When Saban retires - how will it go down?

[BamaMoon]

Whenever it occurs, I think it will be different from when CPB retired. I don't think our program will slump before it happens because I don't think CNS will allow it. And, I think CNS will leave a roster that most of us could probably win 10 games with in the first couple of years (remember Les Miles won a NC with the foundation that CNS left at LSU).

I've have gone on record here a few times saying that I think it would be a mistake to try to hire based on a connection to CNS, unless one of his proteges single themselves out in the future as being clearly the best (and right now they have not). If all the other programs have tried to hire a guy connected to CNS and haven't been able to replicate CNS, why do we think we could. Everybody knows about the "process" but even the ones that know it best, his assistants, struggle to implement it.

I know it's not popular with some here, but if CNS retiring were to happen in the short term, Dabo is the only coach out there who has shown he knows how to build a program, recruit to a high level, win NCs and maintain a program at a championship level. I know he's so different than CNS, but I think that would be a good thing, as long as he continues to win. He's the only guy who could probably come in and immediately recruit at the same level of CNS. AND, lastly, I believe he would OWN Auburn, which is the one thing CNS hasn't done.

 

[rtr1964]

Here's a scenario for 2020 worthy of a movie script:

Tua, Ruggs, Smith, Leatherwood and Moses all come back as has been predicted by some. Tua has a season for the ages breaking all the records. He wins the Heisman and is the first pick in the draft, Bama wins the Natty, and Greg Byrne calls an emergency press conference where he reads a simple email from CNS that says "I'm done. Best of Luck".

CNS has always looked uncomfortable being the center of attention and I don't see him doing a farewell tour season. Plus I like to think he wants to leave the program in great shape for the next guy.

I asked a friend who knows UA football as well as anyone I know who are the top 3 on Greg Byrne's list of potential coaches and he said number 1 was Dabo and numbers 2 and 3 are whomever CNS picks.

 

[81usaf92]

I know it's not popular with some here, but if CNS retiring were to happen in the short term, Dabo is the only coach out there who has shown he knows how to build a program, recruit to a high level, win NCs and maintain a program at a championship level. I know he's so different than CNS, but I think that would be a good thing, as long as he continues to win. He's the only guy who could probably come in and immediately recruit at the same level of CNS. AND, lastly, I believe he would OWN Auburn, which is the one thing CNS hasn't done.

I think you are forgetting about one

 

[TitleWave]

Starring Sylvester Stallone as "SABAN!: Last Crimson Blood!"

Here's a scenario for 2020 worthy of a movie script:

Tua, Ruggs, Smith, Leatherwood and Moses all come back as has been predicted by some. Tua has a season for the ages breaking all the records. He wins the Heisman and is the first pick in the draft, Bama wins the Natty, and Greg Byrne calls an emergency press conference where he reads a simple email from CNS that says "I'm done. Best of Luck".

CNS has always looked uncomfortable being the center of attention and I don't see him doing a farewell tour season. Plus I like to think he wants to leave the program in great shape for the next guy.

I asked a friend who knows UA football as well as anyone I know who are the top 3 on Greg Byrne's list of potential coaches and he said number 1 was Dabo and numbers 2 and 3 are whomever CNS picks.

 

[Blueguitar]

I know it's not popular with some here, but if CNS retiring were to happen in the short term, Dabo is the only coach out there who has shown he knows how to build a program, recruit to a high level, win NCs and maintain a program at a championship level. I know he's so different than CNS, but I think that would be a good thing, as long as he continues to win. He's the only guy who could probably come in and immediately recruit at the same level of CNS. AND, lastly, I believe he would OWN Auburn, which is the one thing CNS hasn't done.

I agree. I know a lot of us don't care for Dabo too much, but that may be partly due to him having cost us a couple of natties, plus residual suspicion of anyone associated with the Dubose era, both of which are probably not good enough reasons. He has proven that he knows what he is doing. Hopefully the Dubose debacle taught him some lessons, and he'll have the stature and cajones to stand up to boosters and keep the program clean.

Trying to find a Saban clone, or someone who is committed to doing things exactly the way Saban did them, would be a mistake.

Whoever it is, I hope the fan base remembers some of the lessons of the post-Bryant era, and gives the new guy some space to build a program with its own unique identity. As long as that identity includes a clean program that wins a lot, we should appreciate what we have.

 

[mlh]

I agree. I know a lot of us don't care for Dabo too much, but that may be partly due to him having cost us a couple of natties, plus residual suspicion of anyone associated with the Dubose era, both of which are probably not good enough reasons. He has proven that he knows what he is doing. Hopefully the Dubose debacle taught him some lessons, and he'll have the stature and cajones to stand up to boosters and keep the program clean.

Trying to find a Saban clone, or someone who is committed to doing things exactly the way Saban did them, would be a mistake.

Whoever it is, I hope the fan base remembers some of the lessons of the post-Bryant era, and gives the new guy some space to build a program with its own unique identity. As long as that identity includes a clean program that wins a lot, we should appreciate what we have.

