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This is unprecedented
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:19 am
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:19 am
Never in the history of college football has a legend retired at the top of his game. Saban is coming off an SEC championshipship and playoff appearance. Pretty damn near his peak.
AND
There is NIL
AND
There is a transfer portal
So we are in uncharted waters. Bowden had run the program down a bit before retiring but Jimbo was already on staff.
Paterno ran the program down, wasn't really in charge, and... well, you know that whole mess.
Meyer at Florida and OSU are both close. At Florida he stayed an extra year and that ended up hurting the program. When he left OSU Day was already there.
---
So no one has ever seen this situation. We can't say if DeBoer is doing a good job or a bad job handling this because no one has ever had to do this before.
AND
There is NIL
AND
There is a transfer portal
So we are in uncharted waters. Bowden had run the program down a bit before retiring but Jimbo was already on staff.
Paterno ran the program down, wasn't really in charge, and... well, you know that whole mess.
Meyer at Florida and OSU are both close. At Florida he stayed an extra year and that ended up hurting the program. When he left OSU Day was already there.
---
So no one has ever seen this situation. We can't say if DeBoer is doing a good job or a bad job handling this because no one has ever had to do this before.
4
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:22 am to JIB
Y’all just need to hold your nose and watch. It’ll probably look ugly at first compared to what everyone wants, but gotta let coach do his thing.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:24 am to bamabenny
quote:
Y’all just need to hold your nose and watch. It’ll probably look ugly at first compared to what everyone wants, but gotta let coach do his thing.
That’s all we can do. Maybe we get a reset on fair weather fans.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:27 am to Alfie Solomons
quote:
Maybe we get a reset on fair weather fans
Please Jesus, please1
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:29 am to Alfie Solomons
Can definitely see it thinning the herd. If I survived the Era of Mikes, I will persevere this too.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:30 am to JIB
We just went from the GOAT to the AP coach of the year who was in the natty
You’re right, this has never happened before. And it’s exciting
You’re right, this has never happened before. And it’s exciting
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:30 am to bamabenny
If we keep a lot of the roster together for year 1 I completely disagree. This team could look great early on. It’ll be down the road with recruiting when or if there’s any fallout.
This post was edited on 1/13/24 at 11:30 am
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:30 am to JIB
quote:
Never in the history of college football has a legend retired at the top of his game.
Tom Osborne was still winning at Nebraska when he retired. In his five final seasons dude was 60-3. If that's not top of his game, idk what is.
He also replaced a dude that won 101 games in 11 years at Nebraska, Bob Devaney. He won consecutive titles in '70 and '71. He retired after the '72 season. Osborne is a legend. Osborne won a seat in Congress after he retired as a coach and very nearly won the governorship after that.
This can be done. It just has to be the right guy. There's no reason why DeBoer can't win and win big at BAMA.
This post was edited on 1/13/24 at 11:35 am
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:31 am to JojoTide
Man, a week ago we had no idea what was about to happen. Everything happened so fast...still seems like it's not real.
Nick Saban is not the Alabama football coach. I'm still processing.
Nick Saban is not the Alabama football coach. I'm still processing.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:36 am to Gideon Swashbuckler
quote:
Tom Osborne was still winning at Nebraska when he retired. In his five final seasons dude was 60-3. If that's not top of his game, idk what is.
He also replaced a dude that won 101 games in 11 years at Nebraska, Bob Devaney. He won consecutive titles in '70 and '71. He retired after the '72 season. Osborne is a legend. Osborne won a seat in Congress after he retired as a coach and very nearly won the governorship after that.
This can be done. It just has to be the right guy. There's no reason why DeBoer can't win and win big at BAMA.
You're right, but I wasn't going back that far.
But in both of those cases their replacement was already on staff and had been for years.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:42 am to JIB
quote:
You're right, but I wasn't going back that far.
But in both of those cases their replacement was already on staff and had been for years.
Les Miles did ok at lsu after Saban. He'd have won at least one more title if not for Saban being at BAMA.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:42 am to HighTide_ATL
quote:
We just went from the GOAT to the AP coach of the year who was in the natty
You’re right, this has never happened before. And it’s exciting
This is the only reasonable perspective anyone can take. Alabama fan or not.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:51 am to Gideon Swashbuckler
quote:
Tom Osborne was still winning at Nebraska when he retired. In his five final seasons dude was 60-3. If that's not top of his game, idk what is.
He also replaced a dude that won 101 games in 11 years at Nebraska, Bob Devaney. He won consecutive titles in '70 and '71. He retired after the '72 season. Osborne is a legend. Osborne won a seat in Congress after he retired as a coach and very nearly won the governorship after that.
This can be done. It just has to be the right guy. There's no reason why DeBoer can't win and win big at BAMA.
There really isn't.
Old style, hardcore recruiting isn't really the thing any longer. Winning the living room is about NIL money these days and not much else. Alabama is fortunate to be filthy with it.
Say the obligatory yada, yada, yada's and blah, blah, blah's about academics and developing young men or whatever other dumb shite, and then after all that and a plate of homemade fried chicken, get down to the nitty gritty of what really matters.
NIL, for all it's faults offers succinct clarity that the game of recruiting has never had before.
This post was edited on 1/13/24 at 11:52 am
Posted on 1/13/24 at 11:54 am to JIB
Not sure how old you are but I’ve witnessed nine coaching changes at Bama in my lifetime, including the First GOAT Coach Bryant to Perkins. The one constant result: Bama always eventually makes it back to the top of college football. I expect nothing less this time.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 12:16 pm to Chad4Bama
quote:
Man, a week ago we had no idea what was about to happen. Everything happened so fast...still seems like it's not real.
