Link: Spurrier latest words of wisdom

Alasippi

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I think his comments go hand in hand with comments I've heard over the last few years about Saban never being able to eclipse Bear Bryant. I hear on the radio all the time that Alabama will always be a Bear Bryant school and never a Saban school, no matter how much he wins.

Where does this come from, and why does it matter? I'm almost 28, and Coach Bryant died over a year before I was born. Unless you're 40 or older, you probably don't remember very much about Bear Bryant as a coach. Even at 40, you were 11 when he passed away?

I'm extremely appreciative of what Coach Bryant did for the University of Alabama, but he wasn't the first coach to win here. Our tradition didn't start with him, and I don't understand the notion that every other coach at Alabama is fighting to get out of his shadow. We've had 4 coaches win multiple National Championships, and Saban has won both of his in only 5 years here. If he sticks around another 5-10, there's no reason to think we don't end up with at least 2-3 more.

Unless some future coach down the road does more than Saban, then he'll always be the coach I think of when I think of Alabama football. That's not meant as disrespect to Coach Bryant, but he died before I was born. I know his accomplishments the same way many of you know Frank Thomas & Wallace Wade's. I watch it on film, but I didn't live it.

Sorry Spurrier, but Saban did go somewhere else and win. He lead LSU to their first National Championship in 45 years and only their 2nd in school history. Saban's accomplishment's stand on their own, he doesn't have to win 6 to escape the shadow.
Even though you weren't around you'll appreciate this as a seemingly pretty knowledgeable football fan :

Coach Bryant won three national titles in the 60's and it should have been four. That fourth one(66) can't be debated. Maybe the best team in Bama history.

In the decade of the 70's we lost eleven games and won three national titles.

Eleven losses in ten years.

Coach Saban has lost eleven in five years.

So if he goes undefeated for the next five years and wins one more title he'll have matched Coach Bryant for a ten year run.

That's how dominant we were under the man wearing the houndstooth.

I love Coach Saban and he's the best football coach in all of football today....but that Bryant guy has a trophy named after him for a reason :)

He was the best of all time. I can't say it any simpler than that.

RTR!

sip
 

RedStar

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Interesting perspective. Since I was on campus when Bryant returned and had my prime during his, I tend to think of his golden era and forget the accomplishments of Wade and Thomas. It's only natural at your age to think of the post-Bryant era, despite his long, long shadow...
I was 8 when Stallings brought home #12 and although I remember it (vaguely) I was still too young to appreciate it. My prime years as a fan until Saban got here, 1997-2006, were the Dubose, Franchione, Price & Shula years, so what Saban has done in the last 5 years has been nothing short of miraculous for me. We were so bad during that stretch, that we were 6-4 against Mississippi State, the worst program in SEC history.

Even if it's just been a 4 year stretch of excellence, it at least gives me a glimpse of what the Bryant era was like. And luckily for us, I don't see CNS slowing down any time soon.

Even though you weren't around you'll appreciate this as a seemingly pretty knowledgeable football fan :

Coach Bryant won three national titles in the 60's and it should have been four. That fourth one(66) can't be debated. Maybe the best team in Bama history.

In the decade of the 70's we lost eleven games and won three national titles.

Eleven losses in ten years.

Coach Saban has lost eleven in five years.

So if he goes undefeated for the next five years and wins one more title he'll have matched Coach Bryant for a ten year run.

That's how dominant we were under the man wearing the houndstooth.

I love Coach Saban and he's the best football coach in all of football today....but that Bryant guy has a trophy named after him for a reason :)

He was the best of all time. I can't say it any simpler than that.

RTR!

sip
Oh I know, and I'm not doubting that. But there's something different about being able to live through it versus just hearing about it and watching it on TV. I can only imagine what it was like for that 10 year stretch when we were untouchable. We're pretty close to being that way again. And over the last 4 years, Saban has lost only 6 games, so that 11 over a 10 year stretch isn't out of the realm of possibility.

Mainly I just don't understand why the talk is even out there about Saban never being able to get out from Bryant's shadow. Why does it matter if he does or doesn't? I've heard it a lot more since January 9th. I'm guessing it's some strange version of sour grapes from our rivals? Hoping he'll hear it and move on to another "challenge?" At least... that's what it sounded like coming from Spurrier.
 

DrollTide

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I like Spurrier and think he brings a lot of color to the game. He is a fun coach to beat, throwing his hat cap around and shouting at people, stomping out of press conferences etc, he gives the winners something to work with, not the usual deadpan stuff. You can parse his comments and choose to take them as denigrating your program, or you can treat them liberally and enjoy them. I'd say Spurrier would be an interesting guy to have dinner with.
 

