Ten last-minute thoughts...

Crimson1967

Hall of Fame
Nov 22, 2011
18,735
9,919
187
4) SEC expansion: First of all, it's all about TV markets that the SEC currently doesn't have, so don't guess Florida State (UF has the market) or a sentimental favorite like Georgia Tech or Tulane. I'm thinking they go after the North Carolina and D.C. markets, which means either Maryland/Virginia/Virginia Tech for one slot and Duke/UNC/NC State/Wake Forest for the other. I'm 50/50 on whether this even happens. As for buyouts and whatnot, if the SEC decides it wants it to happen badly enough, the conference can make it happen.
Is there real talk of more expansion or are you just speculating?
 

BadgerTidefan

1st Team
Dec 2, 2006
650
114
67
70
Jennings, FL
The reason he's in T-Town is Mrs. Terry, as he has admitted. The reason he is not in Austin was once again her. He will not leave until she wants to leave...
Listening to recent comments by Coach, it's obvious to me that he has gotten past a major hurdle in his life, which was that he considered himself a rebuilder of programs instead of a coach that enjoyed maintaining excellence for a longer period of time which is harder in my mind to do. I believe that feeling was a main reason he flirted with the idea of another job. I think he and Miss Terry are way past that and will most likely be here until he retires from coaching. I do think he'll continue to be involved in football after he's done coaching at a major level, who knows from what angle and where.
 

CrimsonEyeshade

Hall of Fame
Nov 6, 2007
5,412
1,522
187
I'll add a few more things because there are so many questions I keep forgetting to go back and answer them all:


3) Finding an Urban Meyer: We profiled him on "Coaches To Watch" when he was still at Bowling Green. We also profiled Dennis Franchione at New Mexico. I love trying to ID those guys early and was ecstatic when Alabama hired Franchione, but Franchione may be the biggest hurdle to hiring a mid-major guy. Franchione flat-out cracked under the pressure here. That is why he left, no other reason. He didn't leave because of the big, bad NCAA. He left because he lost confidence in himself to lead at a job this size. I don't fault him for that, because knowing your own limitations is something more people should know how to do, but I wish he hadn't left the way he did. If he'd just gone to a mic and said, "Guys, this just isn't working out, I'm a bad fit here," I can't imagine too many people would have hated him long-term. The problem is, he was an outsider, support was not unified behind him (Logan Young and a lot of his friends wanted Tommy Bowden to get the job) and if someone were to try to suggest a mid-major coach at this point, they'd get reminded of Franchione.
------

Excellent, but I'd like to throw in one caveat. Given the way his last team went into Norman and given how we shut out LSU with Franchione in Nick Saban's face as they walked off the field, most Alabama fans would have offered Fran the sun and half the planets to stay. In fact we did. Now, few of us know precisely what was going on behind the scenes. But on the field that team played with guts and verve in a way that would have made a young Paul Bryant proud.

All of that was undone, of course, by how Fran drive-byed the Auburn game and sneaked out of town. By that time, though, he had shown me a lot. I think a lot of us believed we had found our guy. I did.

We may never again need to grab an up-and-comer, but to me there were significant aspects of the Franchione Era that should not be a barrier to doing so.
 

USCBAMA

All-SEC
Sep 21, 2001
1,860
105
182
Columbia, SC, Richland
Gotta comment on the Dabo angle. Dabo is a rah-rah coach, kind of like a young Lou Holtz. He's more of a CEO coach who generally manages his team and allows his assistants to handle the Xs & Os, kind of like Gene Cheeze-whiz did at auburn, meaning as long as he has good assistants he has a good chance to do well, but give him poor assistants and not so much. This is why clemson's coordinators are among the highest paid in the nation.

Dabo and clemson have been huge benefactors of the already subpar ACC being down even for that conference. Just some really bad football being played in the ACC the past 6-7 years, moreso than normal. Dabo sells his faith hard on the recruiting trail. Some fans like that, some don't. It's not my cup of tea but so far it works for him. Dabo is a huge negative recruiter. He's been quoted as telling recruits that clemson is the "Christian school in the state" when comparing it to USC. He consistently cites crime statistics of cities of schools he recruits against. He cites arrest records of other team's players (used this against Bama this year on the NC RB).

All that aside, he has been successful. My biggest gripe against him is that he's 2-faced. Watch the video of his speeding ticket. He ended up getting the police chief to reduce the ticket and then got the cop fired. He's a used car salesman. Now he's a very good one so he can succeed, but for me that's just not what I want at Bama.
 

