OT: Saban on his decision to retire
An ESPN article just came out with some details on Saban’s decision to retire. I’m not sure if any of this is really “news”, but I thought there were some pretty interesting details that I hadn’t read before.
It's a fairly long article, but here are some (long) highlights:
Saban told the ‘Bama AD (Byrne) that he was nearing the end of his coaching career after the 2022 season, and Byrne immediately began vetting coaches as Saban’s replacement.
After the 2022 season, Saban informed Byrne he was nearing the end of his Hall of Fame coaching career…
While hopeful Saban would keep coaching, Byrne knew deep down that the 72-year-old legend was giving him notice, so he quickly went to work. Byrne had his staff research the college head-coaching hires over the past 25 years from the winningest 25 programs during that span.
"Part of what I was trying to understand is what were the analytics, and our studies showed that 75% of the time you're basically hiring a Group of 5 head coach, Power 5 coordinator or NFL coordinator," Byrne said. "That's not necessarily a negative, but when it comes to the theory that you're going to hire just whoever you want, the percentages don't support that."
Saban still could’ve held out for a couple of years, but it looks like two factors pushed him to make his decision when he did.
1. The changes in player mentality
But Alabama's 27-20 overtime loss to Michigan in the CFP semifinal at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 was a hard one for Saban to digest. Not only was Saban upset about the way his team played, he was especially disheartened about some of the things that happened afterward -- in the Rose Bowl locker room and back on campus, when he met with some of the players.
"I want to be clear that wasn't the reason, but some of those events certainly contributed," Saban said of his decision to retire. "I was really disappointed in the way that the players acted after the game. You gotta win with class. You gotta lose with class. We had our opportunities to win the game and we didn't do it, and then showing your ass and being frustrated and throwing helmets and doing that stuff ... that's not who we are and what we've promoted in our program."
Once back in Tuscaloosa, as Saban began meeting with players, it became even more apparent to him that his message wasn't resonating like it once did.
"I thought we could have a hell of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I'm going to play because they're thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?" Saban recounted. "Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field.
"So I'm saying to myself, 'Maybe this doesn't work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it's all about how much money can I make as a college player?' I'm not saying that's bad. I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying that's never been what we were all about, and it's not why we had success through the years."
2. The assistant coach carousel
Saban had also grown weary of churning through assistant coaches every year. For example, Tommy Rees, who was hired during the 2023 offseason, was Saban's seventh offensive coordinator in the past 11 years, and on occasion, there were nearly entire overhauls. After the 2018 season, seven assistants left for other jobs. Saban could tell that his age was becoming a factor in hiring coaches.
"People wanted assurances that I was going to be here for three or four years, and it became harder to make those assurances," Saban said. "But the thing I loved about coaching the most was the relationships that you had with players, and those things didn't seem to have the same meaning as they once did."
Saban probably deserves to be in conversation as the GOAT. I'm glad that Michigan could send him off to retirement with an L.
The kid got sacked what, 6 times, 5 in the first half alone? I'm not sure there's another QB in college (JJ included) who could have finished that game with the beating Michigan put on him.
OT but related response I don't think worthy of its own thread at this point. Has anyone seen informed speculation about what the result of an Alabama - Washington CFP final would have been?
I'm guessing that Alabama probably scores in the 30s, because everyone else did (7 teams did - including Michigan and USC, who made it to 42) and Utah came close (28).
Would Alabama's secondary and defensive scheme held Washington in the low 30's or less, or would they have given up just enough big plays for Washington to come out on top?
My guess - based on vibes and no real analysis - is that Bama would have won a reasonably close one based on ball control/physical advantages -- low to mid 30s vs. high 20s low 30s.
To Saban is outrageous to pay players to stay, he's used to the good old days where you only paid them to enroll..
Yeah, cry me a river for Nick Saban, that poor disillusioned man.
So is the answer to NIL $$$ going to be multi-year contracts, with a buyout by the player if he transfers or leaves early for the NFL?
Perhaps a bit of hypocrisy regarding players wanting to be played as Bama was the dark money king, but the shift in how players view the college game now is a valid point. I hope not, but do fear the game we all love is irreversibly changed. For better or worse, I guess that depends on your personal point of view.