TideEngineer08

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Spurrier is still funny, and some of my fellow Tide fans are a little too sensitive.
I'm one you're referring to. I understand why you say that, but it's not really over sensitivity that is my problem with Spurrier. I don't think he's as good as he thinks he is... and I don't think he's as good as most college football analysts or fans think he is.

He's always shot from the hip, so his comments don't surprise me. But the stuff about Saban is very disingenuous, IMO. That's my problem with it. Back when he was winning big at Florida, he could make comments like this and it was funny. It's just not as funny to me anymore. I admit I'm probably in the minority.
 

trenda

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Did he have his shirt on when he said that?

Was he on top of another RV at the racetrack?

That's crazy ol' Steve . . . drunk and talkin' out the side of his neck again . . .
 

Giant Squid

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I'm one you're referring to. I understand why you say that, but it's not really over sensitivity that is my problem with Spurrier. I don't think he's as good as he thinks he is... and I don't think he's as good as most college football analysts or fans think he is.

He's always shot from the hip, so his comments don't surprise me. But the stuff about Saban is very disingenuous, IMO. That's my problem with it. Back when he was winning big at Florida, he could make comments like this and it was funny. It's just not as funny to me anymore. I admit I'm probably in the minority.
Hey, no judgment on you if Spurrier's comments aren't your cup of tea. Personally, I've always found his press conferences funny and I get a kick out of how he gets under the skin of opposing fans. Comparing Saban to Calipari of all people and then insinuating that he's not really that great yet, and can't be until he leaves Bama, is some pretty fine trolling, IMO. If I'm going to laugh at the jokes about UGA players on suspension, then I'm going to go ahead and laugh at the jokes about Saban's greatness as well. I also think the job he's done at SC may actually be under-appreciated, but I can see how reasonable people would disagree.

Jokes at Bama's expense don't bother me at all anymore because "scoreboard" is the ultimate comeback. I remember being a lot more thin-skinned in 2003, for some reason.
 

Ldlane

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I'm one you're referring to. I understand why you say that, but it's not really over sensitivity that is my problem with Spurrier. I don't think he's as good as he thinks he is... and I don't think he's as good as most college football analysts or fans think he is.

He's always shot from the hip, so his comments don't surprise me. But the stuff about Saban is very disingenuous, IMO. That's my problem with it. Back when he was winning big at Florida, he could make comments like this and it was funny. It's just not as funny to me anymore. I admit I'm probably in the minority.
Funny stuff. All of these guys know each other and talk to each other more than we think and are a members of the same "guild". I think we get our undies in wad a tad too much. Playing around in the media is sort of like Professional Wrestling. CSS is trying to keep the game interesting.

BTW - Saban and Cal do have have "nice gigs" from a professional point of view.


I like CSS. He makes me Laugh!
 
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TideEngineer08

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Funny stuff. All of these guys know each other and talk to each other more than we think and are a members of the same "guild". I think we get our undies in wad a tad too much. Playing around in the media is sort of like Professional Wrestling. CSS is trying to keep the game interesting.

BTW - Saban and Cal do have have "nice gigs" from a professional point of view.


I like CSS. He makes me Laugh!
Hey, my undies aren't in a wad, lol.

It's like this.... I think Spurrier "jumped the shark" in about 2005 or so. And the stuff about Coach Saban... I don't think it's disingenuous because he's our coach. I'd feel the same way if he had not been at Alabama the past 5 years and instead he was at say, Georgia.
 

Ldlane

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I went to a Nike coaching clinic about 10 years ago in Vegas for Basketball. Every evening all of these guys are sitting in the bar with each other laughing, joking, telling stories, and talking about each other. Got to remember these are "ex-athletes" and they still let the smack fly.
 

TideFan in AU

Hall of Fame
Even though you weren't around you'll appreciate this as a seemingly pretty knowledgeable football fan :

Coach Bryant won three national titles in the 60's and it should have been four. That fourth one(66) can't be debated. Maybe the best team in Bama history.

In the decade of the 70's we lost eleven games and won three national titles.

Eleven losses in ten years.

Coach Saban has lost eleven in five years.

So if he goes undefeated for the next five years and wins one more title he'll have matched Coach Bryant for a ten year run.

That's how dominant we were under the man wearing the houndstooth.

I love Coach Saban and he's the best football coach in all of football today....but that Bryant guy has a trophy named after him for a reason :)

He was the best of all time. I can't say it any simpler than that.

