Yeah, he’s playing to, using the vernacular of the political season, his very fervent base, but it’s still not the least bit surprising.
When Nick Saban left LSU for the job with the Miami Dolphins in 2004, there were more than a couple of observers who were surprised the coach would leave the college game to get back into the NFL. When Saban, after infamously denying it, left the Dolphins to take the job at Alabama after just two seasons, there were more than a couple of observers who were not surprised the coach made such a decision.
Why? Because Saban just seemed like a coach who could relate better to -- some would say control more -- college players than those in the NFL. With Verne Lundquist serving as a guest on Saban’s weekly radio show Thursday night, the retiring college football broadcaster asked the Alabama head coach, al.com writes, “when in his Miami Dolphins tenure he realized he missed coaching college football?”
Saban’s answer was illuminating...
“Well, the day I landed in Miami and went to the first press conference,” Saban said. “I started to realize the difference between the NFL then and what the NFL was like before when I was in it with Bill Belichick from 1991-94 in Cleveland, before we had free agency, before the media had infiltrated sorta everything that was happening. I guess right then.”
... but not as illuminating as the coach, once again, addressing his version of the Drew Brees situation as it relates to the level control, or lack thereof, in the NFL compared to what he has in Tuscaloosa.
“When [the Brees situation] happened, I said I can’t control my destiny here,” Saban said. “I can’t control my destiny here. There’s too many things that, no matter how hard I work or no matter what I do, I can control my destiny better in college by working hard and making good choices and decisions and creating a good program for players. I think that happening made me lean back to coming back to college.”
Yes, Saban may have, in the eyes of some, unfinished business in the NFL. At 64 years old -- he’ll be 65 Oct. 31 -- don’t expect him, though, to at any point in the near or distant future to rectify that “hole” in his coaching résumé.