Another Thursday night of ‘Hey Coach’ and Nick Saban talking about Alabama football was filled with interesting observations.
Nick Saban thinks it is time to change college football. As he has said in the past, Nick believes Power Five teams should only play Power Five teams. He also believes the Southeastern Conference should play a nine or ten game conference schedule.
Saban also knows his opinion is in the minority. It may even be a minority of one. But long odds do little to deter Nick Saban. He is convinced a new college football plan could change the minds of other coaches. Nick says it would only require changing the qualification process for bowl games. He correctly states that under the current system of needing six wins, many coaches don’t want more tough games.
His solution is to run the bowl system the same as the NCAA basketball tournament is done. In doing so, strength of schedule and quality wins would be more important than total wins. Since Nick does not want to discuss retirement or the possibility of becoming a Commissioner of college football at some future date, his suggestions will likely go unheeded.
Saban did report that he and Greg Byrne are discussing more frequent home and home deals with elite teams for future games.
Nick talks to and about his Psychiatrist
The most interesting part of Thursday ‘s show was Nick recounting a call he made this week to his psychiatrist, Dr. Rosen. Just the fact a man at the top of his profession, particularly a football coach, talks about calling his shrink is mind-boggling. As we wrote a couple of months ago, the relationship between Saban and the man Michigan State students call Gandalf goes back many years. Nick explained,
"I have somebody that I talk to all the time who I really need. His name is Dr. Rosen"
Nick said Dr. Rosen advised him this week that he had something akin to altitude sickness. When mountain climbers get altitude sickness, their brains distort their thinking so they can no longer make good decisions.
"he said I think you have altitude sickness and I am like what the hell is that but then as he explained it to me it made so much sense … it really changed my disposition and it changed the way I approached the team this week … you have this high expectation for what you should achieve, you actually get really frustrated when you don’t dominate … and maybe the guys are not ready"
As Saban recounted the story he became clear Rosen’s advice was pertinent to any frustration felt by Saban and his players.
"so my approach with the team this week was I know you get tired of hearing me say we won but … I think they are not satisfied and I am not satisfied but we should be very realistic about where we are as a team and what we need to do to improve as a team and we should stay focused on that and try to be positive and encourage our players to get better and see what we can develop into as a team."
Did Dr. Rosen alleviate the need of players-only meeting?
Earlier in the week, there was talk of a players-only meeting. Players were frustrated and felt the need to discuss it. Apparently, a big player meeting never happened. It could be that Nick’s conversation with Dr. Rosen and Saban’s different message to the team may have removed the need for a players meeting.
To that, we say nice job Gandalf.
Next: The 30 Best 3-Star players in Tide history.
The SEC has some key matchups in week four. While we don’t expect a close contest in Nashville, mark us down as one Alabama football fan who will be pulling for the Dores every game after this weekend.