re: I'm not liking how Saban has been talking today...

Just listening to reports yesterday that Pruitt fired his D-line coach at halftime of the Kentucky game gives me great pause. Between that and continuing to march a flawed product back out on the field at QB, how much confidence do they still have in Pruitt? Their best defensive player is tweeting out a picture of the backup QB? Pruitt has put himself in a position where he may well be coaching a team on the brink and now has to spend practice time as a D-line coach rather than CEO? And here comes BAMA.

This dude should have the weight of the world on him this week.

quote:

---

how much confidence do they still have in Pruitt?

---

I think he probably needs to beat us or Florida to keep his job. If they get blown out in both he's gone.

quote:

---

think he probably needs to beat us or Florida to keep his job. If they get blown out in both he's gone.

---

You may be right but I just don’t see them canning him in his 3rd year after just extending him for two years with a raise . The last search was a disaster

quote:

---

You may be right but I just don’t see them canning him in his 3rd year after just extending him for two years with a raise . The last search was a disaster

---

Are they even finished paying Butch? In the last decade, they have had multiple head coaches on the payroll, simultaneously. A brand new contract for Pruitt at over 4 mil seems like the same corner the Barn has put themselves in. And they did it in a COVID year when Pruitt was already taking less money by his own volition.

I agree. The income losses are huge.

So there's probably a higher chance of having to pay a lot of the buyout for a fired coach. Fewer shools firing means fewer schools hiring replacements. The hiring schools will pay them as little as possible by covering most of their early salary via their buyout income. Coaching changes also typically have a major adverse impact on recruiting for a couple of cycles.

The pandemic has also created more difficulties, such as no spring practice, some quaratines and a tougher schedule.

And given UT's recent HC searches and hires, Idk if they can attract anyone they're confident is a significant upgrade.

Unless the wheels totally fall off, I think UT will keep Pruitt at least 1-2 more years. I think UT and Phil will give Pruitt enough time to show what results he can achieve with a roster totally filled with his recruits.

quote:

---

I’m fully prepared for Guantanamo to do his best Steven Garcia impersonation.

---

fify.

quote:

---

quote:
I’m fully prepared for Guantanamo to do his best Steven Garcia impersonation.



fify.

---

If you mean "2010 vs. Alabama Steven Garcia" then yes, otherwise he was arse.

quote:

---

Is there any other Steven Garcia that's relevant?

Maybe we can have someone take Gitmo out the night before and get him liquored up.

---

I wouldn't sweat it. The dude, the last 2 games, has been playing more like Jerry Gacia.

quote:

---

He said he was glad that he wasnt there because practice didnt look good.

---

Nah.

Everything Nick Saban said after testing positive for COVID-19 (BOL)

quote:

---

On the focus of the players in practice...

"I didn't see anything different about practice. I got to see a lot more because when you look at it wide-angle you see a lot more than when you're just standing on the field, but I thought the intensity was good, the focus was good, the players were trying to get it right. So I didn't really see anything any different. I can tell you, we've had a lot worse practices when I'm there, so maybe it was a good thing that I wasn't there." 

---

Everything Nick Saban said on Monday of Tennessee game week (BOL)

quote:

---

ON PLAYERS STAYING HUMBLE AFTER EMOTIONAL WIN...

“I really don’t know if they can handle it, so we’ll see if they can handle it. I haven’t seen them since the game. We’ll see them at 1:30 today, and we’ll see how they work this week and how they play in the game. I don’t know how they’re gonna handle it. Hypothetical questions, I don’t have a crystal ball. I hope they have enough maturity to handle it the way they need to, but we won’t know until we practice all week and until we see how they play in the game.”

---

Everything Nick Saban said on Wednesday of Tennessee game week (BOL)

quote:

---

Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke to reporters via Zoom following Wednesday's practice session. Below is everything he said in his final press conference of Tennessee week. 

"I think this week every player, every team, always has to make a decision on how they want to handle success. Some teams handle success well. Some teams can only respond when something bad happens, which is a little more like human nature. And hopefully, we're trying to get our players to build on the momentum that we created in what we did last week and continue to work hard so that we can continue to play well in the future.

"But to do that, you've got to be able to handle success. You can't be casual about your approach. You've got to prepare. You've got to work hard. You've got to go out and earn it. You've got to play every play, and you've got to do a little extra sometimes to make that happen, in terms of your preparation.

"I think it's especially important to have this kind of focus in rivalry games because I don't think records really mean that much. I think how players perform, how they prepare, will affect how they perform, and that's really important. And a lot of folks, this game means a lot to. It means a lot to me. And I want our players to be ready to go and ready to play well.

"Right mentality is really, really important, especially this time of year. Everybody gets a little banged up, beat up. Makes it a little more difficult to sustain, but we have to have the right mindset to be able to do that." 

On how to gauge how a team handles success...

"I think you look at every individual player. How does every individual player find a way to sustain and grind through and have the mental toughness to be able to continue to stay focused on preparation, study, doing the things they need to do. Some players do it well, some players don't. Older players that are more experienced maybe understand it a little better. But we need to get the critical mass of people on our team being able to do that. Everybody that has a role has to be responsible for that role, and players that are backup players have to know that they're one play away from being in the role. So they have to be prepared and ready to go. So I don't really have a gauge. I don't have a meter. We look at different individuals differently and we're trying to get the critical mass of our team to be in the right spot when it comes to the disposition they have about improving throughout the season."

---