Hate Nick Saban all you want, but his teams always win big and yours are not

ATLANTA – My job here Wednesday (July 18th) at Southeastern Conference Football Days was simple: give all coaches, players and fans of every Alabama SEC non-named team a hope that the Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban thought

One would think that a man who is 67 years old on Halloween might want to exhale from time to time. After all, he has already filled the fingers of one hand with the rings of the national championship and is already a finger in the other hand.

Will Saban stop to smell the roses, which are not necessarily badociated with Rose Bowl Stadium? Is it possible that Saban joins former Florida / South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier as the only SEC coach to coach at age 70 and over?

If the decision is left to Saban's wife, who he calls Mrs. Terry, he will be coaching until death separates or until Saban does not drive her crazy [19659002] "Mrs. Terry does not want me at home, I can tell you," Saban said. "She does not care if I'm 60, 70 or 80. So she's looking for something to do for me."

We often marvel at how Saban, who also has a national title and two SEC championships at his In the five seasons that he spent at the LSU from 2000 to 2004, he Constantly destroyed the competition at the toughest university football conference.

Yet this also causes anxiety among the victims. He arrived in Alabama, where he has won five national titles, four SEC championships and 12.2 average victories per year in his last 10 seasons, with 27 leading football coaches hired by the other 13 members .

Saban has already seen two of his former badistants, Derek Dooley and Jim McElwain, have been hired, fired and rehired as in the case of Muschamp as South Carolina's head coach.

Currently, four SEC head coaches (including two new contenders) first in Saban discipline Tennessee's first coach Jeremy Pruitt, Alabama's defensive coordinator for the past two seasons, said that He was not waiting for any help from the SEC Obi Wan Kenobi

"You better write all you can," Pruitt says of his time spent under Saban. "You better take everything as long as you have the opportunity, because as soon as you put the other uniform, I can guarantee you, everyone, even if everyone's friends, we want to beat the other guy. " He says that he usually offers consistent advice to his subordinates who become chief coaches.

"What I say to all guys when they leave, whether Jim McElwain or (Kirby (Smart))," said Saban, "is the most important thing for you when you are going to be your own head coach, you must be who you are.You must be yourself. "

Two Nick Saban School graduates from Hard Knocks who best followed these tips are Smart and Texas A & M Jimbo Fisher , who won a national championship and three Atlantic Coast Conference titles in eight years at Florida State before signing up Fisher and Smart are 0-1 against Saban, both losing to the team. Alabama last year.

Georgia's 26-23 overtime loss to Alabama in the PFC championship game Revenge Saban in the same situation one day.

Smart, who has been a staff member of Saban's nine seasons until 2015, the last eight years as a defensive coordinator, probably knows more about how Saban trains than his former badistants. 19659002] Yet there was Saban at the beginning of the second half of the national title game, managing to roll the dice by subcontracting Tua Tagovailoa, a real first-year quarterback, for Jalen Hurts, starting in the second year. After he was not surprised that Saban made this move, Tagovailoa still threw 163 yards and three touchdowns, including the 41-yard winning shot from DeVonta Smith.

One can call it lucky, but the most remarkable One undeniable fact about Saban is that he has won five national titles in Alabama with six different offensive coordinators and five different starting quarters.

Like Saban's recruiting badessments, he learned in the NFL the role of defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. under Bill Belichick from 1991 to 1994, he knows exactly what he wants by recruiting coordinators.

There could be new wrinkles, such as the accelerated pace of former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin and the more throwing in non-traditional pitching situations. 19659002] But Alabama football will always be based on bigger players, stronger and faster than their opponents. The Crimson Tide rarely loses a match due to lack of depth and fatigue.

The common denominator of all the titles of Alabama over the last nine years is Saban

"The consistency of the Saban coach has always remained the same." The offensive lineman of Alabama Ross Pierschbacher said. "As players, having this stability works, and that's proven."

Can Saban be a coach forever?

"He will try," said Pierschbacher. "Being part of a team is something that he has always done and it's special, so he wants to do it as long as possible."

Saban said that he was in good health and that he liked what he was doing. As he begins his 12th season 1945-1900 in Alabama and his 23rd 19459004 as head coach, I would not be surprised that he has at least five seasons in his training. tank

"I will continue to do that and not worry about numbers or my age or something like that," Saban said. "I would not want to be in the position where I came down from the program because I was not able to make a positive contribution." But as you know, our midday basketball team (filled with coaches from Alabama) was undefeated. again this year. So it's always an indicator for me that I can get through another season. "