LSU refused to show Saban on stadium video screen in 2003 championship reunion

quote:

---

Could you imagine Alabama coach Nick Saban delivering a message on the giant video screen in Tiger Stadium at halftime of the LSU-Florida game Saturday?

If former LSU tailback Justin Vincent was in charge, it would happen. Vincent, who is now the assistant director for player personnel at LSU, and more than 60 of his former teammates will be honored at LSU this weekend for winning the BCS national championship in 2003. Saban, who coached that team, was invited by LSU, but he will be coaching Alabama at Kentucky that night.

So he had a video made.

“I would absolutely go,” Saban said this week. “I was really proud to be a part of it. I was invited to come back. I obviously can’t do that. I did send a video message to the team they can play in private. It’s nothing that anybody needs to know publicly.”

The video will be played Friday night at a dinner and reception at the L’Auberge Casino and Hotel.

I say play the video for everybody on the scoreboard,” said Vincent, who was the most valuable player in both the BCS title game victory over Oklahoma in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans and the SEC Championship Game win over Georgia in the 2003 season. “Nick Saban was our head coach. He's always been very grateful to that team and has always had a lot of respect for the LSU program. He talks a lot about how much his wife Terry loved it at LSU. But I understand the fans being upset if they played the video in the stadium.”

Talk about.

“You wouldn’t hear a word Nick was saying over the cacophony of boos, curse words and whiskey bottles hitting the screen,” said LSU fan James Jackson of Shreveport who bought season tickets for the first time in ’03. “Fans might tear down the scoreboard.”

Technically, whiskey is not allowed in Tiger Stadium, and the scoreboards are so high that they are more difficult to get to than are goal posts. “I do think there would be a resounding boo,” Jackson said.

“I don’t think the fans understand,” said Vincent, who led LSU in rushing in 2003 with a freshman record 1,001 yards and thought there would be more national titles to come. “If anyone has a right to be upset with Coach Saban, we do — the players. He left us. But I understand it was a business decision that he made for he and his family. He wanted to go to the NFL. Obviously, it didn’t work out, and he came back to college.”

The ’03 team still means a lot to Saban. Usually a flawless speaker, he stuttered and nearly choked up when talking about it on the SEC teleconference Wednesday.

“Uh, you know, I have a, just uh, you know — I loved that team,” he said. “It was the first team we ever had that had that kind of success. So, um, I keep thinking of different guys. I can’t mention them all. They were just fantastic guys to coach and be with, and I really enjoyed coaching that team.”

Miles coached more than 30 players recruited and signed by Saban to the 2007 BCS title as the Tigers defeated Ohio State in the Superdome.

---