re: Tide Football Thread in honor of TidalSurge

quote:

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Some of y'all truly have a remarkable ability to ignore the fact Nick Saban was not the same coach in 2023 that he was from 2007 to 2020.

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I think fans say this because he didn't win any more championships after 2020; but Saban adapted several times in his tenure at Bama and wasn't even the same coach from 2007 to 2020...

Saban changed his philosophy in 2014 when he brought in Lane Kiffin and changed up the offense and then shortly thereafter went after more quick-twitch guys on defense to adapt to spread offenses. Then in 2018, he went full bore from "good defense wins championships" to "good offense wins championships" culminating in the 2020 title...

After that, as NIL and the portal came into full bloom, he adapted to the changing environment and managed his players perhaps a bit more gently and a bit less critically as that seemed to be what was needed to keep the team together...only difference between the previous times was that although Bama made the play-offs two of those three years, they didn't win a natty...

Even so in 2021, he was arguably a couple of WR injuries away from a potential natty and in '23 he was one defensive stop away from the title game and a good chance for another one; not to mention, he still beat UGA 2 of 3 times and kept them from three-peating. I'd imagine if he had won one or both of those, most folk wouldn't claim he wasn't the same coach as he was earlier...