 are flame thowers.
Actually, it was excerpted over the weekend in The New York Times, so you'll want to reassign your disdain.

Says here Saban's entitled to whatever consideration of other employment he chooses - without acrimony but should he go, with a fare thee well for restoring 'Bama's birthright as the best in college football.
 

RTR91

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Eh I managed to lose part of my reply (lucky you, heh). But, I'm here posting, he's not. I think he's far less emotional on the subject than you imagine. From what I can tell he's results oriented. He doesn't like things that get in the way, but at the end of the day do I think he really cares about fans beyond us wanting to play our role? Nope, not really. We're just part of the process, and one that he isn't really personally involved with. I could be wrong, but I read him as being far more cold and calculating vs. this emotional, adoration seeking, type thing some people read into his actions. In either case, when I express my thoughts, opinions, and yes feelings, that's clearly not Nick Saban speaking.

My main issue isn't some deep seeded resentment that some fans have built up, that alone isn't troubling to me a great deal, it's when they miss the point. If he says you know, stay for four quarters, it's not because he feels better when the fans stay for four quarters, it's because it impacts the team. If tries to get the fans to show more enthusiasm, I don't interpret that as, it boosts his ego when they cheer louder, but rather it positively impacts the team. Could I be wrong? Sure, but it certainly makes sense to me and my responses are born of that.
I get that. I'm sure the team does feel better when the entire stadium is full for the entire game. However, Saban can go on a tear about fan apathy and not staying for four quarters without even acknowledging why fans might leave early or might not show up for A-Day.

Yeah, because you know I have this huge problem with not being honest. I'm honest on here to a fault, to the point of rubbing people the wrong way, you know that. I actually found that quote first when reading through the article, but I knew that wasn't the pertinent one. What did she say here? "We can't change expectations or change lack of appreciation.". Ok, let's see her first quote: "You come to a crossroads and the expectations get so great, people get spoiled by success and there gets to be a lack of appreciation"

Ok? How did that remove the success qualifier? It didn't from what I can tell, but obviously by the reactions the qualifiers could have been better placed, but how is what she said not pertaining to success? Or furthermore, how can you take those two quotes to unequivocally say that she or Nick were personally seeking adoration or appreciation? Nothing at all indicates that, that's just... speculation run amok. If she's said one thing, one thing that says I am not appreciated enough, or Nick is not appreciated enough, then you'd have your smoking gun, but it's not there! You can read it over and over and it won't show up because it simply isn't there!

The way I read it from the first time I read it, until now, still reads as the fans are spoiled by success (and I agreed completely with that at the time, I felt the fans had set themselves up for nothing but a let down, which they got and then some) and do not appreciate it. The leap to conclude that this means Terry herself wants some like, worship of some sort is just... I don't understand it, honestly, I don't. The media ran with it, people claimed it, but she never actually said that, and that much is just the truth. Could that have been what she was thinking? Yeah, may be she misspoke and put it in such a way that it read differently, may be she meant to say she wanted more appreciation personally or something, but it's not what was said...
I find it difficult to get a lesson on not appreciating success from the Saban's when CNS talks about not being able to recruit because the team is in Miami to play for a national title against Notre Dame. He himself can't appreciate the win and the moment because he's too worried about the future.

Let's get past all of that to what this is really about. This is about the feelings of Alabama fans, right? We feel bad that may be Nick Saban was flirting with Texas (although the closest we come to proving that was Sexton's actions, which we then infer wouldn't have been taken without Saban's approval, which we then infer meant he was serious), but you know what? I do not care. I don't. This isn't like my wife talking about leaving for another man, this is about a football coach, potentially looking at other employment opportunities. And the only reason I think I see so much emotion about this is just because I guess Alabama fans when you get right down to it are really sensitive on the subject. They don't want to be left, they want to be wanted, they want to be appreciated (ironically), and they clearly get their feelings hurt if they don't think that's the case.
You can keep guessing that if you want to, but that's not how I feel. My issue in all of this comes from the Texas talk came across as a ploy to get more money.

Why would Saban need to do that? Mal gave him anything and everything he wanted. Battle would have done the same if he wanted to stay in his office.
 

BamaPokerplayer

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Oct 10, 2004
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I believe a lot of the article has truth to it. I also think if Coach M. Brown had gotten on board CNS would be in Texas right now. I've always thought the comments about Alabama fans expectations being too high and the fans being unappreciative was a sort of cover in case he did leave, however the articles out there right now are the first I've read about powerful alumi talking 3 peat immediately after winning number 2, so I can certainly understand that rubbing him the wrong way. All that said I truely believe he's here until retirement now. I think he had to come to some kind of change within himself to accept coaching other than in a turnaround and rebuilding mode. I did lose a little of my respect for him because of the whole episode. That doesn't in any way affect my enthusiasm for Alabama football and our coaching staff though.
I believe CNS once said some thing about, once one slows down to enjoy success, they are already losing ground. Maybe he did not understand the Alabama fan base.
 

alwayshavebeen

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Simply amazing to me this "conversation" is even happening. Living in the past, and especially belaboring something that never even happened, IMO is a complete waste of time and energy.
To each their own I guess.
 

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