re: What makes Saban so much better at player development than all other coaches?

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You just described about 2 billion Asians.

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But Asians aren't mad about it because....well....there are 2 billion that short.

Im actually a good person to answer this. I used to be in the strength and conditioning field and was involved in the program during the late Shula early Saban era. Also am familiar with a bunch of programs good and bad at different levels(having worked at several before doing something else with my life).

The answer is simple. Saban runs a program like a good company runs its business. Im sure some have read the book "The E-Myth" which talks about running even small businesses like a turn-key big company. This is how Saban runs Alabama. It is a never failing, always consistent, turn-key operation. Ive never seen any other school run anything similar on a consistent basis.

The first year at Bama, Saban went to Tommy Moffitt(whom LSU fans stupidly want to run off) and asked him to come be the strength coach at Bama. He refused but sent Cochran, his assistant, instead. Saban wanted to change the culture immediately and permanently so he instructed Cochran to read the program's creed loudly before every single workout in the weight room(which he did every damn time).

He has a plan and procedure for everything. At other programs countless amounts of time and effort are wasted contemplating decisions and actions that are always pre-made at Alabama. While you and your coaches are debating x and y, having meetings other this and that, Alabama coaches are miles ahead. While your players are waiting on your coaches to figure things out, Bama's players have received hours and hours of more, well organized instruction. While your program is wasting precious amounts of limited time on "changing the culture" Bama never missed a beat and is miles ahead with better athletes and coaches. There is a manual and a procedure for operation and it is followed.

Saban has been at Alabama for over a decade while other teams have run through failed coach after failed coach, having to restart the some old process of "changing culture" year after year and having the same problems of being miles behind. I havent seen anything behind the curtains at UGA but I can only assume Kirby has been the only one able to check his ego enough to fully devote his program to the process enough to get it running at an Alabama level. He was there long enough, and cant deny it works better than anything he can personally come up with.

Ego does more coaches in than anything else and Saban is better at checking his ego than any other coach out there. You may say "bu bu but...ive seen him do this and that argue with coaches..etc etc." Saban had a successful formula of a monstrous front 7 3-4 defense and power rushing attack with game manager QBs. It worked and was working well...yet he scrapped it and adapted as the game did. How many other less successful coaches have rode their ships straight into the ground because they refused to admit their brilliant formula which was once successful couldnt cut it anymore? (looking at you LSU and Auburn) In many ways, Saban is similar to Bear Bryant who also scrapped a system that had won him multiple championships to install the Wishbone in 1971.

So many coaches are so competitive and have such high egos that they cant accept that its the players that must win them games, not their brilliant coaching ability. This is why you see so many "athletes" at QB who have to look over at the sideline to get every single read for them because their coach cant stop trying to play his team like a video game. The best coaches realize they have to coach like hell until gametime...and then let go and let the players do their thing.

Tons of you are gonna say im full of shite...im not. Studying coaching methods and programs was an obsession of mine for a long time and I saw a lot of programs up close and personal. I was most able to really appreciate what Saban did at Alabama when I started my own business...

Hope this helps some of you understand

HGH ?

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i hope every AU fan reads this....i have tried to tell them what has happened to our coach dauber dobynski....no point in repeating because your post says it all, and may be the best that i have ever read on here

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Gus Malzahn's greatest nemesis may be his intellect. I truly believe hes is very smart, maybe the smartest in the SEC. He did some incredible things by going back and adapting some of the early football offenses(which were probably more advanced than today's offenses) to the modern game and dominating with it. He single handedly caused Saban to divert the direction of the Alabama program.

I havent seen much behind the curtains at Auburn, so you Auburn fans know much more than I do but if I had to guess, he is just being too stubborn with personnel and the offense. When the pieces fall together, they can be all but unstoppable but when they arent all there, he apparently is just not gonna adapt. Its my only guess for the roller coaster ride you see at Auburn every few seasons.

Thanks for the inside info. Great post.

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This was mentioned when he alluded to coaches leaving his employ to coach elsewhere, and taking his system of evaluation with them.

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Are you advocating that his “system” works because other coaches under him who left use it and are successful?

Pretty sure that’s not been the case. Other than Smart (who the verdict is still out on) what other coach that came from the Saban tree has seen any real success? I guess you could say Fisher, but really was that his doing or was it that he had a Heisman winning QB? He really hasn’t been that great outside of that year.

I don’t know what Saban is doing there. It’s probably not just one thing. It’s more likely a combination of all the things being mentioned. Unlimited resources, there is no doubt some “fudging of the rules” going on (and yes, every major school does this), great talent evaluation, coaching up already good players, occasional help from refs (I don’t think it’s a conscious act as I’ve explained many times before), etc...

I think it’s all these things rolled into one that has set up a perfect situation to make the most dominant force college football has ever witnessed. I highly doubt that it will be repeated but who knows. Maybe Dabo, if he is crazy enough to take the job immediately after Saban, can do even better.

To be honest, I think the secret to his success is the level of control over the whole Alabama football program that he’s been given. He’s the general. He sets the vision and the direction and expects everyone to work toward them.

I also think this is why he didn’t succeed in the NFL. Had Miami allowed him to run the franchise as he saw fit, I think he’d still be there and have at least two or three Super Bowl rings on his hand.

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Are you advocating that his “system” works because other coaches under him who left use it and are successful?

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A lot of these coaches werent with Saban that long. Do you think youd have a better chance of replicating Amazon's business model if you had been an outside hire executive for a couple of years or someone who started in the warehouse and worked his way up to the top level over a decade(ala Kirby)? Similar situation with replicating the "process" at a different program.

There is nothing super secret about Alabama's program. Its probably the most transparent program in the whole country which is why a nobody like me knows so much about it. Alabama's player evaluation models, strength program, player development/practice manuals are sitting in almost every football program in the country.

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But they also take on the personality of their coach who is an angry little man. So its like watching big strong world class athletes who play with all the rage of a 5'6 man with a 5 inch penis who is angry at the world.

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Sounds like you can empathize.

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What makes Saban so much better at player development than all other coaches?

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MK Ultra mind control.