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Spurrier or Saban?
Posted on 5/16/12 at 12:18 am
Posted on 5/16/12 at 12:18 am
Which coach has made more of an impact in the SEC?
Spurrier changed the game with his air attacking offense and gave defensive coordinators fits. Also won a lot of conference titles during the Spurrier era and made Florida into quite a football giant in the 90's. Spurrier has also started to show some success with USCe.
Saban came in making some noise at LSU and took them from a mediocre program to an NC and woke up the sleeping giant that is LSU. Saban, along with Spurrier has been successful at 2 different SEC schools. I don't think I need to list out Saban's accomplishments at Alabama
Honestly, I think Spurrier has made the most impact. The offense that he brought to the SEC was revolutionary at the time and made him very successful. Florida came in and started throwing the ball all over the place and embarrassing teams beating them by 40+ points.
Any other opinions?
Spurrier changed the game with his air attacking offense and gave defensive coordinators fits. Also won a lot of conference titles during the Spurrier era and made Florida into quite a football giant in the 90's. Spurrier has also started to show some success with USCe.
Saban came in making some noise at LSU and took them from a mediocre program to an NC and woke up the sleeping giant that is LSU. Saban, along with Spurrier has been successful at 2 different SEC schools. I don't think I need to list out Saban's accomplishments at Alabama
Honestly, I think Spurrier has made the most impact. The offense that he brought to the SEC was revolutionary at the time and made him very successful. Florida came in and started throwing the ball all over the place and embarrassing teams beating them by 40+ points.
Any other opinions?
12
Posted on 5/16/12 at 12:23 am to mwlewis
Spurrier. He really opened the gateway to the SEC having 4 or 5 outstanding teams in one year (whoever they may be). He upped the ante so that everyone else had to step up or be left behind....all IMO.
This post was edited on 5/16/12 at 12:57 am
Posted on 5/16/12 at 12:57 am to mwlewis
Spurrier and it's not even close
Posted on 5/16/12 at 12:58 am to TigerBait2008
Derrek Dooley!
/thread.
/thread.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:01 am to mwlewis
Saban. Spurrier didn't really improve the SEC's reputation nationally. The SEC was mediocre for most of his tenure at Florida and his non-conference record was very underwhelming (Didn't play any non-conference games outside the state of Florida after 1991, had a pedestrian 6-5 bowl record at Florida, was 5-8 against Bowden, etc...). The SEC is considered the strongest conference in large part to Saban with his national championship wins against Texas and Oklahoma and the way he built up two different SEC programs into national powerhouses. Take away Saban and LSU doesn't win national championships in '03 and '07 and Bama doesn't win it all in '09 and '11. Spurrier didn't make that kind of impact on a national scale.
This post was edited on 5/16/12 at 1:13 am
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:10 am to Unbiased Bama Fan
Good point UBF but....if Spurrier didn't keep SEC on the map after Bryants retirement then a bit later a short revival under Stallings...would Saban have come? I don't know if that can really be answered.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:14 am to dbt_Geaux_Tigers_196
quote:
Good point UBF but....if Spurrier didn't keep SEC on the map after Bryants retirement then a bit later a short revival under Stallings...would Saban have come? I don't know if that can really be answered.
Good point that is the sticking point with me. The thing is, Saban is far from being done (at least, I hope not). Until both histories are done, it is hard to tell. If Saban has sustained success until retirement, then I think they will be even, if Saban isn't up. And Spurrier might get something going at USC. Who knows. But right now, I'm leaning Spurrier.
This post was edited on 5/16/12 at 1:19 am
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:18 am to mwlewis
quote:
The offense that he brought to the SEC was revolutionary at the time
Weren't mid majors at that time running a similar type of offense?
I do know that the SEC at that time simply wasn't exactly a "throwing" league, so it was kinda easy for Spurrier to dominate.
This post was edited on 5/16/12 at 1:19 am
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:19 am to dbt_Geaux_Tigers_196
quote:
if Spurrier didn't keep SEC on the map after Bryants retirement then a bit later a short revival under Stallings...would Saban have come?
