Last week, Nick Saban agreed to become the fourth head coach at the University of Alabama since 2000. The deal is for eight years and a reported $32 million, making Saban the highest-paid head coach in college football.When the search for a new coach began, Moore wanted to go out to find a high-profile coach with a history of winning, and Moore feels he found that with Saban.
“When I set out on this search, I noted that I was seeking a coach who has a proven record of championship success and achievement,” Moore said. “Coach Saban brings that proven record of accomplishment and leadership to our program.”
The courtship between the Crimson Tide and Saban did not flow as easily as either party would have liked.
Saban publicly expressed several times that he was not interested in becoming head coach at Alabama.
At a December press conference, Saban angrily yelled he was not going to be the Alabama head coach.
After hearing this, Alabama turned its attention to South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier and West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez.
Both coaches turned down the Tide, and Alabama once again turned its attention to Saban.
Saban has spent the last two years with the Dolphins but was never able to achieve the success he has had in his college stops.
He leaves behind a Dolphins team who never seemed to be able to turn the corner in the NFL, despite having the league’s fifth best defense.
Offensive woes began when quarterback Daunte Culpepper’s surgically repaired knee never seemed to heal completely.
Also, midway through the season, starting running back Ronnie Brown was injured with a hand injury.
The Dolphins finished their season with a 6-10 record, Saban’s first losing record as a head coach.
The team had notable wins over New England and Chicago.
Saban says that he enjoyed the experience of coaching in the NFL, in his heart he felt he was better suited for the thrill of the college game.
“What I realized in the last two years is that we love college coaching because of the ability that it gives you to affect young people,” Saban said in his introductory press conference. “As I coached in the National Football League, almost every team we played had guys on it that played for us in college.
“The self-gratification that gave me is that I helped those guys fulfill their dreams when I was a college coach. That was important to me,” he added.
Saban arrives at a school desperately looking for someone with a “Bear” mentality, referring to legendary Crimson Tide head coach Bear Bryant.
Alabama is looking for a coach to bring them a national title and back into the national spotlight, things which Saban did while at LSU.
Alabama finished the year 6-7 with a loss to Oklahoma State in the Independence Bowl.
The Crimson Tide lost its last four regular season games and fired head coach Mike Shula days after a 22-15 loss to in-state rival Auburn.
Many Tide fans thought the low point of the season, though, was he loss to Mississippi State in November.
Shula was fired one year removed from a 10-2 record and a contract extension.
He owned a 26-23 record with the Tide but was 0-4 against Auburn.
Saban was 2-3 against Auburn while at LSU, giving fans hope for an improved record against their strongest in-state rival.
Though there are mixed feelings about Saban, most Tide players could not be happier to have him announced as their head coach.
As a team who has had over a month of uncertainty, the Tide feels like, with Saban, they can now get back on track.
“I am very excited,” offensive lineman Antoine Caldwell said. “We have been through a period of uncertainty the last month or so, and we finally have some stability.”
Crimson Tide starting quarterback John Parker Wilson could not agree more.
“All of the guys are very glad to have Coach Saban coming to Alabama,” Wilson said. “He has won a lot of football games, and he won the national championship at LSU. That makes it even more exciting for us.”
Nick Saban can be thought of as college football’s version of NBA coach Larry Brown.
Both coaches stay on the move but tend to produce winners no matter where they stop.
Saban has had three other stops in college over his 19-year coaching career.
He has had success at all of them: Toledo (9-2), Michigan State (32-24-1), and LSU (48-16). Saban won the 2003 BCS National Championship with the Tigers.
Saban fully expects this to be his last coaching stop, which he implied during his press conference.
“Let me just say this. My next stop, you know where Lake Burton is, that’s where I go in the summertime. That’s where I like it. That’s my next stop,” Saban told reporters.
“As long as the people here are committed to trying to win, I’m going to want to be the coach here. At some point in time maybe somebody else can do it better and then that’s where I’m going. Lake Burton.”
With Alabama’s seemingly limitless resources, Saban’s pedigree and their shared drive to return the Tide to naitonal prominance, this relationship has the potential to last a long time.