re: Did Destiny bring Nick Saban to Alabama?

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Rohan Gravy

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He was a miserable failure in the NFL as a HC

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He actually did quite well considering the mess he inherited. He took a 4-12 team and went 9-7 garnering COY consideration. The next year his defense finished number 4 in the NFL, but because he was left with an injured Culpepper, Cleo Lemon and Joey Harrington as QBs, he went 6-10. He beat SB runner-up Chicago something like 33-14 and shutout NE. That 2006 game was the last shutout NE and Brady have suffered. The Patriots admin and fans were very paranoid regarding Saban and were greatly relieved when he left. Miami/WH/fans/media wanted him to remain badly - that's why the great animosity by their media and fanbase. The year after he left they went 1-15. So, the 2 years before and after Saban, Miami was 5-27, his 2 years in between 15-17 and COY candidate. He was a good and successful NFL HC. Who knows if he would have been great?

Contrary to popular opinion, Saban liked the NFL players and he and his wife loved Huizenga. But WH allowed Nick to leave because he saw that his heart was more in college than the NFL. (You can see that from WH's public comments at the time.) Saban didn't leave because he was a failure or because he hated the NFL. There were 2 primary reasons: he loved the college game because of the effect a HC has on his players at that time in their life as opposed to the older NFL players; he loved the much greater control he had over his roster selection. I.e., recruiting vs drafting and FAs, especially since he did not have total control.