The Savior of Alabama Football

Let the coronation commence.

I guess this means that Tommy Tuberville is no longer the most hated man in Baton Rouge. I guess it also means that, despite the insistence from Alabama faithful to the contrary, getting a coach with a losing record against your biggest rival isn’t that big of a deal.

Congrats to Alabama. They finally stepped up and made a serious offer. So, what did they get?

They got a coach that is a coach, not a politician. No one will mistake Nick Saban for a public relations genius. In fact his contentious relationship with the media and fans was a source of comedic joy for the 4+ years I resided in Baton Rouge. Saban just coaches. He isn’t going to make nice and will be pretty much an asshole to everyone connected to the program. Yeah, I don’t think he will be invited to many big parties (not that he would attend anyway). And I wouldn’t expect him to wrap himself in the traditions at Alabama. He is his own guy, he won’t like running out of an inflatable houndstooth hat. All of this is acceptable as long as he wins, which he does frequently.

Since this blog is titled slightly in the Auburn direction, some of you might wonder about our feelings concerning this hire. We are taking a mixed stance. Obviously, Auburn can no longer mark the annual date with Alabama as a win every year. However, that really wasn’t an issue after Mike Shula was terminated. Whomever Alabama hired was going to be more competent than Shula and would have turned that losing streak around quickly. And there will be recruiting battles that will tilt to Alabama, but Auburn seems to compete with Georgia and Florida more than Alabama and it wasn’t like Mike Shula wasn’t doing a decent job of recruiting at Alabama.

We are actually excited. Sure it will be tougher to beat Alabama, but it isn’t like that has been all that easy for the last few years. Plus, Auburn won’t have to make excuses for beating Alabama by eight points. The game will mean something again and that is always a positive for Auburn. Additionally, being the free market kind of guys that we are, we feel that competition makes people stronger. Auburn’s program will have to step up and accept the challenge that Saban’s hiring presents.

And Auburn is in an exceptional position to do that. Over the last three years, Auburn has averaged 11 wins a season and played in January all three years. Had Saban been hired when Shula was hired the story would have been different. Auburn may still have had the success that it has had, but Saban would have been building at the same time. Now however, Saban and Alabama will be competing with a much stronger Auburn program and a coach who sort of knows what he is doing. Saban’s resume is excellent, in ten seasons he has won one mythical national title and two SEC titles, and has a 66.67 winning percentage while averaging 8.2 wins per year. In case anyone forgets, Tuberville has one undefeated season, one SEC title, a 66.2 winning percentage and has averaged 8 wins a year over a 12 year career and four of those years were at an Ole Miss program that was under probation. Those stats aren’t too shabby. Somehow, we don’t see Tommy Tuberville folding up shop because Alabama has hired Nick Saban.