Nick Saban

[Maverick91]

As everyone debates is he the best to ever do it.

I always wonder was he the best "coach" as in X's and O's teaching and motivation.

Or was he the best in game adjustment and overall play caller.

Or did he just dominate because he was the best recruiter. And if he was the best recruiter, would he have had the same success at say Mississippi State?

I think he was the best recruiter and leveraged Bama for all their assets to be that.

What y'all think?

[msstate7]

Best recruiter ever, but he could coach too. Great developer also.

[DownwardDawg]

As everyone debates is he the best to ever do it.

I always wonder was he the best "coach" as in X's and O's teaching and motivation.

Or was he the best in game adjustment and overall play caller.

Or did he just dominate because he was the best recruiter. And if he was the best recruiter, would he have had the same success at say Mississippi State?

I think he was the best recruiter and leveraged Bama for all their assets to be that.

What y'all think?

I think he was the best recruiter and ran the best overall "program". Details, discipline, buy in, etc....
He recruited (bought, whatever) the best talent in the country.
And yes, after he had built his reputation, he could have recruited and won anywhere.

[DownwardDawg]

Best recruiter ever, but he could coach too. Great developer also.

I left off developer. He was great at that.

[BrunswickDawg]

I think he was the best recruiter and ran the best overall "program". Details, discipline, buy in, etc....
He recruited (bought, whatever) the best talent in the country.
And yes, after he had built his reputation, he could have recruited and won anywhere.

I'm not so sure that he would have won at sure a dominant level anywhere other than a handful of schools. He didn't dominate at either MSU or LSU the way he did at Bama.
I think he could have dominated at Bama, Ohio State, Oregon (due to $), Texas, and maybe USC. 15 season of 2 or fewer loses in 17 seasons at Bama is just unreal - let alone the 6 Nattys.
History has also shown that it is really hard to produce like that at any school other than Bama. The only coaches I can find with similar results are Bear Bryant and Bud Wilkinson.
Frank Thomas (Bama) and Knute Rockne had similar 2 loss or less totals, but didn't produce as many Nattys.

[Tbonewannabe]

I personally think one of his best attributes was keeping 4 and 5 star to wait their turn and not poison the locker room. For years, he would have a 5 star QB start maybe Jr and Sr year. He didn't have many freshmen start and usually had a good bit of experience.

[Tbonewannabe]

Of course the NFL is one of the best at leveling talent and he didn't last too long. Saban definitely enjoyed having a talent advantage 9 times out of 10 if not more. Which probably means he was a better recruiter / Bama paying top dollar vs being a better X and O coach.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

No he would have come where coaches come to die and he would have underachieved.

[Bothrops]

Motivator and he was keen on finding players with exceptional abilities. The club got them first, then his record got them there.

[Pinto]

Read this book. It is a good read and has great insight into the machine Saban built. His attention to detail is unreal.
https://a.co/d/cX0fjge

Also, my coaches went to his camp one year and he said it?s unreal how well oiled and ran they are. They had managers with water at each drill. Guys would do the drill and then get water while waiting for their next turn. Small thing but practice never stopped and you were constantly engaged and rolling. Again, small detail but the best coaches I have known don?t waste practice time.

[Political Hack]

He didn't allow individualism and selfishness to ruin his team. If you're not a team first guy, you're not a part of his team. It's the culture he established. Focus on the process. Not the result. And he did it with the most talented football players in the country, which obviously helps.

It ain't the X's and O's. It's the Jack's and Joe's.

[Turfdawg67]

I'd say obsessed and driven. Smart has many of the traits that Saben had, most of which y'all mentioned above. But you can tell there are kinks in that armor... and that's no disrespect for Kirby. If I were generationally rich, fat and happy... not sure I'd be pouring over game film 24-7. But I betcha Satan did, all the way until he retired. It's hard to keep that up.

[Coach34]

Saban recruited at a high level when he had a high level of money at LSU and Bama
Saban was the best defensive coach in the country for college football for over a decade
Saban was smart enough to change and let his offensive philosophy change from the early 2000's to later on. He was very conservative I-Pro on O when he won his 1st title.

He is the modern goat because he was the best defensive coach in the country.
He let his offensive coaches use the talent they had
He coached at 2 schools that paid top money to recruits

[Coach34]

I'd say obsessed and driven. Smart has many of the traits that Saben had, most of which y'all mentioned above. But you can tell there are kinks in that armor... and that's no disrespect for Kirby. If I were generationally rich, fat and happy... not sure I'd be pouring over game film 24-7. But I betcha Satan did, all the way until he retired. It's hard to keep that up.

Smart is coaching in a different era with different rules now. Saban saw what was coming and got out. Smart is trying to adjust to the new Era

[Todd4State]

I think the best coach that I have ever studied IMO as far as teaching goes was probably Bill Walsh. I think he has some similarities to Saban as far as attention to detail goes. And I know that this is the NFL level we're talking about but this is a guy that basically perfected an offense and was really ahead of his time to the point where it is run almost universally throughout the NFL and in strains here and there. We talk about mobile QB's and how you have to have one to win nowadays, well Walsh was really the first guy to take a mobile QB and make it pass first and do it at a high level with Joe Montana. Other than Staubach and Tarkenton everyone else was a drop back passer before then and running around was frowned upon somewhat. Now everyone wants Josh Allen and Mahomes. Walsh also saw himself as a teacher and really wanted to cultivate coaches, unlike Saban and Bellichick who basically wanted a staff to stay with them throughout. You look at the coaching nominees for the Football HOF this year and several are guys on the Walsh tree- Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, George Seifert and I guess you could say Alex Gibbs off the top of my head. I think Saban is up there and is probably pretty close to the Walsh equivalent on defense. Bill Arnsparger is another really good one that I think is underrated.

I think you could make a strong argument that he was the best recruiter ever. When you can tell kids that if they come play for you and buy into the system they will end up in the NFL that speaks volumes.

If Saban was at MSU I absolutely believe he would have had a lot of success. I think he would win at least 9-10 games a year for us. But to me, I think the biggest difference is Alabama already had resources basically in place and they just needed the right guy. Whereas at MSU I think Saban would have basically more or less would have had to tell our AD what to add and how to set everything up. We have always been behind in facilities and in recruiting and things like that and I think Saban would have really helped us with those things. If he coached at MSU I don't think it would have been for long because I think Alabama would probably have hired him away ASAP. I would have enjoyed every moment of those 2-3 years though! But I think MSU would have hired one of his protege's to hopefully continue things as much as possible. And who knows who that would have been and how that would have turned out?