Coach Nick Saban, A Legend Created By Desperate Tide Fans!

I'm sure you, like most of us, have seen the movie Forrest Gump. One scene from that movie shows young Forrest playing football at Alabama for the legendary Bear Bryant. You may have also heard references to the "Crimson Tide" in old 70's songs, and so forth, but most people do not understand the importance of college football in the South—in the old south in particular. Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Florida take this love or fascination with college football to a higher level, but in the heart of that region, the state of Alabama is capital of college football. Within the borders of this state are two universities that have the highest importance to college football: The University of Alabama and Auburn University. The fans of these two teams equate there respective university to that of religious institutions. Before you laugh, or dare to say that I exaggerate the truth, let me assure you that people have lost their lives in incidents where anger and rage between fans of these two schools boiled over into bloody fights and outright assaults. There have even been documented divorces as the result of mixed marriages. By mixed marriage I mean a married couple who’re fans of opposite teams. Men and women have also lost jobs, due to being too vocal about how bad their team beat the other. Similar incidents became such a common problem that both schools ended the tradition of playing each other in the sport of football! The two schools met and physically buried a hatchet to vow to end the hatred. Alabama and Auburn did not play each other in football for more than 40 years until it was again scheduled in the 1940s. From the 1940s through to the 1970s, the University of Alabama had more success with more big name players going on to the professional ranks, and during this time, Alabama has accumulated most of its 12 National Championship titles. Alabama also holds the college football record for the most Bowl appearances and wins. Auburn, on the other hand, had one National Championship in 1957 and 2 Heisman Trophy winners, Pat Sullivan and Vincent "Bo" Jackson. Not quite as successful as Alabama, but always a threat on the field each season. One fact that has transcended the love and appreciation of Alabama football into something that closely resembles Idol Worship, or outright religion, to the Alabama Fan is the arrival of Coach Paul W. "Bear Bryant."—The University of Alabama in physical and human form. This brings us to the development or transformation of the Alabama fan. The success and tradition of this man is, without a doubt, the cornerstone of what we now know as the "Alabama Fan." From 1958 through 1981 Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant not only ruled the University of Alabama, but was more powerful than Governor George C. Wallace, himself, within the state of Alabama. Now that you get the point of a quickly painted picture—a sketch, if you will—of Alabama/Auburn football history, I believe I can show you why Coach Nick Saban is being treated as if he has a coaching record like Jimmy Johnson or Joe Pa. Since the passing of the greatest Alabama hero, Alabama has had various troubles trying to fill the shoes of Bear Bryant. In a nut shell, that has been the downfall of Alabama football. They have been trying to find the reincarnate equivalent of Bear Bryant without accepting the fact that he is dead. Without going through all the boring history of these failed Bear Bryant replacements, I will say that the closest they have come to the Bear was when Coach Gene Stallings brought home the 12th National Championship title in 1992. Since then it has been one disaster after the other. Enter Coach Nick Saban. Alabama fans can be suckered in by apparent success while searching for a coach. During this latest episode they tried their best to woo Coach Steve Spurrior away from the University of South Carolina. After they realized Spurrior was nobody's dummy, they moved on to Saban and then West Virginia's Coach Rodriguez. After Coach Rodriguez turned Bama down for the job Alabama AD Mal Moore held a press conference to announce that he would only hire a proven winner for the head coach position. That meant they could only hire someone who had previously won some type of championship in football. Finally, after weeks of embarrassment, the job was taken by Coach Nick Saban, who gladly took the money and ran after he realized his time was short at the end of the Miami Dolphins season. The price tag for Coach Nick Saban? Try 32 Million Dollars. Is that not desperate? Is that not the biggest gamble on a "Proven Winner" Coach with a 91-42-1 record that boasts a shared 2003 National Championship at LSU? LSU had a strength of schedule ranking of 29 that year. If you can understand this, you may be able to understand all the fuss over Coach Nick Saban. The cross state rival of Alabama, Auburn University, has been on the rise since the arrival of Coach Pat Dye, Bo Jackson, and other very talented people. Auburn continued to grow over the years and now Coach Tommy Tuberville "The Riverboat Gambler" has built a strong Auburn Tiger football team that has dominated the Alabama Crimson Tide. Currently the Auburn Tigers hold a 5 year win streak over Alabama with win number 6 on the horizon—a streak Auburn has never before been able to accomplish. The Alabama fan, like never before, has been in a panic-driven state of mind that resulted in the firing of their head coach, Mike Shula, who was once their very own Quarterback. Coach Shula suffered the "Fear the Thumb" 5th loss to Auburn that was too much for even the Alabama trustee's to stomach. They fired Coach Shula one year after a 10 win season and contract extension raise to satisfy the blood lust of the out of control and impatient Tide Fan. I hope you can now understand why such a build up over Coach Nick Saban has occurred, and how desperation at the University of Alabama could create a legend before his time in Coach Nick Saban. Imagine the luck of being in the right place, at the right time, during the right set of circumstances such as Coach Saban and walk away with a cool 32 Million? Wow!