So, since Winovich announced the revenge tour Michigan has broken:
Wisconsin - shell of the program they used to be-
Washington- completely rebuilding staff and players
Iowa- Tried to turn O around with ex-M players, worked out in B10 West- won't work long term, lost to M last 3 games and 2 B10 Championships were not competive
OSU- same players coming back from last year except worse QB & no Marvin Harrison = for sure national championship?
Alabama- Best modern day head coach retires, 30! players transfer, complete rebuild
Did I miss any?
If one uses a long-enough time frame, I suppose one can give Winovich's revenge tour credit for anything and everything.
Thanks NittanyFan- I appreciate you and your PSU team being happy with being 3rd or 4th best in the B10 every year.
PSU has a very favorable schedule so who knows? If you had a coach other than Frames Janklin I'd say that PSU has a chance to win the B10 in 2024.
Well, I can't see the future.
But whatever the future holds for PSU in 2024 .......... be it (1) National Champs, (2) 0-12 or (3) somewhere in between ......... we'll know that Chase Winovich declaring a Revenge Tour 6 years prior led to it all!
OSU did very well in the portal, I wouldn’t say they have the same players coming back from last year.
OSU paid a lot to retain Henderson and a good number of other players.
In the portal, OSU downgraded on QB based on 2023 QBR ratings & recruiting rankings
Brought in a very good safety - which was an issue in 2022, not as much in 2023
Their biggest portal get was at RB but OSU had a pretty good running back room from 2021-2023. Do we really think that Henderson is going to suddenly be better than he was the last 3 years?
The lost- their best Edge rusher, best passing QB ever (Stroud), Best WR (Marvin Harrison) who was constantly referred to as The Best Player in college football.
They certainly may beat Michigan and Vegas gives them a 20% (+500) chance at a National Championship. I'll be shocked if their offense is as good as 2021 or 2022.
Interesting post on a Saban thread. Saban is only gone two months and he's irrelevant already.
Saban is only the GOAT in terms of cheating at football. Overall second only to Wooden in that sense. Stop fellating a guy who was only successful by buying an nfl roster, oversigning, and then fucking over the busts. Good riddance.
"Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Entitled old man whines about young people and (mis)remembers his generation never being like that, more at 11.
So true, happy to see Saban confirm this. College football is in flux and there has to be some sort of rules agreement sooner rather than later when it comes to NIL, transfers, etc. Whether its a set salary cap that no team can go over or something else. Its sad really what its turned into
So he just noticed the mercenary culture he stoked the flames of? All was well when he held the biggest bag. People who can really develop players are unfair meanies.
I'll never be a fan of his, but I have to admit that I do see him in a bit of a different light after reading those quotes. I don't blame him about the NIL "how much are you going to pay me" stance. I agree 100% that players have the right to be paid. That said it has already started eroding my fandom. From a football standpoint my fandom the last 20 years has been basically 95% Michigan, 5% Lions. Making things mostly transactional/money driven takes away a lot of the emotions that I used to invest. So now that players are making decisions on where to play based on $ more and more, I am starting to invest less into them emotionally.
To point 1 above about xfer portal and guys wanting to get paid... he's not wrong, but the irony of this of course is that he illegally! paid players for years to get the best recruits, so for all intents and purposes, he had a monopoly on 5 stars, in no small part due to the Bama bagmen.
So yeah, Nick - it doesn't work anymore. There's parity cause now everyone can pay their guys. Sorry that little luxury doesn't exist for you anymore.
I mean...Saban seems like a perfectly fine guy and one I'd agree with on a number of topics but this is also 100% an image campaign project as he begins appearing on TV more. He took advantage of every legal and illegal loophole he could find for years to win, and then as people caught up to him and he couldn't ger away with it as much anymore, or the margins narrowed a bit between him and his competitors, he stepped away. You can tell by the way he's changed his tune on a lot of previously-controversial topics, like player payments, transfers, etc. It no longer benefits him so now he's free to speak out for the "right" side of history, not because he suddenly had a change of heart.
Like, this quote drives me insane:
Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field.
