The Dark Side of Nick Saban
In Alabama, they’ve already erected a statue of Nick Saban.
In Georgia, many people alternate between hating Saban or Steve Spurrier.
Ex-Dolphins coach Nick Saban (AP)
In South Florida … well that is the place that Saban is – by far – hated the most.
Guess where the BCS Championship game will be played? In Miami, where Saban had a dismal experience as coach of the Miami Dolphins and also misled everybody on taking the Alabama job.
Florida Sun-Sentinel columnist Dave Hyde rehashed the general feeling about Saban:
- On the hypocrisy of Saban saying it’s not fair for Florida to jump over the loser of the SEC Championship game when Alabama did it last year: Hyde: “Saban, the self-anointed arbiter of what’s fair and true and righteous in sports. That’s a good one … But logic never was Saban’s strong suit. Or truth. Or humanity, as all the old Dolphins stories say.”
- On Saban’s “Florida sunshine” personality while with the Dolphins: Hyde: “He ordered a personal lieutenant, whose internal nickname was Dr. Doom, to tell Dolphins office workers to quit greeting Saban in the morning.”
- And, of course, there’s the story about Saban walking right over an offensive lineman who was having convulsions in football practice.
Hyde then made these two points: “1. As a man, he’s a lout. 2. As a coach, he’s the best in sports today.” After summarizing his opinion, Hyde wrapped it up with this: “That’s why there’s such mixed feelings for Saban. We saw the lout. We just never saw the lout who won enough to make his personality irrelevant.”
CLICK HERE to read the rest of Hyde’s column
AJC’s SEC CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE
- Catching up with former UGA linebacker Quentin Moses
- The Dark Side of Nick Saban
- Alabama RB pokes fun at UGA
- Mark Richt would burn QB’s redshirt season, if needed
- Who does former UGA DB think is team’s best defender? “Shawn Williams”
- Muschamp fires back at Saban: “Be careful what you ask for, Nick”
- Could the best candidate to be head coach at Alabama or UGA be … the SAME PERSON?
- Warning!!! BEWARE of COUNTERFEIT tickets, says SEC office
- Catching up the 2005 SEC Championship MVP, UGA QB DJ Shockley
- UGA’s Bacarri Rambo: “We have better players (than Alabama), across the board”
- Nick Saban loves Todd Grantham
- SEC Championship tickets start around $400 on StubHub; ACC at $4.50
- UGA still third in BCS standings — barely ahead of Florida
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143 comments Add your comment
Bammer
November 28th, 2012
3:04 pm
1980
•Failed U.S. Rescue Attempt to Save Hostages in Tehran
•John Lennon Assassinated
•Mount St. Helens Erupts
•Pac-Man Video Game Released
•Rubik’s Cube Becomes Popular
•Ted Turner Establishes CNN
Bammer
November 28th, 2012
3:05 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Kemp
John
November 28th, 2012
3:05 pm
The AJC oddly has a major obsession with Saban. I can understand Miami a little bit but there is no reason for the AJC to devote so much print to bashing him.
Bammer
November 28th, 2012
3:06 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Donnan
Rolando McClain
November 28th, 2012
3:06 pm
Did somebody say FELON? Because mine were only misdemeanors. I only have to serve 6 months in jail.
D man
November 28th, 2012
3:08 pm
Saban is a great coach. I am a Ga fan and my son goes to Bama so I have seen this guy up close and personal for 4 years. He is a great coach and I wish Mark would learn from him so Ga would win the big games and get over the hump so to speak. I don’t think my Dawgs will win this weekend mostly because of coaching not talent. We have had top ten recruiting classes just about every year since Mark took over and no National Champions. That is not a great record when you look at what Saban has done in less time. Mark is too nice and does not coach up the boys enough. Sabans players love the man but do not want to let him down.
Bammer
November 28th, 2012
3:09 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Evans
chikin dinner
November 28th, 2012
3:13 pm
Your my sister!!!!
Roll Tide!!!
Bammer
November 28th, 2012
3:13 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Harrick
chikin dinner
November 28th, 2012
3:14 pm
I’m your sister!!!
Roll Tide!!!
LOL
November 28th, 2012
3:18 pm
Lol, Alabama fans. Too funny. You guys, seriously though, please don’t like poison or burn any of our stuff down if you guys lose. Thanks.
14 Titles
November 28th, 2012
3:22 pm
Bama blows out Ga on saturday, nick beats Notre Dame for title #15!!! RTR!!!!
Bammer
November 28th, 2012
3:23 pm
Do you guys have anything worth poisoning or burning? Not sure we could do much to your hallowed monuments anyway. Doesn’t your stadium sit over a sewer?
