Saban revisited
Today we look back and get a little bit different perspective on Nick Saban.
I've talked to a lot of former Saban players over the years, and not all of them had flattering things to say about him. A lot of people didn't like him at MSU -- and teed off when he left. But his inner circle is fierce in its defense of him, and the fact is, he has helped MSU and a lot of those people over the years. The Sedrick Irvin example is telling, and a counter to what some believe of Saban.
"I think he’s misunderstood," Tom Izzo said. "Did he earn some of that? Yeah. Did he deserve some of that? Yeah. But he didn’t get through the dog days, you know? He was just coming out of it. What would he have been like in the next five years?”
We'll never know, but now that the MSU program is in a strong position again, perhaps everyone can be happy friends and move forward. All together now, group hug.
Quotes from the cutting room floor:
Izzo: “He was a Michigan kind of guy, really. I mean, we laugh, I was a Yooper, well he was a hillbilly. I mean he’s from West Virginia, I’m from Iron Mountain, what’s the difference, you know? And in a way, I think that’s why he was right for this place. He’s a blue-collar guy in a blue-collar place. ... He’s a (major) hillbilly. He ain’t just a regular one. I mean the towns he’s from, Iron Mountain would be a big city.”
Saban on Irvin: “I always liked Sedrick. He probably should not have gone in the draft to go in the fourth round. We didn’t agree on that situation. But I was always there for him. I’m always trying to help the players that played for us.”
Saban on Izzo: “We worked hard together to recruit players. We put a dent in the whole recruiting against Michigan thing. We’re always in touch. Not every week, but we talk and most of the time when one of us has a crisis.”
Irvin (who recently lost his job at Memphis after one year) on Saban: "I respect the guy to the point where I watched everything he was doing, top to bottom, to run that Alabama program.”
Mark Dantonio on Saban's influence: "I learned an enormous amount of football, organization, etc., etc., recruiting, the whole process of what we do – so many of the things we do come from my past experiences with coaches, whether it be Jim Tressel, Nick Saban, Earle Bruce, Glen Mason or Jim Young. Or my college football coaches. So from that standpoint, the things that I’ve learned from him, very appreciative. I think the relationship is one of respect on my end. You know, I’d characterize him as a friend but I have about six or seven close guys that I talk to all the time. They’re ones that grew up with me in the coaching profession. Bobby Stoops or even a Jim Tressel, who was an assistant when I was a graduate assistant. But it’s definitely a relationship built on respect.”
Izzo on Saban and Merritt Norvell not getting along: "That hurt him, because he’s a guy that, his circle might be small but the people in his circle have got to be the right people. The AD has got to be the right person.”
Izzo again: “George was warmer and fuzzier in a lot of ways, but I don’t think people appreciated Nick. I appreciated him as a great coach, and a great hirer, and somebody who held everybody accountable, whether it be the AD, whether it be the trainer, whether it be the players, whether it be the coaches. It’s like players. Sometimes they don’t want to go where someone’s harder on them, but do you appreciate it later, or do you have success later?”
Izzo again: “Remember when all the assistants stayed with Bobby? Who’d Nick end up hiring? Bobby and Charlie (Baggett). You’ve got to give him something there, too. There’s something about him that’s hard and callous, but there’s something about him that’s genuine and big.”
More from Izzo on Saban being hard on people: “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. But what’s funny to me, if you interviewed my assistants, they think I’m hard on them. I mean, Crean, we argued all the time. But what happens is, even though he’s arguing with all those people, I mean somebody’s calling Nick Saban on these guys getting jobs. And to take a Bobby and a Charlie back, I mean, something’s right.”
Izzo again: “Nick backed other programs. He loved Jacquie Joseph, he loved baseball because he played it. He loved basketball. He was a big advocate for the other sports.”
And one more from Izzo: “The guy would raise money and stand behind things. The guy was, he couldn’t have been a good hirer, he had to be one of the best ever, because so many of his guys have moved on to the NFL or head coaching jobs.”
Just so we're clear here. Izzo = pro-Saban. My question to you is, from what's been said here and in the story, do you feel differently at all about Saban? The Pope could endorse him and some wouldn't budge. Some have always appreciated what he did for MSU. Maybe you just don't care. But I'm sure you feel the same way as everyone in the current MSU camp -- eager to beat him.
“We want to win this for coach," Jerel Worthy said. "The coach Saban thing, it doesn’t affect me, it affects the coaching staff. But it’s a little bit of a grudge thing because everybody wants to have the last laugh in the end.”
Two things today for fans in Orlando. At 11 a.m., the Orlando Citrus Parade in downtown Orlando. The MSU and Alabama bands will take part. More than 50,000 fans are expected, and the route is from Orange and Robinson, south toward city hall, then looping back up to finish at Lake Eola Park. If that means anything to you. Just go and look for the floats. Grand marshal? Daunte Culpepper, of course!
And later, MSU has its pep rally at 5:45 p.m. at Pointe Orlando, 9101 International Drive. Dantonio and many others will be in attendance.
If you're in Michigan, well, I hear it's going to hit the 40s today. So that's good.
Later today, we'll get coordinators for both teams, plus quarterbacks and star linebackers. If anything newsworthy comes of the hourlong news conference, it'll be here.
Finally, no chat today, it has been moved to 11 a.m. Saturday, from Citrus Bowl Stadium. Make sure the Gatorade is cold.
AFTERNOON UPDATE: Nothing especially noteworthy at the Alabama and MSU news conferences. Alabama is very impressed with Kirk Cousins. Cousins says the shoulder and ankle that have been bothering him since Oct. 16 feel good. Jim McElwain spoke warmly of his time in East Lansing. And the MSU presser actually ended early when the questions stopped . For those of you going to the pep rally, report back here, I'll be writing in the hotel room while photographer Rod Sanford gets some shots of it.
