News Article: How it Went Down, CNS's Decision, Deboer's Hire

[Bamabuzzard]

When a player sees other players on various teams getting loads of moolah, and some showing off a Lambo, it's hard to blame them for asking, "How much can I get?" And in this new age of NIL, I don't see that as a problem. I'm pretty sure Bama players aren't the only ones asking. The problem is what a player does with the answer they get from their coach. This is where character flaws and bad attitudes rear their heads, if they don't like those answers. Add a wide open portal, and it's an issue proponents of NIL didn't see coming. It's a huge problem the NCAA and conference leaders need to address. I bet there's a lot of head coaches saying, "Thank you!" to Coach Saban for his comments.

We could debate the argument "we can't blame them" but we can blame adults in the room for not knowing how the lions share of athletes would respond and act when given access to things that to be honest, their minds and maturity simply aren't ready for. That's the adults fault. Yet here we are with no answer to bring any form of stability to the game.

 

[BamaMoon]

We could debate the argument "we can't blame them" but we can blame adults in the room for not knowing how the lions share of athletes would respond and act when given access to things that to be honest, their minds and maturity simply aren't ready for. That's the adults fault. Yet here we are with no answer to bring any form of stability to the game.

I agree, it's the "adults" fault. Lots of comments about "participating trophies" and how that's impacted our youth culture.

But when culture affirms everybody deserves the same accolades OR when kids are told they can be "anything/anybody" they want to be it's a failure of responsibility.

Without getting off the rails, compare the generation that's called the "greatest" who understood you work for what you get and you have to wait to get rewarded after you've actually done something to this new generation who believe "belief" is "reality" and it makes sense a young player who's got nothing but a "star rating" from the HS career believing he deserves to makes millions before they've done one thing on the college level.

That's what CNS believed: NIL is earned AFTER you establish your "NIL" on the field.

 

[lowend]

Maybe this is that the "anxiety" we've been hearing about for the past few years is...players are "anxious" about when they're going to get their bag and not performing well.

 

[CoolBreeze]

Interesting piece:

Greg Byrne explains why he rightly avoided the Nick Saban coaching tree in finding Alabama’s replacement

Greg Byrne had to replace Nick Saban, and Alabama's AD made the wise decision to go outside the legendary coach's tree in hiring Kalen DeBoer.

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

 

[BamaMoon]

Interesting piece:

Greg Byrne explains why he rightly avoided the Nick Saban coaching tree in finding Alabama’s replacement

Greg Byrne had to replace Nick Saban, and Alabama's AD made the wise decision to go outside the legendary coach's tree in hiring Kalen DeBoer.

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

This tracks with a post I made in the spring practice thread about CKD following the long, successful tenure of CNS. CKD, first and foremost, has to be comfortable with who HE is and still be able to respect and embrace the things CNS implemented that he believes still works.

It's a delicate balance, but I agree 100% with Byrne's decision that it would be better to hire from outside CNS's coaching tree. FWIW, I've said this multiple times the last few years when we'd discuss who might follow CNS.

When I followed one long term minister of over 40 years, I met with the church leaders for an interview and they asked me to tell them more about me and I began by saying, "Hi, I"m (my name) and I'm not (name of man I was replacing)." They understood exactly what I meant: "i'm not here to try to be somebody else."

 

[davefrat]

Apparently the Saban way was becoming less and less effective as years went on.

Accordingly, it makes complete sense that Byrne was looking for something different instead of bringing in someone who would ostensibly attempt to keep the Saban way in place.

If it wasn't working for the man himself, it probably wasn't going to work for a surrogate.

 

[CoolBreeze]

Apparently the Saban way was becoming less and less effective as years went on.

Accordingly, it makes complete sense that Byrne was looking for something different instead of bringing in someone who would ostensibly attempt to keep the Saban way in place.

If it wasn't working for the man himself, it probably wasn't going to work for a surrogate.

I think the 90% of the Saban way will work for the remainder of existence. But times have changed and so have the kids so you have to innovate and play to that dynamic...music at practice, major social media usage, etc. Coach KD is the perfect replacement to take the baton and take us into the next stretch of history.

 

[twofbyc]

The first year my son played baseball at 8 years old his team went 2-16. We had a team party and then they handed out trophies to all the boys. My first thought was why are they getting trophies for finishing last. This was almost 30 years ago so it has been going on for a long time.

We never finished out of the money - don’t know if kids on teams that finished out of it got trophies or not. They used to give letters in HS for playing varsity sports, win or lose - same thing, in a way. Members of the team should get some memento for the effort and being part of a team; not everyone can be.
But it has gone overboard; it’s those on the teams finishing last expecting to get the same treatment as those on the teams winning it all. It can’t be the same - that’s what spawns adulated mediocrity.

 

[twofbyc]

We could debate the argument "we can't blame them" but we can blame adults in the room for not knowing how the lions share of athletes would respond and act when given access to things that to be honest, their minds and maturity simply aren't ready for. That's the adults fault. Yet here we are with no answer to bring any form of stability to the game.

