To Wright, and the other 17 ESPN 300 commitments in Alabama's No. 1-ranked 2017 recruiting class, swag matters. Yes, the house is where Saban and his wife Terry live, but for Saban and all college head coaches, their home is just another part of the recruiting arsenal. On each official visit weekend, the recruits have to be impressed, but comfortable. They need to feel right at home, having a good time without forgetting the awesome power of the Crimson Tide.
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Obligatory: Jimbo Fisher's house ain't got nuthin on Saban's PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL
Jimbo Fisher's house ain't played nobody PAAAAAWWWWWLLLLL!
Dabo's house aint even got a gate PAAAAAAAWWWWWWLLLLL.
I'm not sure how to feel about this.
Don't worry, E$PN will spin it for the $EC and tell you how you should feel about it.
How the hell can anyone feel comfortable, right at home, or any positive emotion with fans like this running around Tuscaloosa? Saban must live in another state?
Alabama, where the FUPA is our second mascot, Roll Tide!!!
Recruit sees these fans.
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It's kind of nice how there is no mention of the altar where he sacrifices 3*'s and below to Satan...
Just wanted to say, this is probably my favorite comment I've seen on this site in all of my time lurking/being an actual member... definitely gave me a good laugh.
Saban's house, the player's cars, , what have you.
what a great post
And people wonder how they recruit so well.
Wow... that's 10 mins I won't get back.
Geat post tho... and at least we know one of the reasons we've lost so many recruiting battles to them (Allen, Cornwell, Hand, etc...).
Yeah, no. I hope you're joking if you honestly think:
a) Bama gave all of those kids those cars.
b) That's the reason we lose recruiting battles to them. Like they have nothing else to offer.
This is lamest mindset you can have as a fanbase:
1) my school is perfect and would never do anything wrong
2) the only reason "x school, I don't like" is winning/recruiting/better is cheating.
I'm not even saying Bama couldn't have or didn't give some of those players stuff/cars/etc. I am saying I don't think they gave Eddie Jackson, a 3* safety recruit, three cars one of which is a Lotus(?) and I don't find it hard to believe a white Quarterback from Oklahoma's parents bought him a Raptor. Some young people make terrible decisions with money, like financing cars they can't afford yet, AND some people's parents are rich and buy them super nice cars they don't need. If you read that article and think every single one of those cars pictured belongs to that player AND was provided by Alabama, you need to step back, cool your couch detective jets, and relax.
This isn't directed at you, but it is directed at anyone who legitimately views it that way.
Yet, for some reason, they fired Bo Davis last year.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/15422457/bo-davis-alabama-crimson-tide-amid-recruiting-inquiry-report-says
http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2017/01/hasnt_former_alabama...
stooooory time.
That's his version the NCAA has theirs and there is the truth in the middle.
I think, (and there's plenty of evidence indicating same), that Bama croots (regardless of star rankings) get all sorts of impermissible benefits to go play there... to include cars. I also think the benefits package for a Bama croot is more materially appealing than what VT or the VT fanbase currently ponies up for.
I don't think these are the only reasons those croots chose Bama over VT. Saban is the best coach in the game, maybe the best college head coach ever.
Best coach ever? Not even. Saban has his pick of any/all recruits nationwide each year. He has no excuse NOT to win multiple championships.
If I remember the quote correctly, "Alabama? Shoot, ANYONE can win at Alabama!" - The Ol' Ball Coach
Saban is absolutely in the running for greatest coach of all time. I would argue that it's actually more difficult to have the sustained success they have in today's game. Way more complicated, way better athletes because of training and grooming, and way more teams able to sell top kids to come to their schools and win.
Sorry, I just don't buy it. IMHO, I would put more stock into coaches who did more with less than coaches who did what was expected with everything.
You don't have to buy it, the overwhelming majority of people who are willing to give credit to an incredible coach do.
That's fine. I'm sure he will be lauded as the greatest ever.
I don't have to agree with it, and you don't have to agree with me. And for the reasons I've stated, I don't agree with the categorization. It's my opinion, nothing more.
One of the reasons why he would be in the conversation is because he doesn't have to do more with less. He gets them in the door because he's one of the best. Gone are the days (well, #Statement17 is moving that needle) where kids didn't travel far to go play ball. You didn't have kids from 9 states in the starting 22. Now, they travel to go play for the best...which Saban in that category.
This argument doesn't really hold water. LSU, Miami, USC, OSU, ND, FSU and others all recruit at a similar level and don't have the sustained success that Saban has. You may hate the man but he's the best coach of his era, if not in history. Getting all that talent also means getting all those egos and making them play together as a team. Few coaches figure out how to do that and even fewer figure it how to do it over a long period of time.
No, I don't hate the man at all. I admire what he's done, if for sustained consistency alone. That's exceptionally tough to do. It's not even focused on Saban.
