For Alabama Crimson Tide fans, Nick Saban is, and always will be, the GOAT. It will not be unnoticed that when Saban was asked about Alabama football at the Regions Pro-Am, his responses included 'we' and 'us'.
Talking about Kalen DeBoer's recent contract extension, Saban said, "I think Kalen has done a really good job. Obviously, other people recognize that he had an opportunity to go to Michigan and if Alabama wanted to keep him, they had to step up and do it. It was the right thing because we would've lost our roster if he would've left."
Alabama came close to losing its roster when Saban retired. It has taken time for Kalen DeBoer and his staff to build it back. Continuity was essential to the Crimson Tide's progress.
Nick Saban said long ago that in college football, there is no continuum of success. It was true then and is truer now. So much has changed, as Saban explained, "... the best traditional jobs are no longer the best traditional jobs. The people who have the most money have the best opportunity to win. That's the way it is. Just because you have great tradition doesn't mean if you don't have the support to pay the players, other teams are gonna do better than you."
Alabama Crimson Tide and Positive Eneregy
Adding to Saban's statement of how well he believes Kalen DeBoer has done with a difficult transition for the program, Saban had a message for Crimson Tide fans: "... there's an element of support and positive energy that goes with having a successful program. That's what we always had with the fans and that helped us tremendously in recruiting to get great players and it helped us develop them because the players were excited to play in front of that kind of energy and enthusiasm. I can't speak for our fans, but I think if they want to be successful, they need to be supportive of the people that are there right now in every way that they can. Because all the negative noise out there is not gonna help us be successful ... ."
Fans have every right to their opinions and to whine and complain. There should never be a mandate of unconditional support. But Nick Saban is correct that especially in today's so connected world, the negativism of fans can harm a program.
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