Alabama cares first and foremost about winning football games. I'm sure they care about academics and to his credit Saban's teams have consistently done well with APR (mind you the fact that Alabama, Clemson, and Ole Miss are higher than Michigan, Stanford, and Notre Dame by this metric perhaps shows how limited it is as a measure of academic success), but Bama was built on setting up players to go to the NFL and handing out whatever was necessary to get people to come there. There's nothing wrong with that but Saban acting above that, like basically all football coaches, is hypocrisy.
Anyway, I'm sure he'll be good on Gameday, hopefully taking time away from people like McAfee and Thamel who are just wastes of space.
As for the talk about Byrne planning his replacement, I guess I sort of buy that but then they wound up taking Kalen DeBoer after a number of other people turned them down and also saw their roster fall apart because, I assume, a number of players weren't loving the new guys. Not saying it won't work out but DeBoer seems like a pretty big reach for a huge SEC job like this one given the fact he's only been a P5 coach for 2 years and inherited/transferred in most of the talent he had at UW. No idea if he's capable of building a winner on his own.
"You gotta win with class. You gotta lose with class. We had our opportunities to win the game and we didn't do it, and then showing your ass and being frustrated and throwing helmets and doing that stuff ... that's not who we are and what we've promoted in our program."
You recruit your own headaches and develop your own problems. That's on Saban and program culture. Seems he's running away from problems he made for himself.
Harbaugh did as well. We still don't even know what fallout is coming from Spygate II. But wait it's Michigan so it's different.
So many mgoblog readers, including the owner of this site, have for years wanted college football players to get paid for playing football. Saban alluded to it above, and he would know better than any of us...
Paying players is ruining the game. It will only get the worse. College football is officially on the slippery slope towards self-destruction, and as often is the case, money is the root of the problem.
#GoBlue
College football is officially on the slippery slope towards self-destruction, and as often is the case, money is the root of the problem.
This is not quite accurate. D1 college football is officially on the slippery slope. But if you are a college football purist for the way it existed 100 years ago, you can still watch D2 and D3. And Army - Navy.
As much as people complain about the direction of D1 college football, I don't predict that all eyes will now suddenly turn to D2 and D3 college football. People will just keep watching D1 college football, while still complaining about it.
I think you're going to see a period (now) where shit gets so sideways that some sort of nationwide re-org takes place in 4-5 years and potentially without the NCAA governing body. Because it's a multi-billion dollar industry (7-8 or I think I read) and it has little to no structure and what pretense of it that exists is done so arbitrarily (see: burger-gate) or randomly as if to be a joke.
The O'bannon courts case blew the doors off the the NCAA regulatory body and they absolutely were not prepared for that....at all. It appears they've done relatively little since then either in terms of trying to implement any sort of structure to prepare for player compensation and making all the wrong moves in terms of portal structure and management before they even had a grip on NIL or any sort of basic enforcement or reporting policy.
frustrated and throwing helmets and doing that stuff ... that's not who we are and what we've promoted in our program."
I always laugh at multi-millionaires who insist that others should just "play for the love of the game".
If Saban really wanted that he could still find it and still coach . . . in Division 3.
Of course he would just make a regular professor's salary and have to help maintain the field. But he would never do that.
He’s a great coach, but Bama was clearly paying dudes for so long that I don’t really give a shit about his feelings on the end of amateurism. For course Saban is offended when players ask for more money, Nick never did that himself. He paid an agent to get him however fucking many millions per year, so he’s clearly above that.
The way that game went, nobody on Bama can say shit except for the punter.
I love how everyone is just going to pretend that Bama players weren’t driving range rovers and chargers a decade ago. The bagman himself doesn’t want an even playing field. Shocking.
You don't think Michigan players were as well?! Geez the sanctimony on here can be suffocating at times lol
Highest paid coach in college football who made several coaching changes in his early career, taking more money each time wonders why his players are all about the money.
Saban is a hypocritical ass and has a lot of gall to lay the blame on athletes wanting mo' money. He's been complicit in, if not running, a RICO recruiting scheme as long as he's been there. How has he recruited the most 5 star talent in CFB for the last decade? M.O.N.E.Y. He'll just have to find peace in his retirement, you know, gardening, watercolor painting, running his network of Mercedes dealerships.