I'm simply pointing out that I hold a coaching performance that achieves sustained success, with significantly lesser talent/resources in higher regard than I do sustained championship success with all of the resources and talent that could be asked for. The margin for error with lesser talent/resources is so small that a single injury could throw an entire season off.
That is one of the primary reasons I hold CFB in such high regard and why what he accomplished consistently over the time he did it for, was so remarkable.
I guess the depends on your definition of sustained success. Since Saban's been there he's gone 11-19 (2-6 his first year) with 9 10 win seasons, 4 National Championships and 7 Conference titles. I'd say that's pretty sustained success, I get that he has resources but none of the other programs I listed that have similar resources come even CLOSE to sniffing that kind of sustained success.
I don't question Saban's sustained success at all. That's exactly why I admired him for the consistency that he's maintained with his teams. I even said that it was exceptionally hard to maintain that level of consistency. And he certainly utilizes every bit of the resources/talent he has to the utmost. My hat's off to him for that.
But that's why the coaching 'lifespan' to reach success at the other blue blood programs is so short. The expectations are high 'because they should be'.
I am simply trying to give cred to the coaches who manage to achieve far above the talent and resources they have due to great coaching, player development, and effective scheming/in-game adjustments. To me, that is a very poignant measure of coaching greatness. And to snag some W's against those blue blood programs only makes it greater. Those are the coaches that likely will never reach the GOAT conversation simply because they haven't a natty in the cupboard.
"Getting all that talent also means getting all those egos and making them play together as a team."
This has what has always amazed me about Alabama. Saban pulls in all of these 5/4 * guys every year and somehow we rarely hear of much drama. I mean not all of these guys are going to get significant playing time, but somehow he's able to prevent the primadonna syndrome from taking over. Miami seems like the perfect example of a team that can't seem to get this part figured out.
100% agree with you there.
One example I like was the year before OSU won the championship. They were banned from the post season, but Meyer actually coached them to a perfect record. To me that was an amazing bit of motivational coaching.
Part of the job description of being a head coach is recruiting. If he's repeatedly bringing in the top classes, that means he's done an amazing job at assembling a staff and getting kids to come to his school. And from there, he rolls those great classes into on field success with a regulatory like we haven't seen in the modern era of football, and is known for his second half adjustments that can take over a game.
There's very little argument that he's asking the best coaches in the current era, and you could make an argument to extend that to "all-time".
To add to this, schools don't "give" cars to kids. They're "on loan" from a booster.
Exactly. Lots of ways to make the croots feel appreciated.
They've tightened up on that quite a bit.
Some schools used to have boosters who would sell a recruit a cheap car, take it in for service, and give them a really nice car to drive in the mean time. For some reason, those original cars took forever to fix.
Ha! That's funny. I know in the early 2000s Tech's football players used to drive some nice "loaner" whips.
Do the kids still say whips?
Cool HWhips.
Saw that last week. Yes there are some eye openers there but there are also a bunch of run of the mill cars. A 2005 Dodge Magnum, or a 6 year old Tahoe or a 10 year old Impala aren't exactly proving any shenanigans. OK sure the Maybach, Mercedes, and numerous Camaros aren't exactly cheap but it's not like all players come from poor households so it very well could have been a legitimate gift from well to do parents. I remember watching Marcus roll around Blacksburg in a brand new Escalade you knew his brother bought, doesn't mean anything shady was going on. Well outside of Marcus being Marcus.
Before Marcus had the Escalade, he had a 7 series Beamer (see what I did there?) that he used to roll up to the 504 building of Phase 2 to pick up a girl that I'm assuming he must have had a strong romantic interest in. Upon seeing this, I also would assume he was taking to a nice dinner out in Christiansburg, she was certainly dressed very classy. He was never driving though, always riding shotgun.
Some of that is just obscenely extreme.
I watched this like 10 times hoping to see the conclusion each time
You can see him pull the ripcord on his chute just before it ends.
That's almost as ridiculous as having a giant ass football-only sports complex with laser tag, a barbershop, replica of the Hill, slides, mini golf, basketball court, etc.
off topic, but how many schools are scrambling to put in a slide and mini golf now?
I'm sure the big money programs are looking into or already putting plans into place to build their own football-only complexes but we certainly won't be unless we start ponying up to the Hokie Club.
Personally, I think it's ridiculous, but this is the arm's race and unless something is done it's only going to get worse.
psh, we can just load the players up on a bus and send them out to Cox's...
We'll even let them say that everyone got a hole in one on 18 so they all get another free game.
But but but it's not "football only" /s
Not to mention something hard to rub before running out onto the field.
That's what she said.
Really, what does a coach's home have to do with sports and education? Ban it!
Students go to Fuentes house ....
Fuentes' house
/s
So he's got a nice house, no shit, my question is, can he Wake Surf after a 12 pack?
Nope............GO HOKIES