re: Nick Saban (2008-2014) vs Kirby Smart (2017-2023)

quote:

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Saban had the ESPN hype machine marketing his team before he even got on campus. I really feel ESPN and the Saban hype helped generate buzz and make it easy for him to turn it around.

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Yea that's not even close to true. Saban's first 18 months at Alabama were a combination of:
- "he's a liar and a scumbag, who would ever send their kid there"
- "he's going to bolt within 3 years for another job anyway"
- "LOL what a waste a money, the guy lost 6 games and lost to ULM"
- "Saban is going to lose 3 games a year most years, look at LSU"

Not until the #1 class, Clemson drubbing and the win in Athens did anybody in the national media start mentioning Alabama as possibly being in the same conversation with Florida and LSU in the near future. There were a whole lot of national media types - mainly those who weren't really college football people and looked at everything from a professional sports point of view - who despised him. And unlike today, those people were the main figures in sports media (pre-twitter, pre-streaming). Kornheiser, Wilbon, Plaschke, Lebatard, etc.