What's everyone's take on Saban

Winning without a dominant QB is pretty damn impressive.

He can coach, sure - but he gives me the creeps. I think he's sleazy, but damn, what a great set of pearly whites he has.

Not sure where he gets his dental work done, but it sure as he'll isn't in Alabama.

and his program is also one of the dirtiest programs (even compared to already shady Alabama football history). When you combine good coaching and cheating, multiple championships are the result. Usually a program can only either coach or cheat well - Bama does both.

For total career, I think Saban has established himself as a great coach. His last 8 years at Alabama is one of the best 8 year stretches for any coach at any school. Bud Wilkinson at Oklahoma is the closest I can think of. (47 straight wins, 3 NC's in 7 years, 66-5 record during that time)

Saban's career highlights by school:

MSU: 5 years, 34 - 24 - 1 overall, 23-16-1 conference, 0 - 3 in bowls

LSU: 5 yeras, 48 - 16 overall, 28 - 12 conference, 3-2 in bowls, 1 National Championship

Bama: 9 years, 100 - 18 overall, 57 - 12 conference, 7 - 3 in bowls/playoffs, 4 NC's.

The problem with Saban (just like Pete Carrol) is that there will always be a question of how much cheating took place to make it possible. It's not just the oversiging (which is pushing the rules beyond their intent). There are questions about how extensively they use bagmen (more so than other schools). The utilization of PED's (on a large scale basis). 

Yes, he still had to win the games, but if you have built in advantages, it gets a lot easier (see UCLA circa 60's & 70's).

Certainly one of the most, if not the most, accomplished in the modern era of college football. But is he the greatest coach? 

Maybe, but consider if ESPN hadn't spent decades hyping the SEC, and the NCAA and SEC actually held Alabama, LSU and the rest of that confernce to the letter and intent of recruiting rules. Would Alabama and Saban be the fantasy destination for thousands of high school players across the nation? 

Then we can look at his questionable practices with regard to scholarships and medicals.  

His advantages at Alabama have been in place so long that they have become structural. At this point cracking down on oversigning has little impact because the pipeline of 5* and 4* HS players are lined up all the way back to 8th graders. 

Would Saban produce the results that many use to justify his greatness, without these advantages. Saban, by his own admission, left the Big Ten because he felt its recuiting and admission standards prevented him from having a realistic shot at winning NCs. 

Greatest SEC coach of all time? Maybe, but thats about as far as one can reasonably go.

who cares about him... lets talk about us instead....lol

Saban wins with superior talent. At MSU & in the NFL when the playing field wasn't stacked in his favor, he had little success.

The guy is a great coach, and he may be the best, but he wins national championships for 3 reasons: 1- superior talent & Depth in the trenches on both sides of the ball. 2- Phenomenal skill position players. 3- Great coaching (staff included)

I think the loss of Kirby Smart will hurt them more than people think

Honestly, cannot wait until he retires or leaves college ball. 

It's amazing to see him just dominate with Alabama. Before he came to Alabama, they weren't close to the elite level he made them. You take away year one when he went 7-6 and his worst season is 10-3. That's impressive with the current state of college football. 

Eventually Harbaugh will meet Saban. We'll lose due to inferior talent and Harbaugh will conclude the only way to beat Saban is with an athletic QB a la Jonny Football or Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Hand as a lightly used backup is a luxury we can strive for.

The dual threat QB is the future of the game and allows you to cover talent deficits elsewhere (ex. DRob making run blocking look better than it really was). The pick Watson threw in the 1st half was the difference. Not sure we will ever be able to match Bama's talent 1-85 playing by the rules.

XM radio guys were saying the NY Giants are going to make a run at him.

You're welcome.

his failure at MSU makes me wonder about how many great coaches are stuck at bottom-feeder schools. 

a gatorade jug thrown at his head......BUT I think it is hysterical.

Also, he is no Harbaugh.  Harbaugh would have taken that jug to the head in a way unknown to mankind!

Over the weekend I watched a repeat of David Feherty's Golf Channel interview show with Nick Saban.  I think the interview took place last summer, before August camp.

