Satan retires

Now I don’t have to root against Alabama

61finfan wrote:Now I don’t have to root against Alabama

Still hate that piece of crap. But, he will rightfully go down as the best college coach of all time. He had Bama in the hunt every single season - really an amazing and almost hard to believe run.

Wild that Saban, Belichick and Carroll are all gone now. Although unfortunately I assume Belichick will surface somewhere (Chargers???)

thought about putting this somewhere else, cause let's be honest - very few make it past the Dolphins Discussion and fewer still past NFL.  but here it is.

In a story recounting his decision-making process to retire and Alabama’s ensuing coaching search, Saban told ESPN the way some players on his team acted immediately after the loss and in the ensuing days “contributed” to his decision to hang it up after the 2023 season.

...those events certainly contributed," Saban said of his decision to retire. "I was really disappointed in the way that the players acted after the game. You gotta win with class. You gotta lose with class.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nick-saban-the-way-alabama-players-reacted-after-rose-bowl-loss-contributed-to-decision-to-retire-131302835.html

well ain't that rich, a classless ass like Saban lecturing his players on class?!?!  and this is so Saban.  never standing up and taking full responsibility for his actions (stepping over an olinemen in full seizure, not leaving Miami, etc.).  he's passively blaming his players for him wanting to quit in a feign of disgust.  did he really need to say any of this?  nope - just more weakass deflection.

Saban also talked about how the way the college football landscape is changing influenced his decision. He estimated that "maybe 70 or 80% of the players you talk to" wanted to know about their playing time for the upcoming season and how much they would be making in NIL money.

there's the real reason he quit.  not that he gives a shit about the landscape of the game, but that now with NIL everybody has money to buy recruits- - not just under the table via boosters as he did for years to stay on top.  now that they got money and a transfer portal, poor ol' Nicky couldn't intimidate the young folks like he used to.  so he ran - again.

Good read. It is clear that the new breed of athlete simply does not gel with the old-school dinosaur coaches. It's the end of an era.

I hate to say it but in this case Saban is absolutely...right.

College sports had been going downhill for a while (I saw the writing on the wall around 2010 or so) but NIL is the final nail in the coffin. The NCAA very quietly had to actually change the transfer rule to keep players from jumping schools every season after lots of players went to 4 schools in 4 years and were quite proud of it. Initially I was under the assumption that NIL would be paid for by the NCAA (the organization that's making billions in profit from the athletes) but nope, the NCAA and schools aren't paying a dime. It's literally the fans paying player salaries while the same people who got rich from not paying them before are still getting rich from not paying them now. And it's gotten to the point where if you personally aren't giving thousands minimum out of your own pocket then you're considered a "bad fan".

On top of that only the schools with the richest fan bases can afford to pay players the NIL money they're now demanding, and the other 100 or so D1 schools have become feeder teams for the big boys. Believe it or not, Alabama has become one of the schools about to be left behind since their fan base collectively isn't nearly as wealthy as that of, say, Texas A&M. And on top of THAT, the SEC and Big 12 have begun the process of breaking away from the rest of the NCAA altogether. Once that happens they'll start purging their own, because the Texases and Ohio States of the world are NOT going to voluntarily share revenue with the likes of Vanderbilt and Rutgers. So even some schools in the Big Two aren't safe for much longer.

Saban, like Vince Lombardi, was smart enough to get out while the getting was good before his legacy got tarnished. Sure, not having an advantage he always did played a big role, but can any of us say it would be different if we were in his shoes? Besides, most coaches now make Saban look like Gandhi on the morality scale.

EDIT: Not only do the comments reflect my personal view of the situation exactly, but you couldn't pay me enough to coach today's spoiled brats and I'm young enough to be Saban's son!