Saban or Bear? Though Alabama fans squirm, answer may be simple
- Thread starter Redwood Forrest
- Start date
Imagine CNS dealing with segregation, the image of southern people as inferior and having the majority of sports writers from regions that hate southern football.
I never would have dreamed that a discussion of who is our greatest HC, QB or LB would irritate and upset someone.
May want to revisit your title to this thread? Most rational Bama fans have little trouble with the concept Bryant and Saban. But often it becomes Bryant or Saban. Now we have to choose? Gonna get heated, guaranteed.
Coach Bryant could take a team with fair to average talent and beat opponents that were loaded with talent.
As great a coach as Coach Saban is, in his "process", he has to have equal or better talent in order to become a champion. There's your difference.
As great a coach as Coach Saban is, in his "process", he has to have equal or better talent in order to become a champion. There's your difference.
I see the problem. It is not about who we think is the best, it is about our agenda. I have no agenda to promote The Bear as better than Saban. I have no agenda to promote Coach Saban as better than Coach Bryant. All I do is look at the different eras, the stats and discuss it. I don't care who comes out on top, other than I would like to see Bama win seven of the past ten years. That would no doubt put Coach Saban on top. That is an Alabama agenda.
the problem is that when CPB coached there was nowhere near the amount of great teams around like there is today. Plus there were nowhere as near as many recruiting restrictions in his day either. But I think if anyone wants to make the strongest case for CPB they really need to start with his undefeated Kentucky team that should've been national champions. That is something no coach can ever say that they have ever done.
No, it's about the idea that you're asking " who is the best." It's just that we can't tell you much more than how we feel about it. We think on something, we get this rush of corresponding emotion and we're off and running. This thread is what a Crimson wind sprint looks like. And unless you live on planet Vulcan, you too are guilty as charged when you ask such stuff. :smile:
I don't know who was better, but I have never seen a program compete for championships as consistently as the Alabama teams under Saban. Alabama, under Saban, has been in contention for the national championship at the end of the season in 7 of 9 years (excluding 2007 and 2010) - and 7 of 8 years if you exclude 2007. This in the SEC, when the SEC is tougher than any conference has ever been. This when playing more and more games per season. That type of consistency is unprecedented in my lifetime.
I have no idea if Coach Bryant had that kind of run. Maybe he did. But he didn't do it facing the schedules that Alabama has faced, or the media distractions, or while everything that he and his players did was under a microscope every minute of every day.
I would vote for Saban, but I have no emotional attachment to the legend that is Coach Bryant.
I have no idea if Coach Bryant had that kind of run. Maybe he did. But he didn't do it facing the schedules that Alabama has faced, or the media distractions, or while everything that he and his players did was under a microscope every minute of every day.
I would vote for Saban, but I have no emotional attachment to the legend that is Coach Bryant.
I agree. It's like which of your wonderful successful kids do you love the most. You just give thanks you shared in both.
Yup..The Strength and Conditioning programs in this day & age of football is sooooo much better than it was when Coach Bryant was our HC..That has closed the gap between the Elite schools like Bama or Ohio St & the smaller D-1 schools, in today's college football, if you don't bring your best game each week, one of the smaller schools will bite ya on the backside cause of sheer amount of talent there is now days..That only makes what Coach Saban is doing right now that much more impressive..JMHO
Even with that you could argue that CPB should have 9 NCs in which the argument totally shifts into CPB's favor. Personally I think CNS's level of competition makes me think he might be the best, but Ive never really experienced CPB in person, so Im more going off of what I grew up hearing and what Ive read. Personally I hate to choose between the two, but if you forced me I would say CNS.
Another comparison to CPB and CNS -- not a difference -- is that they both won multiple NCs using different approaches.
CPB won with smaller, quicker defensive players and with two majorly different offensive systems as he changed to the wishbone in the 70's.
CNS has won with bigger defenses and now with smaller (relatively speaking) and quicker defenses and now with two different offensive philosophies: one with more power running schemes and now with more spread elements.
Major takeaway is they both were/are masters of adjustments.
CPB won with smaller, quicker defensive players and with two majorly different offensive systems as he changed to the wishbone in the 70's.
CNS has won with bigger defenses and now with smaller (relatively speaking) and quicker defenses and now with two different offensive philosophies: one with more power running schemes and now with more spread elements.
Major takeaway is they both were/are masters of adjustments.
Last edited:
The SEC during the Bryant years had 10 teams and only 2 were consistently in the top 10 nationally in most years, Alabama and Tennessee.
---------
Sip, this notion lost most of its standing once widespread integration began. For much of our great coach's career, Southern football was a veritable "Chariots of Fire."
His greatest teams were built when we/he at last stopped tying one arm around our backs and signed ALL the best players. We were great in the '70s because we had the best coach and the best talent, period.
CNS did a version of this at LSU, where a lot of the state's top players wouldn't get within 10 miles of Baton Rouge unless they took a wrong turn.
In short, the two coaches are far more similar than a first glance might reveal. No ranking necessary.
Last edited:
Wow. I am just a simple person who loves college football and Alabama. Everything you just said about the idea of asking is way over my head. I had no rush of emotion and I live in Boaz. But, to each his own.
Before anybody rushes to relegate Coach Bryant to 2nd best, consider this, he rightfully should have had at least 3 3 more, one in 1966, one at TAMU and one at Kentucky when he upset a heavily favored OU team riding a 33 game winning streak at the height of Coach Bud Wilkerson's reign there in what today would have been the NC game.
Also consider that Coach Bryant NEVER had the luxury of seeing any hot recruit in action just by turnig on a computer and then calling that recruit on his cell phone. Recruiting was a completely different animal back in Coach Bryant's day.
I refuse to pick one or the the other, they're both amazing and I just thank the good Lord that I've been able to see the entirety of their careers at Alabama. Now I'm just praying that I can squeeze in another season or two because I think we are gonna be special.
Also consider that Coach Bryant NEVER had the luxury of seeing any hot recruit in action just by turnig on a computer and then calling that recruit on his cell phone. Recruiting was a completely different animal back in Coach Bryant's day.
I refuse to pick one or the the other, they're both amazing and I just thank the good Lord that I've been able to see the entirety of their careers at Alabama. Now I'm just praying that I can squeeze in another season or two because I think we are gonna be special.
Latest threads
-
-
Question: Chris Youngblood did he commit over the weekend?
- Started by mlingerfelt31
- Replies: 4
-
-
-
-