Feherty is quite entertaining, even if you're not into golf.  And he's a great interviewer.  The Saban episode is pretty good -- I recommend it to anyone reading this topic.

I think Nick was trying really hard to make Nick look like a nice guy.

 

Bamas boosters might be in the running for GOAT. Not in a hurry to call Saban that, though.

Can't argue the results. However, is a measure of how good a coach is based what he accomplishes with the talent he has?

Didn't he go 9-2 his last season at MSU? I don't think that is a failure

yes he's a great coach

but he bores me to death with his business-only persona

i'd rather have a crazy and interesting person, ala Bo, Woody, and our current guy JH

I hate to say this but Saban is a great coach. To win sooo many NCs in todays world is unheard of. Yes Bear Bryant was great but back in the days you had no scholarship limitation so it was easy to load up the roster, and yea even today you can find loop holes in the system of over signing guys and what not but the point is, the sport is sooo much different now days.
As for NFL i think Saban failed due to not having a QB and most importantly due to the owner failing him. If i remember correct Saban wanted Drew Brees as his QB but miami's president turned him down. Look at Drew Breea now.
The point is he is a great coach and knows how to spot talent. At this point it is safe to say he has mastered the game of college football and he has nothing to prove anymore. Its either nfl or just ride the Bama train for a couple of more years and retire as one of the greatest on CFB.

A story about Saban. Apparently he was with a another coach at a bar, they were preparing for a game. The bartender was robbed at gun point, the coaches were sitting just a few feet away. When the police arrived they asked Saban and the other coach about the robbers and the coaches had no idea what the police were talking about. 

Kind of interesting, he blocks out everything and completely focuses on his team.

He doesn't care about Alabama as an instution of higher learning.  He runs a college program like a pro team.  I wouldn't want my kid to play for him.  The only thing he cares about a kid is if he can contribute on the field.  

But that's just my take.

...when he got outCOACHed in his last game.             /s but kinda not.

IMO, I think that his lack of success in the NFL and at non SEC west juggernaut programs shows it's not his "coaching" that is what makes him successfull it's his management abilities and motivational leverage.

But just like with Urbz, it seems that today motivation and management is what wins the championships, especiallly when you are talking about talent that is committed.to the NFL path.

It's like Sparty using the #disrespekt to motivate; at first, it may seem to work better than coaching your QB to never ever underthrow a redzone sideline pass inside of two mintues in the first half of the most important game in program history......Doh!

Of course, he does run the most successful program by far and it's not an easy job to deal with all those egos and expectations, so reguardless of how you define it, that program has what all others want.

GOAT? Jimmy Johnson, Bud Wilkinson, and maybe even John McKay might have something to say about that.

Not exactly sure what kind of human being he is. Never met the guy, and haven't heard the nicest things, but judging him as a football coach, he has to go down as arguably the greatest of all time. I'd say he's made a great case to be #1.

There is so much more parity now in college football than there was when Bryant, Hayes, Parseghian and Schembechler roamed the sidelines. And yet Saban dominates every single year.

Wouldn't be shocked if he went down the path of Bryant and croaked immediately following retirement. Not that I think he's in bad health or anything like that, but football is that man's life. That's what he is and what he always will be. Not sure what else he could possibly do.

and pretty much is the extent of my thoughts on the subject.

There's no point to argue about greatest coaches across generations. His daily duties are not even remotely similar to those of Bo or those of Bear Bryant. He is clearly the best coach of this generation. But when I think coach, I think tactician and teacher of the game. It's very unclear just how good he is at both of those things.

We can argue about how he did, but building the Alabama Death Machine in this era is a historically impressive achievement. His next NCAA violation will be his first. The only indication of chicanery is the oversigning and liberal use of medical scholarships, but while that's distasteful, it doesnt deter the players it should be harming. Greatest ever is likely difficult to judge, given Fielding Yost, Bear Bryant, Bo, Switzer and a host of other program builders, but he's in the conversation. Here's hoping Harbaugh is there too, and that right soon.