That would be nice, but it ain't gonna happen. We're the most impatient fan base ever.

 

[Blueguitar]

That would be nice, but it ain't gonna happen. We're the most impatient fan base ever.

Yeah, you're probably right I'm afraid.

 

[bamaee04]

The past with Dabo has been brought up again and again, but I hope he has learned lessons as well. When CNS decides to retire, I do whatever it takes and Dabo would have to tell me no multiple times before I go somewhere else. He is obviously different in some of his approach and personality, but the man has built a perennial powerhouse at Clemson. No matter what he has done there, if Mama calls, I think it would be hard for him to say no when he could build a legacy at his Alma mater and keep the train rolling down the tracks with the foundation CNS would leave...

 

[VernonTider]

For the record, Lane Kiffin said of Saban just a few minutes ago on the Dan Patrick Show:
"I think he's going to coach for a long time. I mean, what else is he going to do? He golfs, but he's miserable. And I mean that in a way that -- That's why he is so good. He is singularly focused on Alabama football, football at Alabama, every single minute of every single day."

 

[Tom Biddle]

I recall a press conference where Saban was asked about retiring. He told someone, "My mother played golf until she was 80 years old, I should be able to coach until that age." He would have at the very least 9 more 10 win seasons. That would be great! Roll Tide Roll!

 

[BamaWally]

When Coach Saban talks about "The Process", I believe he is speaking literally. IMO, he's speaking about "the process" or journey of continually giving the best of your ability in everything that you do, every time. He's not looking for a destination or ultimate goal such as a number of championships or reaching a certain age.

He has said countless times that he has always been on a team, that the idea of not being on a team scares him and that he finds satisfaction in molding young men to be the best they can be on the field, in the class room and in life in general.

I believe he coaches as long as he physically can and or as long as he feels "The Process" is positively affecting young men. 10 more years wouldn't surprise me at all.

Roll Tide !!

 

[CoolBreeze]

No way he will coach until he is 79 years old.

That is a big number but got to disagree with you on that. The guy I saw on HBO the other night seemed to have the same fire and intensity of the dude that flew in to Tuscaloosa airport in 2007. Aside from any unforeseen health condition that could arise, I don't see this coach stopping anytime soon...definitely not less and probably much longer than 5 years. My boss is 79. He can still jerk a knot in my butt.

 

[rgw]

I think health is the key. He doesn't seem to be a hard drinker but he does appear to - in the past at least - partaken in some Red Man chew.

 

[DogPatch]

I just know he looks and talks a lot different than when I first met him a little over 5 years ago.

 

[PA Tide Fan]

Paterno coached into his 80's because he said he never had any hobbies to pass the time. Football seemed to be his whole life. Sounds a lot like Saban in that respect, so assuming Saban can continue to field high caliber teams he could very well coach until 80+.

 

[B1GTide]

Paterno coached into his 80's because he said he never had any hobbies to pass the time. Football seemed to be his whole life. Sounds a lot like Saban in that respect, so assuming Saban can continue to field high caliber teams he could very coach until 80+.

I agree, but Paterno isn't the best example. He should have retired many years before he was forced out.

 

[PA Tide Fan]

I agree, but Paterno isn't the best example. He should have retired many years before he was forced out.

Yeah, toward the end of his career he was just a figurehead.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Paterno coached into his 80's because he said he never had any hobbies to pass the time. Football seemed to be his whole life. Sounds a lot like Saban in that respect, so assuming Saban can continue to field high caliber teams he could very coach until 80+.

Paterno had one hobby - it was called enabling a predator, and he won several national championships in that one.

Coach Bryant was already a figurehead by the time of the 1978 national championship (he was 65 years old). I cannot imagine Saban being willing to stay on in that, but I would hasten to add that I've never been his age, either. I know Dad and I (he just turned 74) were talking three years ago (when he was 70) about age and doing jobs, and he said the sudden inability is almost overnight (e.g. it isn't, but it seems like it to the person who discovers it).

A weird thing to realize is that Saban RIGHT NOW is only 16 months younger than Bryant was when he passed away. Of course, he has also taken substantially better care of himself, society is more aware of things that are hazards than they were in Bryant's youth, and medical knowledge is light years ahead of 1982 (that fall was the first time a patient received an artificial heart; it's now commonplace by comparison).

I think Saban is too much a control freak to stay on as a figurehead. Of course, I've never met the man and am going off what I've seen.

 

[We_are_Bama]

I know one thing is for certain. he will NEVER go out on a loss to the lowlifes from lee county. I'd love for CNS to beat gus so badly in his final year that he gets fired and the barn has to get a new coach at the same time that Saban is retiring. Our situation will be basically be turnkey while the barn would have to go out and really search.

 

[CoachJeff]

I know one thing is for certain. he will NEVER go out on a loss to the lowlifes from lee county. I'd love for CNS to beat gus so badly in his final year that he gets fired and the barn has to get a new coach at the same time that Saban is retiring. Our situation will be basically be turnkey while the barn would have to go out and really search.

Saban doesn't care about the Iron Bowl that much.