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
84,552
39,659
437
Huntsville, AL,USA
Listening to recent comments by Coach, it's obvious to me that he has gotten past a major hurdle in his life, which was that he considered himself a rebuilder of programs instead of a coach that enjoyed maintaining excellence for a longer period of time which is harder in my mind to do. I believe that feeling was a main reason he flirted with the idea of another job. I think he and Miss Terry are way past that and will most likely be here until he retires from coaching. I do think he'll continue to be involved in football after he's done coaching at a major level, who knows from what angle and where.
When he remarked the other day that his mother had hit a hole in one at 80, so he didn't know why he couldn't coach that long, the ghost of Paterno flitted before my eyes...
 

Moonman613

New Member
Nov 27, 2013
10
0
20
To be a barner it would have to be MOOOOOO!!!!

Really excited to see what sort of talent NS will field tonight. Have to win this one to go undefeated!!
 

Moonman613

New Member
Nov 27, 2013
10
0
20
Bama Nation, to be a disguised barner, the handle would have to have MOOOOOO!!! in the name!

Ready to see what NS has to field tonight. We have to win this one to go undefeated.
 

Chukker Veteran

Hall of Fame
Feb 6, 2001
10,594
5,067
287
Bama Nation, to be a disguised barner, the handle would have to have MOOOOOO!!! in the name!

Ready to see what NS has to field tonight. We have to win this one to go undefeated.
Hey Moonman...there is a live thread here during the game...people commenting on what's happened as it unfolds...check it out, it's lots of fun. Like sitting in a big room full of Bama fans, swapping observations.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
When he remarked the other day that his mother had hit a hole in one at 80, so he didn't know why he couldn't coach that long, the ghost of Paterno flitted before my eyes...
Yeah, I think he underrates how things can slip at that age. I've seen it both ways in my family...some stay sharp as a tack and others don't but can't or won't realize it.
 

PaulD

All-SEC
Dec 29, 2006
1,996
1,917
187
68
near Perry, Georgia, United States
When we talk about potential head coaches, always ask if we'd consider those with Bama ties if they didn't have them. I loved Joey Jones and Dabo Swinney as players, but if they played elsewhere would we even talk about them?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
10,615
4,540
187
44
kraizy.art
When he remarked the other day that his mother had hit a hole in one at 80, so he didn't know why he couldn't coach that long, the ghost of Paterno flitted before my eyes...
I think it's a great sign he's considering coaching that long, and honestly as long as he can still recruit, and Alabama can still pay assistant coaches well, I'm pretty happy to have him around, and I think he can keep the team in contention.

In terms of when a coach actually might run out of steam, Bear Bryant got his last championships at 65 and 66 and it seems to me he did a bit of hard living. Bobby Bowden got his last championship at 70. Steven Spurrier is 70 now, may be he's finally run into a brick wall, but he's had South Carolina consistently exceeding their historical performance well into his late 60s. Joe Paterno might seem like a good example of someone coaching too late in life, but he really never had consistent performance. You look at any point in his career and you'll find 5, 6, 7, 8 win seasons scattered all over. He had back to back 11+ win seasons in his 80s, and that's actually something he hadn't done since he was in his 50s. I admit he looked old, feeble, and incompetent, but his results really didn't change much.

So, you know... I'm much more worried Nick Saban retires too early than that he retires too late. Bare minimum I think he has a couple more good years in him, but truth is he could easily have 7-10+ more good years left as well.
 

bama579

Hall of Fame
Jan 15, 2005
5,413
885
137
The Chukker or Archibalds
I think it's a great sign he's considering coaching that long, and honestly as long as he can still recruit, and Alabama can still pay assistant coaches well, I'm pretty happy to have him around, and I think he can keep the team in contention.

In terms of when a coach actually might run out of steam, Bear Bryant got his last championships at 65 and 66 and it seems to me he did a bit of hard living. Bobby Bowden got his last championship at 70. Steven Spurrier is 70 now, may be he's finally run into a brick wall, but he's had South Carolina consistently exceeding their historical performance well into his late 60s. Joe Paterno might seem like a good example of someone coaching too late in life, but he really never had consistent performance. You look at any point in his career and you'll find 5, 6, 7, 8 win seasons scattered all over. He had back to back 11+ win seasons in his 80s, and that's actually something he hadn't done since he was in his 50s. I admit he looked old, feeble, and incompetent, but his results really didn't change much.

So, you know... I'm much more worried Nick Saban retires too early than that he retires too late. Bare minimum I think he has a couple more good years in him, but truth is he could easily have 7-10+ more good years left as well.
[chuckle] Yep, Paul Bryant did a bit of hard living.

A bit.
 
Last edited:

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.