Georgia Boy
November 28th, 2012
3:23 pm
Every successful person: business, coach, physician, etc. has his/her detractors. The fact is Saban delivers to his players, the team, the fans and the school. As a dawg fan, I recall all the “fire CMR” talk on these blogs prior to the FL game. We won that and we have stomped some pansies since then. Now one would think CMR walked on water. Saban will cause him to pass water Saturday. CMR doesn’t have the will to win that CNS has, and he never will. He’s a good man, but I want a damn good football coach for my team and CNS is a damn good football coach! I wish it weren’t so, but I think Sunday morning will be painful for the Dawg Nation.
LOL
November 28th, 2012
3:25 pm
Pretty sure thats your stadium out in redneckville buddy. Sister loving capital of the world! So you guys got that going for you.
Ru Paul
November 28th, 2012
3:26 pm
What color ya’ll uniforms gone be? Black? Pink?
dwayne
November 28th, 2012
3:31 pm
son of bear is the offspring of a paul bryant/jerry sandusky affair.
jimmie
November 28th, 2012
3:32 pm
Its simple..they have an as- for a coach, we have thugs for players..evens out.
Dawn
November 28th, 2012
3:42 pm
I must give it to Coach Saban because he has a great program. The players not only are great football players but good students. The team stays out of trouble and they do what is asked. I love football and only pray that we get a great coach at Rocky Top for the University of Tennessee!!!!
Contractor
November 28th, 2012
3:44 pm
The Dark Side of Nick Saban? I didn’t know there was a sunny side based on what the hacks at the AJC write about him. Gee, now they’re Georgia homers after writing numerous articles this year pinpointing flaws they “think” they saw. Let’s just play the game already, please.
Dave in Marietta
November 28th, 2012
3:51 pm
How is this blog in anyway relevant or meaningful? He wins games. That’s all he has to account for. And I really doubt any little boys would get raped in the showers under his watch. If you want to talk about a lout, talk about JoePa.
Jamie
November 28th, 2012
3:55 pm
That’s what happens when you’re the spawn of satan.
Truth
November 28th, 2012
3:57 pm
1980 anyone???????
Donna Outlaw
November 28th, 2012
4:13 pm
Before the Jan 2004 Sugar Bowl/BCS Championship game, Saban stated NO ONE who didn’t win their conference championship should play for the national championship. Of course, he was speaking of Oklahoma that year. This article mentions he misled people concerning Alabama but leaves out he misled LSU about going to Miami. I didn’t care for him at LSU and I still don’t care for him although his wife has made it known she’d rather have stayed in Baton Rouge. She seems like such a nice woman, I have to think Nick is a 100% different man at home than work because he wouldn’t know how to sincerely smile if his life depended on it. He’s just a jerk and a few years ago I wondered how long it would take someone to tell the cameramen NOT to linger on him too long because the words he says are easily lip-read. And I’d hate to be a player called out for bad-mouthing him. It’s expected for a coach to be a firm disciplinarian but he doesn’t have to be a jerk all the time yet he is. I know how to change that – just shove a Lil Debbie Oatmeal Pie in his mouth and he’ll be fine, until he finishes it. Wonder when he’ll finally sell the house he still own in Baton Rouge?
Motocross Survivor
November 28th, 2012
4:21 pm
Son of Bear, it doesn’t take much reading to see you as one of those sad Alabammy boys who doesn’t have a life outside delusions of college football in that dismal state. I’m no Dawgy fan, but sheeeet, you plowboys are sad.
Tee-off
November 28th, 2012
4:22 pm
It cracks me up listening to Bama fans talk about how Saban is going to be there for the long run. He’s got 2 years max before he moves on. Thats just how he does things. Then Bama will go back to 8-4 every season. They better enjoy this run while it lasts. Saban has zero loyalty and will always be looking ahead to his next move.
Kris
November 28th, 2012
4:24 pm
I would take Bill Obrien at Penn State over Saban
Dumb dogs
November 28th, 2012
4:31 pm
Dogs pulling out everything they can think of to get sympathy
for their imbecile football players.
What’s next, the race card?
Get ready for a beat down from the TIDE you haters!
dizzy dawg
November 28th, 2012
4:33 pm
It’s apparent that many Bammer fans don’t understand that black is one of our colors. We’re the Red & BLACK.
They think they have some sort of “1 up” b/c they won the blackout game by 11 points but I actually find it hilarious that they took such offense to us deciding to wear one of our colors. I can’t believe they ever decided to wear their white jerseys again after that a$$ beating we gave them in ‘03! He-haw!
Bama Baby
November 28th, 2012
4:34 pm
@Truth:
How about 1990?
Say What???
November 28th, 2012
4:35 pm
At this time in college football, there are two categories of coaches: Nick Saban and everyone else. He has had top level success at LSU and Alabama. His teams are the best prepared and because of that, they win games. Everything he does is a means to an end: win games. When you do that, there is colateral damage. Most of that exists as the feelings of those who could no longer help him win games. He doesn’t have to be a nice guy. The fact that he wins allows his faults a pass. Look at Georgia Tech – Paul Johnson is Nick Saban without all the baggage of talent and success.