You could count up all the socioeconomically mature 18 year olds in the country, capable of handling 500-1,000,000 dollars a year responsibly, and I’d bet the farm the ones who would be 4-5 star football players would fit in a limo.
It’s simply numbers - the overwhelming majority, I’m talking 99%, would flounder badly without QUALIFIED adult guidance. Even grown adults would - look at the number of lottery winners who have lost it all.
In this day and age, where style and show are far more desirable than sense and substance, it’s even harder.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Apparently the Saban way was becoming less and less effective as years went on.

Accordingly, it makes complete sense that Byrne was looking for something different instead of bringing in someone who would ostensibly attempt to keep the Saban way in place.

If it wasn't working for the man himself, it probably wasn't going to work for a surrogate.

I'm surprised "his way" worked as long as it did. You can talk to A LOT of coaches (regardless of the sport and level of play) and they'll tell you, you cannot coach kids like you could 20-30 years ago. They'll quit on you in the blink of an eye. So coaches have to adapt to how today's athletes respond and find a happy medium between connecting with them and accomplishing what they need to accomplish. It's not an easy job.

 

[CoolBreeze]

I'm surprised "his way" worked as long as it did. You can talk to A LOT of coaches (regardless of the sport and level of play) and they'll tell you, you cannot coach kids like you could 20-30 years ago. They'll quit on you in the blink of an eye. So coaches have to adapt to how today's athletes respond and find a happy medium between connecting with them and accomplishing what they need to accomplish. It's not an easy job.

The 6 National Championship rings and "GOAT" tag will always attract a lot of kids but the ones who stay and stick it out are more of the mature, business decision type players smart enough to see the long term. That is true for assistant coaches as well.

 

[dWarriors88]

Reading through this thread just reminds me I really miss the late 2000's and early 2010's.

 

[Probius]

NIL started on July 1 2021 so Saban coached 3 seasons after NIL started (2021, 2022, 2023) and it was the only 3 year drought without a NC for him at Bama. Now one could say we had some below average Coordinators in that stretch (Golding , BoB) but I have to believe that player attitudes had something to do with the drought. It's possible the OC and DC had some bad game plans but it could be the players just weren't dedicated enough to learn the concepts the coaches were trying to teach them.

Bama still won 2 SEC championships and was an injury or two away from winning the national championship during this three year run. Bama from '21 to '23 was comparable to Bama from '15 to '19.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

His reasons for going are multi-faceted. As an aging man, his body didn’t recover from the stress of the job as it once had. His body didn’t have the stamina it once had. His ability to get quality assistants had become an issue because of his age. Guys, potential assistants and players wanted assurances he was going to be there 3-4 years down the road. Large numbers of players were no longer buying into his Process and were all about ME and $$$ and it was obviously getting harder to get some of the more elite talent to buy in and do what he wanted them to within the TEAM concept because they all wanted theirs and they wanted it now. Now how much each of these particular things contributed to the decision that was made, is anyone’s guess. Personally, I feel like the hiring of assistants was the proverbial straw on the camel’s back. Everything I’ve read says he was undecided until the very last moment before he went into that room. And what was he doing just before that, he was interviewing for assistants. I have zero inside knowledge, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he had been asked more than once in interviews if he was going to be there down the road because they didn’t want to leave comfort if they might have to find a new job pretty soon.

Wow! Look up the definition of a paragraph...

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

As I recall, Chris Low wrote that Norvell would not say if he was offered the job.

Because he wasn't...

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

I hope DeBoer is a long term coach at Alabama but the one thing nobody knows is whether he has any NFL aspirations. The often used description of him is "he wins everywhere he's been". Certainly if he wins a NC at Bama the NFL teams will come calling and we don't know if he'd want to prove he can also win at the NFL level, so having success here does not necessarily mean we will have him for a while. I know this is not a unique problem though since we'd be faced with that possibility with almost anyone Alabama would have hired. In the case of the Saban hiring though we got a coach who already had an NFL job and found it wasn't for him so there was always much less of a chance Saban would go back.

He seems to really like the relationships with the kids... which doesn't happen in the NFL
..

 

[AlistarWills]

Wow! Look up the definition of a paragraph...

Why

 

[Joefus]

The most striking thing In the article was Saban’s comment on how players reacted after the loss, especially in his follow up meetings with them. Sad to say, but their actions made it easier for him to decide to retire.

Can’t say I blame him. I probably would’ve done the same

 

[Ole Man Dan]

The most striking thing In the article was Saban’s comment on how players reacted after the loss, especially in his follow up meetings with them. Sad to say, but their actions made it easier for him to decide to retire.

Another factor in Coach Saban retiring, but seldom mentioned.
After the NCG the player screaming and throwing his helmet was someone Coach Saban considered a team leader, he exhibited poor sportsmanship and did not lose with class.
Coach Saban always wanted his players
'To win with class, and lose with class'.
DIDN'T HAPPEN.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

Milroe. It was intercepted…

I didn't call his name, but I did read his lips.
He didn't lose gracefully.