re: Is Saban anything more than an awesome recruiter?

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Here is the deal with Saban, something I have said since bama hired him.

The majority of his success is due to superior talent. It is why he was no better than a .500 coach in the NFL. It is also why he was 6-6 his first regular season at bama before signing the greatest and highest paid class in NCAA history (2008) which turned it around.

As for coaching, he is above average but nothing exceptional. He is a very good defensive coach and below average offensively. His style is extremely basic and succeeds primarily due to the talent advantage as said. It is basic football - play good defense, control the ball on offense, win the line of scrimmage. Without superior talent it is .600 coaching or so. With superior talent it is not going to lose a game it shouldn't and will win the vast majority of the time.

His "process" is nothing exactly groundbreaking. It is just attention to detail with a very meticulous plan covering all aspects of a program down to the smallest detail, combined with an obsessive never-ending year round work ethic/grind. The work ethic saban has is the engine that makes it run. The media always loves to talk about how coaches work around the clock all year, yada, yada. Saban is the one that actually does it though and the man is the most obsessive thing I have ever seen about it.

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