I don't think Saban was interested in LSU because they were in the same conference as Florida. I think he was interested in the job because they were located in a talent-rich state with zero in-state competition. Saban probably would have jumped ship to LSU if they were in the Big 12 or ACC.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:19 am to Dodgson
quote:
And Spurrier might get something going at USC
If Spurrier wins a BCS NC at SCar he goes to the front of the class in my book. Not a hack on Gamecocks but their history is what it is. If he wins CCG at SCar that in itself is tremendous (which he may well do). But regarding impact on SEC...that's a really tough question.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:22 am to mwlewis
quote:
The offense that he brought to the SEC was revolutionary at the time
Don Coryell, Lavell Edwards
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:29 am to c on z
quote:
I do know that the SEC at that time simply wasn't exactly a "throwing" league, so it was kinda easy for Spurrier to dominate.
That combined with some horrific coaching adversaries in the conference. Ray Goff, Curley Hallman, Mike Dubose,and Brad Scott were some of the worst coaching hires in the history of the SEC. The competition Saban had to face is in a completely different league than what Spurrier had to go up against. Would '90s Spurrier at Florida have won six conference titles coaching in the same league as Meyer, Miles, Tuberville, Petrino, Richt, (older) Spurrier, Chizik, Mullen, Brooks, etc...? I sincerely doubt it.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:33 am to Unbiased Bama Fan
quote:
The competition Saban had to face is in a completely different league than what Spurrier had to go up against.
Another good point, but that is hard to quantify (besides six straight NC's, but maybe other teams in other conferences are worse). Although, I do believe it.
This post was edited on 5/16/12 at 1:35 am
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:35 am to Unbiased Bama Fan
After
Zero from 33 - 90, 6 from 91 - 2000, pretty friggin amazing though.....just an aside.
quote:
Would '90s Spurrier at Florida have won six conference titles
Zero from 33 - 90, 6 from 91 - 2000, pretty friggin amazing though.....just an aside.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:54 am to dbt_Geaux_Tigers_196
quote:
Zero from 33 - 90, 6 from 91 - 2000, pretty friggin amazing though.....just an aside.
From 1983-1985, Florida had three consecutive top 10 finishes and were a national powerhouse. They throttled the eventual national champion Miami Hurricanes 28-3 in 1983, won a conference title that was later vacated and had what a lot of people thought was the best team in the country in 1984, and finished in the top 5 in the AP poll in 1985. Obviously, they were cheating during that time and got hammered by the NCAA which led to their struggles in the late '80s but it wasn't like Spurrier took over a Florida program that had NO history of winning. 1980s Florida were certainly a much better program than what Bama was in the '00s or LSU in the '90s.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 1:58 am to Unbiased Bama Fan
Oh I'm well aware of UF in the 80's, I just can't get past the 100+ infractions man, seriously.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 2:01 am to Unbiased Bama Fan
quote:Didn't FSU finish every year ranked inside the top 5 in the 90s?
was 5-8 against Bowden
Posted on 5/16/12 at 2:04 am to joeyb147
quote:
Didn't FSU finish every year ranked inside the top 5 in the 90s?
without googling 87 - 02 I think. I'm sure that is very close.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 2:11 am to joeyb147
quote:
Didn't FSU finish every year ranked inside the top 5 in the 90s?
Yes but that's the kind of competition Saban has had to deal with every year since he's been in the SEC and he has still managed to win three national championships and doesn't have a losing record against any SEC team since he took over at LSU in 2000. Saban has done very well against elite competition while Spurrier was less than great against the top teams even at his peak.
Posted on 5/16/12 at 2:18 am to Unbiased Bama Fan
quote:
Yes but that's the kind of competition Saban has had to deal with every year since he's been in the SEC
No team has finished in the top 5 every year since Saban has been at bama.
UF twice.
Arky once.
LSU twice.
Auburn once.
UGA once.
FSU was the winningest program in the entire country while Spurrier was at UF, losing only 19 games in 12 years.
This post was edited on 5/16/12 at 2:20 am
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