Last night when things had settled down after the baseball games that I was watching had already ended, I decided to put my “Mama Called” DVD in to watch it. If you have been living under a rock for a while, Mama Called is a new documentary produced by the Bear Bryant Museum in association with the UA Center for Public Television and Radio that was part of the centennial of Coach Bryant’s birthday. Most of it was stories that any Alabama fan has heard many times. I am not taking anything away from it all but for this, I just want to focus on a few sections of it.
With football season quickly approaching, I have already started to think ahead to the games that are on the schedule and what exactly we will face on the field with each of the opponents. It’s no secret that the Tide has had some problems with the Hurry Up, No Huddle trend of the offenses in recent memory. Granted it’s not too much trouble because we have still had a lot of success on the football field. You start to see post on message boards, social media, and conversations with people and start to hear that “the game may have passed Coach Saban”. Don’t believe that for one second. I am certainly not content as a fan coming up short on possible title bid however, you can’t win them all and we have definitely won a lot during Saban’s tenure here in Tuscaloosa. Now, what does this have to do with the documentary?
During the 1969 and 1970 seasons, Alabama had back to back 6-5 seasons. Coach Bryant recognized there needed to be a change to give that kick start back to the team. Coach Bryant went to the wishbone offense in 1971 after learning some of it from his friend and then Texas head coach Darrell Royal. He made a few changes to it and it evolved over the next few seasons. As Athletic Director Bill Battle said during the documentary, “The newspapers were writing that he was over the hill and all of that sort of thing”. Mr. Battle added ” It’s obvious he wasn’t reading that sort of thing because in ’71, he went to the wishbone and won more games in a decade than anyone in the history of the game”. The game is always evolving and changing. Great coaches adapt and come up with different schemes or even different personnel to combat what is changing. Mediocre coaches sit back and do nothing. The head coach at Alabama realizes this. In the documentary, Saban said “You always have to reinvent your team. Any coach that wants to live in the past is never going to be successful in the future.” He added, “He was willing to change and had the foresight to see the difference in how they played systematically prior to all of the success they had and then being willing to make a change like that so they could be more successful in the future”.
As most of you know, we are in good hands. We have a coach that will make changes to keep us successful for his remaining years in Tuscaloosa. We are already seeing some of those changes on the recruiting front. During our run of 3 BCS Titles in 4 years, the average size of our linemen was 295 lbs. The main mission was to occupy the blockers instead of rushing the passers. Coach Saban commented on those changes when he spoke to Sirius/XM NFL Radio’s Movin’ the Chains.
"“The whole spread offense, quarterbacks who are more athletic guys playing the position, you have to have guys playing on the edges that actually can get the guy on the ground, which never used to be a premium,” Saban said. “Now, our league has changed dramatically, so we are going to have to change a little bit in terms of the kind of fast-twitch guys we recruit to play against the kind of offenses we see.”"
With the changes to the game, Coach Saban and others are looking at different defensive ends than they were just a few seasons ago. Saban is looking for those more athletic guys on the edge. He needs more hybrid types as well. Those rangy players with great bursts are needed to go against the mobile type quarterbacks and spread offenses.
If you are a media member or even just a normal person that says the game is passing Saban by, then think again. He is following right in Coach Bryant’s footsteps and “willing to make a change like that so they could be more successful in the future”. Things in our life are always changing no matter if it’s life, circumstances or the game of football. A good person will maintain what they are doing and try to continue to hang in there. A great person will come up with a solution and then be sitting on ready for the next thing that will come down the line. Coach Saban and Coach Bryant: Coaches With The Ability To Adapt