Alabama Football: On Nick Saban, coaching hires and alternate realities

Alabama Football: Too frequently CFB Head Coaches and Athletic Directors drift from reality. For 14 years in Tuscaloosa, Nick Saban has been the exception.

Alabama Football is different from other college football programs. In one way, it is different from every other program. That is because there is only one Nick Saban. No other coach comes close.

Saban’s rules are easy to understand but difficult to follow. Focus on what is in front of you, do what you are supposed to do and always be resolute. In terms of football coaches, Nick Saban is the best in dealing with the reality of ‘what is’. The result is a clarity of purpose, for himself, his players and his program.

Nick Saban is unquestionably the most reality-based coach in college football. After getting his players grounded in reality, his teacher role takes over. A main lesson taught by Nick Saban is,

"Winning a championship is a result….becoming a champion is a process."

The world of Power Five football can be broken down into three groups. Group one has a single member, the Alabama Crimson Tide; separate and above because of Nick Saban. Group two are the programs who aspire to have their own Nick Saban, as in the next great coach in college football. Group three understands any fluke circumstance affording them a new Nick Saban, will be like it was for Toledo after the 1990 season; fleeting.

After repeated attempts from other schools to lure him away, the CFB world realized Saban will leave the Alabama Crimson Tide only to retire. Focus turned to hiring Nick Saban assistants. From the Saban coaching tree, 18 former Saban assistants or former Alabama football staffers, are now or have been head coaches. Five former Saban assistants have had more head coaching success than the others. Only one, Jimbo Fisher has taken what he learned from Saban and won a National Championship.

Is there a Saban-like career ahead for any of them? Still building their careers; Mario Cristobal, Billy Napier and Mel Tucker have impressed. Kirby Smart is the fifth of the unblemished group, though some, including Georgia fans, have begun to doubt.

The history of Nick Saban and his coaching tree should be scrutinized by every Athletic Director. For ADs and the coaches they hire, there are more opportunities for failure than success. A big reason why careers are tenuous is the unrealistic expectations held by many programs. Those faulty expectations often result from an unwillingness or an inability to accept ‘what is’. Achieving greatness is a far distance from aspiring to greatness. Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant had a simple explanation while talking about players, but it applies to coaches and administrators as well.

"It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters."

Nick Saban the will to prepare has led Alabama Football to six National Championships in 12 seasons. Six times, after those six championships, a losing coach has been asked about the gap between his team and the Alabama Crimson Tide. They invariably say the gap has closed, is closing or can be closed.

Saban has shown success has no shortcuts. Those failing that lesson are destined to fail. Nick Saban took an Alabama football program that had lost the ability to face reality and quickly brought back clear-eyed diligence.

For a new coaching hire to succeed, requires an Atheltic Director and the school’s President or Chancellor to also have a firm grasp on reality. In 2007, Nick Saban, Mal Moore and Robert Witt provided that for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Contrast that team to where the Tennessee Vols are today. There is enthusiasm for a new AD, whose history reveals a penchant for alternate realities. Danny White recently reiterated his outrageous claim UCF won a 2017 National Championship. White has hired an uninspiring head coach in  Josh Heupel, whose track record fails to excite Tennessee fans. To complaints about Heupel from Vols’ fans, White’s knee-jerk response was to basically tell them to shut up.

A leader firmly entrenched in nonsense is not a good starting point for the Tennessee Vols. For all its failings, the Auburn program is in a better place than Tennessee (and LSU) to move forward successfully.