I'll make this point again today…
It's not about the attrition rate; it's about the reasons given to running these players off. When asked why some players were let go Saban said, and I quote, "we run a demanding program here at Alabama and I'm not talking about football".
He's basically saying the players he ran off had nothing to do with ability, but rather off the field issues.
Show me another coach that says things like this that obviously degrades the players that are no longer part of the team. Most coaches say things like "it was in everyone's best interest" or "we came to an agreement". What he has done is make Alabama look better by making these kids look bad... publicly
By doing this the players AND coaches of the team that is looking to pick these kids up automatically think they could be getting a bad apple, not exactly how you want to be viewed the first day on a new campus.
Keep all of that in mind while I make my next point.

Why all of the sudden in Zo guilty of being late for team meetings before fall camp starts? Were there organized team meetings after spring camp? If so, Bama is the only one in America having them.
Did he just not practice hard during spring? If he didn't, why was he still on the team after all practice was over until fall camp?

Did Zo get caught breaking the law, get arrested? Not that ANYONE has seen or heard about.

You see, he was not arrested, was not late for team meetings, and there were no team practices between spring and fall that the coaches can observe.

All of the above is why people outside Bama are taking you to task on this, it's not just about the attrition, it's about degrading the character of the young men trying to get on right foot at another team/school.

At the heart of it all it's a numbers game and Saban had to get to a certain number before fall camp and he chose to do it by making himself and Alabama look better. I hate to speculate, but I would bet the 80 to 90% of the players that were run off would still be on the team if there were not an 85 limit. You see, it’s not about being a “demanding program”, it’s about getting to a certain number. There are double standards in this thing and some coaches lie about it and some avoid the question. Saban chose to lie and say it’s about being demanding. If Cody or Julio missed that same amount of meeting do you think they would be kicked off?

I think we know why Hall and Fanney were let go... they had PUBLIC off the field issues

Sorry, I could not do this through cliff notes…

This post was edited on 8/10/09 at 7:49 pm