Two years ago, most people thought if Alabama football’s reputation dropped any lower, it would be in the Gulf of Mexico, covered in slime with a smell that stretched from Stanford to Pittsburgh. The Crimson Tide had just came off a 6-7 season and infuriated the college football world by giving new coach Nick Saban the “outrageous” salary of $32 million over eight years.
I know. I was one of the infuriated. I wrote that Alabama had sold its soul. Athletic directors from across the country were on call waiting, ready to vent their spleens all over Alabama president Robert Witt and AD Mal Moore. They’ve destroyed the coaches’ salary structure, they said. Schools that can’t keep up will have to drop programs, said others.
Well, guess what, folks. I hate to break this to you, but we’d better face the obvious.
It has been a year and a half and Saban has justified his salary.
Saturday, Alabama visits 15th- ranked LSU, the school Saban ditched for the Miami Dolphins on Christmas Day 2004. The South is abuzz with stories about revenge and ugly homecomings. It’s like a football episode of “Desperate Housewives.”
The real national story is that Alabama has gone from just another team in the SEC to No. 1 in the nation. There’s one reason: Saban.
The Crimson Tide, picked for third in the SEC West, is 9-0 and 5-0 in the toughest defensive conference in the land. If Alabama, a three-point favorite, beats LSU, it has only home games against Mississippi State (3-6) and Auburn (4-5) left. Then it would be one win in the SEC championship game, probably against fourth- ranked Florida (7-1), from a berth in the national title game.
Saban, a former defensive coordinator with the Browns, has built the nation’s fourth-best defense. He brought in offensive whiz Jim McElwain from Fresno State this year to settle down mistake-prone quarterback John Parker Wilson, and Glen Coffee is averaging nearly 100 rushing yards a game behind possibly the nation’s best line. Saban’s top- ranked recruiting class contributed dynamic receiver Julio Jones to the starting lineup.
So think about this for a moment. Two years after it lost its last four games, one year after losing to itty- bitty Louisiana-Monroe in Saban’s first season, the Crimson Tide has a legitimate shot at the national championship.
This wasn’t rebuilding an engine. It was handing over the keys of your Toyota Camry to Jimmie Johnson.
That coin Alabama shelled out hasn’t forced it to cut women’s tennis, either. Since Saban’s hiring, football revenues jumped from $43 million to $53 million. Contributions to the athletic department shot up from $14 million to $19.5 million. If Alabama makes a BCS bowl, that’s another $14 million to $17 million.
The waiting list for season tickets has gone past 10,000. The school is discussing a stadium expansion of 10,000 seats to put Bryant-Denny Stadium over 100,000.
“Hats off to them,” Colorado AD Mike Bohn said Wednesday. “But that doesn’t mean that model works here or in our league or the Mountain West Conference or Western Athletic Conference.”
That problem still sticks in the craw of many. Take Air Force. AD Hans Mueh has a young, dynamic coach, Troy Calhoun, who has taken a small, inexperienced team in an obvious rebuilding year to a 7-2 record. If Alabama raised the bar, how can Mueh keep Calhoun at a salary just less than $600,000 if, say, Washington comes calling with an offer of more than $2 million?
“(Alabama) set a standard when they offered (Saban) $32 million that changed the entire landscape when it comes to the haves and the have- nots,” Mueh said. “They put a huge delta in that game. . . . I wish I had an answer on this. I’m a believer in free enterprise and capitalism, but it seems to me we’ve lost a little something.”
Unfortunately, Hans, Alabama doesn’t care about Air Force. Or Rice. Or Washington State. Get your own, they say.
“The other factor is, could they have gotten someone else to do the same thing?” said Colorado State AD Paul Kowalczyk, who seems to have found a gem in Steve Fairchild. “Sometimes we’re fixated on coaches’ names.
“But it’s hard to argue after a year and half that they could’ve gotten anyone better.”
Kansas State going back to future?
In Kansas State’s mostly wretched-to-piddling existence as a football program, one coach in its history has given the Wildcats some bite. That’s why Bill Snyder has emerged as the biggest name to replace Ron Prince, right.
In firing Prince on Wednesday, athletic director Bob Krause wouldn’t admit interest in Snyder but wouldn’t deny it, either.
“I have not talked with Bill and he is one person, along with others, that we will be consulting with in the very near future,” Krause said at the news conference. “You start out at a consulting basis and you move forward from there.”
Snyder is 69 but observers say he looks better and fresher than he has in years. He retired in 2005 only two years after winning the Big 12 title. How big is Snyder at Kansas State? His 136-68-1 record is 97 wins more than its next winningest coach.
Kansas State may also look at Texas Christian coach Gary Patterson, an alum and Kansas native who pursued the opening when Snyder retired. Former Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione, another Kansan, may also show interest. So might Bret Bielema, Snyder’s old defensive coordinator, whose star has fallen at Wisconsin.
Games of the Week
Alabama at LSU
That smell rising up from the Louisiana State tailgate parties isn’t jambalaya. It isn’t Cajun sausage. It’s the hide of Alabama coach Nick Saban, who jilted LSU four years ago. The No. 15 Tigers would like nothing more than to destroy top-ranked Tide’s national title hopes.
Big 12: Oklahoma State at Texas Tech. Graham Harrell, right, has the No. 2 Red Raiders on an incredible high after the last play against Texas. The nation’s leading passer (3,621 yards), Harrell will be in another shootout against the nation’s No. 2 QB in efficiency, the Cowboys’ Zac Robinson (192.5 rating).
Mountain West: Colorado State at Air Force. This was one of the premier rivalries in the league until one-sided games for either side popped up in the past few years. CSU’s recent offensive revival should make this a closer contest. LM Otero, The Associated Press
Colorado Connections
Heady statistics
Matthew Hanson, Harvard: The freshman cornerback from Boulder High School has twice been named the Ivy League rookie of the week this season. The backup has three interceptions (including one in the end zone) and a fumble recovery in the past four games. He ranks second nationally among freshman in passes defended with nine — all in the past five games. He is second in the Ivy league and seventh in the nation in passes defended. The No. 21 Crimson host Columbia on Saturday.
Alvin Logan, Washington: After not playing last season, the 6-foot-2 sophomore from Regis High School has played in every game this season and has five catches for 43 yards.
John Henderson, The Denver Post
