The Legacy and the Destiny Came Together With Nick Saban
By Ronald Evans
In 2009 Alabama’s destiny was renewed with Nick Saban and his first Crimson Tide championship, will that destiny be completed this year?
In January 2010 speaking during the University of Alabama post-season celebration of the Tide’s return to national championship prominence, Nick Saban stated the most significant words spoken about Alabama football in decades: “This is not the end, this is the beginning.”
Bequeathed by Alabama coaches Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul Bryant and Gene Stallings, four generations have shared a fundamental belief that no Alabama football season is a success unless it culminates in a national championship. The belief has been sorely tested more than once, but the belief has never been abandoned.
A Continuum of Expectation
Sustained success requires continuity and the Tide’s legacy was shepherded by Wade and his successor Thomas, who coached Bryant, who coached Stallings. A continuum of expectation was maintained from the 1925 Rose Bowl victory to the end of Coach Gene Stallings’ tenure in 1997.
What followed was a decade-long, agonizing descent to shameful mediocrity. It mattered not that Bama’s demise was largely self-inflicted. For ten years Tide fans scoured every horizon for a glimpse of the next Alabama football Messiah. Finally the last tendril of continuity, in the form of Athletic Director Mal Moore, player and assistant coach for Bryant, doggedly pursued and eventually captured the biggest coaching prize in 21st-century college football. Coach Nick Saban was clearly Alabama’s best hope for redemption.
The success under Saban has been beyond extraordinary. Four National Championships in seven seasons with the Crimson Tide a championship game away from a fifth national title.
Despite Alabama’s dynastic success under Nick Saban, no outcome in an athletic competition is ever assured. No team is ever so good that on a given day they cannot be beaten.
Should the result of Monday’s Clemson game defer the quest for Alabama’s fifth Saban championship to a future season, expectations of success will not abate. Monday’s game is no longer the beginning. Crimson faithful can stand proud knowing whatever the outcome; the continuum of expectation is nowhere near the end.
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