RTR!

sip
I think you selling CNS short by comparing his record in his first 5 years vs Coach Bryant at his peak.
Its true that Bryant only lost 11 games in 70's, but CNS lost half of his 6 in the first year. Coach Bryant went 41-8-5 with 1 SEC title and 1 NC in first 5 years and CNS has gone 55 -12 with 1 SEC title and 2 NC's in his first 5 years. The other point no one makes is that Saban is winning like this in the golden era of the SEC. The fact is not a single SEC team won a NC in 60's or the 70's, and SEC teams have won 7 of the last 10. 3 of CNS' losses were the eventual Nationl Champion. There is absolutely no comparison in the level of competition now vs then, and its not even debateable.

I'm not all knocking Coach Bryant, but I don't think you (and many other people) truly appreciate what CNS has done in 5 years.
 

4Q Basket Case

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Spurrier is a great coach in my opinion but he's a total D.A. when it comes to speaking at press conferences.

First of all, NO, we haven't always won at Alabama. We've won consistently only when we've had great coaches.

Secondly, Nick Saban has never accepted a job at a University where the football team was winning.

Michigan State wasn't winning, LSU was below the pits, and Bama was in a horrible downslide.

He turned all three programs completely around. So much at M-State and LSU that they were able to keep on winning big even after he left.

He builds a solid foundation that is extremely difficult if not impossible to tear down if his successor simply follows his guidelines.

Spurrier meanwhile has really not accomplished very much at South Carolina other than losing by the biggest margin in SEC Championship Game history, to Auburn.

At Florida, if, as he says, "record is everything", then Urban Meyer kicked his butt.

His best coaching performance, to me, was winning an ACC Title at Duke.....and maybe I'm wrong...but wasn't that before FSU and Virginia Tech even knew the conference existed?

I think Stevie needs to play golf and shut up. He's really nowhere in Saban's league and no one else is either.

sip
Facts is facts.

Only one I'd expand on is the one about winning consistently only when we've had great coaches. We had great coaches in the 1920s (Wade), 1930s (Wade and Thomas), 1940s (Thomas), 1960s and 1970s and early 1980s (Bryant), 1990s (Stallings) and 2000s and 2010s (Saban). Even in the 1950s and 1980s when Bryant was past his prime and we didn't have great coaches otherwise, we still managed to win SEC Championships.

In any decade after the 1910s, I'm not aware of any coaches other than Drew and Whitworth that didn't have 10-win seasons. Even Curry, Shula and DuBose, nobody's candidates for the Coaches Hall of Fame, did.

Great coaches have certainly made Alabama. We've had at least four that in their prime were no worse than second best in the country -- Wade, Thomas, Bryant and Saban. Only Rockne, Leahy, the Army coach of the WWII era whose name escapes me at the moment, and Neyland make 4-for-4 at #1 even debatable. But Alabama has also given several middling coaches a much better record than they deserved or could have hoped to achieve elsewhere -- Drew, Curry, Shula and Dubose.

We have been well and truly blessed. But we have blessed others as well.
 

crimsonaudio

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To be fair, comparing the SEC of the 1970's isn't an equal comparison to the SEC of the 2000's.

From 1970-82, Alabama (3) and Georiga (1) combined for four SEC consensus national championships.

From 2000-12, Alabama (2), Florida (2), LSU (2), and the barn (1) combined for seven SEC consensus national championships.

Not suggesting CPB isn't the best ever, but the SEC wasn't anywhere NEAR as strong in the 70's as it is today.
 

TideEngineer08

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I went to a Nike coaching clinic about 10 years ago in Vegas for Basketball. Every evening all of these guys are sitting in the bar with each other laughing, joking, telling stories, and talking about each other. Got to remember these are "ex-athletes" and they still let the smack fly.
Oh I get that. It's hard for me to imagine Nike Saban doing that kind of stuff, but maybe he does.

But one thing I could not see is Steve Spurrier cutting up with Phil Fulmer. If those two guys didn't hate each other, then they sure fooled everyone.
 

Ole Man Dan

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I guess SOS didn't consider turning around an Alabama team that had forgot how to be a winner.
We had regressed to the point of being a team hoping for 6 wins to go to a bowl game.
OR
That CNS did the same thing at LSU.

According to SOS you aren't the real deal unless you can turn around a Vandy...

SOS would have everyone overlook further BCS Championships, because they were at Alabama.
(Steve needs a hat, I think the sun has got to him out on the golf course.)
 

TIDE-HSV

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His jokes have grown a bit shrill and thin to me. When Saban was hired, Spurrier was a very interested and that interest wasn't returned. That has colored his remarks since then...
 

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