Like all human beings as we age, a part of Alabama football coach, Nick Saban is wearing down. His hip problem is fixable but also a reminder nothing lasts forever.
There was a time, not experienced by all of today’s Alabama football fans, when a Crimson Tide head coach was considered ‘other-worldly.’ In that period, Alabama Crimson Tide fans joked Paul “Bear’ Bryant could walk on water.
We knew, of course, the Bear was no deity. But he was so revered, the walking on water jokes reflected sincere beliefs the man had wondrous powers.
In a very different time, Nick Saban has earned the awe of Alabama football fans. What Saban has accomplished can be arguably said to have surpassed Bryant. The Bear did not have to compete with an 85 scholarship limit. Admittedly, in the minds of some Alabama football fans, a claim Saban has surpassed Bryant is heresy.
A bolder claim can be made. Bryant and Saban are the two greatest coaches in college football history.
Crimson Tide fans learned in 1981 that nothing lasts forever. The end was abrupt even though slippage in team performance began a few years earlier.
There will be another ending for Alabama football. Hopefully, it will occur under very different circumstances. It is doubtful Alabama football fans will be any better prepared than we were at the end of the Bryant era.
Some Crimson Tide fans believe a jarring reminder of Nick Saban’s mortality was provided by Dabo Swinney and his Clemson team. But though the national championship was a big game, it was just one football game. Eras do not end with one loss and tipping points can never be seen until they recede into the past.
Closer to an actual harbinger of mortality came a week ago, when Nick Saban explained he needed some work on a hip. The Monday after Easter is the day chosen for a hip replacement. Full recovery is expected to take six to eight weeks. The video below is Saban’s announcement to the media after the A-Day game.
Not surprisingly, Nick did not make a big deal about the problem. And in characteristic Saban fashion, he did not pass up the opportunity to playfully jab one of his players, saying as Bama Insider reported, even with the hip problem,
"I can still cover (Henry) Ruggs and cut him off. I can still do whatever I need to do, I can still play golf. But this has been a little bothersome and I don’t want to go into the fall with this being a problem."
What matters most to Alabama football fans is another thought shared by Saban.
"I want to get it fixed because I don’t want to coach for one more year, I want to coach for a lot more years"
“A lot more years” is exactly what Alabama football fans want as well. So for now, we can all cast aside the inevitability that at some future time, the Alabama – Saban Era will end. And who is to say there will not be another great Crimson Tide era that will soon follow?
Saban will be back at work quickly, evaluating film, doing speaking engagements and a myriad of other things. Unfortunately, his late spring, early summer golf breaks will be curtailed for about six weeks.