Nick Saban is not the Alabama football coach. I'm still processing.
Agreed.
But personally, I love it. Compared to the buildup many expected, Saban was our head coach (5) days ago when Washington played Michigan for the national championship.
I wonder how many Bama fans would have tuned in knowing the outcome of this week.
The program is in great shape for a change in leadership. Perhaps not quite the same as what happened when Ryan Day took over tOSU but the new blood is exciting. There will be plenty of hiccups but but nothing like in the past, I hope.
Oh, and now more than ever, it will be time to tune-out the noise coming from other sources.
This post was edited on 1/13/24 at 12:20 pm
Posted on 1/13/24 at 12:16 pm to Gideon Swashbuckler
quote:
Tom Osborne was still winning at Nebraska when he retired. In his five final seasons dude was 60-3. If that's not top of his game, idk what is.
He also replaced a dude that won 101 games in 11 years at Nebraska, Bob Devaney. He won consecutive titles in '70 and '71. He retired after the '72 season. Osborne is a legend. Osborne won a seat in Congress after he retired as a coach and very nearly won the governorship after that.
This can be done. It just has to be the right guy. There's no reason why DeBoer can't win and win big at BAMA.
See this right is where we all should be! I really believe we hired the best candidate available and there is no reason to believe he can't build something amazing from the foundation that Saban has already placed here. Having said that, my only true concern other than continuity is defensive coaching. I dont know any of his guys, and lets face it,they're going to have to be better in this conference than they were at Washington to sustain success! I do feel optimistic about it all though.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 12:31 pm to prattalumni
I believe recruiting is still important even with NIL and the portal. Alabama high school coaches have gone on recorded saying they is a wait and see with DeBoer. I think Harsin stung some of them. DeBoer needs to hit the ground running to develop relationships with the southern high school coaches. I did see he brought his right hand guy that evaluates players with him, they call him the general manager.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 12:38 pm to bamabenny
quote:
Y’all just need to hold your nose and watch. It’ll probably look ugly at first compared to what everyone wants, but gotta let coach do his thing.
100% agree.
The whole "back to reality" thing rings very true right now. Bama fans are the best, idgaf. But we can be impatient. Remember Saban getting to town preaching lowering expectations. He couldn't hold ours low for very long, understandably... but we all need to get behind DeBoer, and full send.
Don't be these crazy arse LSU fans who are half in / half out the entire time.
He has to install a WHOLE new system. We have to just recalibrate what we know about the product on the field.
We are Bama because of our fans.
Nick Saban ain't Alabama. The University ain't Alabama. Bear Bryant was pretty close to Bama... but the fans ARE Alabama. The whole thing revolves around our passion, because that passion drives sales. We are the heart.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 12:40 pm to Syd
quote:
I believe recruiting is still important even with NIL and the portal. Alabama high school coaches have gone on recorded saying they is a wait and see with DeBoer. I think Harsin stung some of them. DeBoer needs to hit the ground running to develop relationships with the southern high school coaches. I did see he brought his right hand guy that evaluates players with him, they call him the general manager.
You are definitely correct here. It will be an uphill hurdle, so this is something to watch, nay I say Pray about..lol. I think the more comfortable he feels at Tuscaloosa, the more we see those relationships blossom.
Posted on 1/13/24 at 12:59 pm to prattalumni
I believe DeBoer can win at BAMA. I think he's the best coach that BAMA could've hired. Why hire Lanning or Sark when you can hire the guy that beat those two with less talented teams?
I think he'll do well in recruiting. He's a small town guy that's probably more conservative than even Saban is. Idk how much politics matters in recruiting, but I believe he has what it takes to build relationships with high school coaches in the southeast. His competition for in-state recruiting is a slimeball. I believe DeBoer is a high integrity guy that wants to prove he's capable, and I'll take well-coached, hungry 3 and 4 star players over 5 star primadonnas every time.
What I'm afraid of is BAMA doing to DeBoer what Nebraska did to Solich, because they've never recovered and Solich won enough at Ohio to get the field named after him. Will DeBoer have the field named after him? No. But he has what it takes to win.
DeBoer ain't Saban, but as long as he competes for championships, and doesn’t tarnish the school's legacy, I'll have no problem with him. Especially if he can continue the tradition of beating tenner, barn, uga, and lsu.
If he coaches BAMA 20 years, which would mean he'd have to be consistently great and not interested in the NFL, he'd be younger than Saban is now. I think he outlasts every coach in the SEC. Call me crazy, but I think this hire was a homerun.
Edit: just watched the presser. This is the right guy.
I think he'll do well in recruiting. He's a small town guy that's probably more conservative than even Saban is. Idk how much politics matters in recruiting, but I believe he has what it takes to build relationships with high school coaches in the southeast. His competition for in-state recruiting is a slimeball. I believe DeBoer is a high integrity guy that wants to prove he's capable, and I'll take well-coached, hungry 3 and 4 star players over 5 star primadonnas every time.
What I'm afraid of is BAMA doing to DeBoer what Nebraska did to Solich, because they've never recovered and Solich won enough at Ohio to get the field named after him. Will DeBoer have the field named after him? No. But he has what it takes to win.
DeBoer ain't Saban, but as long as he competes for championships, and doesn’t tarnish the school's legacy, I'll have no problem with him. Especially if he can continue the tradition of beating tenner, barn, uga, and lsu.
If he coaches BAMA 20 years, which would mean he'd have to be consistently great and not interested in the NFL, he'd be younger than Saban is now. I think he outlasts every coach in the SEC. Call me crazy, but I think this hire was a homerun.
Edit: just watched the presser. This is the right guy.
This post was edited on 1/13/24 at 1:34 pm
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