I believe that 96% of the UGA fans agree that he is the best coach in college football. The AJC is a newspaper that makes money by getting more readers and website hits. Don’t confuse stories written to “stir the pot” as the mantra of the Dawg Nation.
Bama Husband
November 28th, 2012
4:37 pm
‘Bama absolutely has better women. I married one – she’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Roll Tide, Roll!
aon
November 28th, 2012
4:46 pm
The “dark side” obviously runs in the family. The sorority beat down involving his daughter Kristen must make him so proud.
kevin
November 28th, 2012
4:48 pm
Hey Bama Husband, I’m glad you love your wife and think she’s the greatest. That’s how every husband should feel. But there are awesome, beautiful women everywhere in the world. I married one from SC and I adopted one from Paraguay. Nobody has a monopoly on them. God put them everywhere.
RGB
November 28th, 2012
4:49 pm
Pretty soon you’ll be writing that he recruits “student athletes” who go on to beat women and drive around with guns with the serial numbers filed off.
I got distracted…who are we talking about?
RGB
November 28th, 2012
4:53 pm
dizzy dawg misses the point.
When a team wears a funktificated jersey as some sort of magic charm that will help them win, it’s very shortsighted. A black jersey is no substitute for proper coaching and discipline. Saban calls it “playing to a standard”.
What is Mark Richt’s standard?
Truth
November 28th, 2012
4:54 pm
Bama Baby 1980 has nice ring to it.
Greg Musgrove
November 28th, 2012
4:59 pm
As a Bama alum living in Atlanta for the last 18 years, I can say the Dawgs are my second favorite team. Saban is not a warm and fuzzy kind of guy, I dont need that in my coach. I need a coach who wins consistently, produces quality young men who when they leave college are ready to be responsible citizens and contribute positively in society, who runs a clean program and one that is respected. I personally don’t have to be friends with him. Granted if I were asked to go to dinner with one I would choose Richt because personally I have more in common with him than I would with Saban. Richt is a great man, good values and morals and pretty decent coach. I’d rather be his neighbor than Coach Saban but in choosing a football coach, it’s not even close. I would take Saban every time.
I look forward to watching two very closely matched teams play Saturday! It will be a low scoring, tough game just the kind Oregon and the other left coast liberals hate to watch! SEC footall at it’s best! Roll Tide!
Nameless Faceless
November 28th, 2012
5:00 pm
How much do you have to pay the AJC to post your whiny rants here?
Bama Husband
November 28th, 2012
5:10 pm
kevin, not every man can handle a woman from Bama. God understands this.
KeBo
November 28th, 2012
5:15 pm
The story of Coach Saban supposedly stepping over a player who was convulsing was promulgating by a booger eater (Heath Evans) so it should be taken with a grain of salt. Coach Saban is not a medical professional and it is certainly not his fault that the two former Auburn players involved (Heath Evans and Jeno James)did not show up in playing shape. Tuck your skirts in girls!
Woofy One
November 28th, 2012
5:23 pm
Most Bama fans are T-shirt fans. They were invisible for over a decade
crimson hammah
November 28th, 2012
5:24 pm
u stupid ignorant sluts – saban was great at miami took over 1 win team and got them 8 first yr and on to 9 10 win seasons when the rumors blew up = the greatest turnaround in nfl history
crimson hammah
November 28th, 2012
5:27 pm
u stupid ignorant sluts-saban was not concerned about the winner of sec ch gm – he was talking about loser ….loser of sec ch gm could have gone and go to the sugar this yr and last
crimson hammah
November 28th, 2012
5:29 pm
u stupid ignorant sluts – saban was getting out of the way over the olineman and visited the player in the hospital that night which the player greatly appreciated
RGB
November 28th, 2012
5:31 pm
The “Five reasons Nick Saban may be overrated” hit piece is hilarious. So because Alabama won “only” 2 National Championships “when they could have won 3″, he is overrated? How many did Georgia win during that time, or for that matter ever? I believe Bama’s count is 16.
It should be enough for Georgia to be proud of being #3 currently–with a shot at the big game–rather than have an unprepossessing sports writer hastily slam together a hit piece that makes himself look awfully silly. And I predict after Saturday night he’ll look even sillier.
crimson hammah
November 28th, 2012
5:31 pm
never heard of hyde wth helll is he …wait who cares about this zero
Contractor
November 28th, 2012
5:33 pm
Envy is a stinky cologne to some of those on here running their mouths. You cannot simply discredit the facts and what he has done as a coach. Like I saw above, you don’t have to have a man crush on the guy to appreciate the way he coaches. he wins, simple as that. I know you Georgia fans would take that over a man crush any day, so don’t get me started on all the ones calling for Mark Richt’s hyde before even the Florida game of this year. Georgia fans would kill for a Coach like Nick Sabana to come in and win two, about to be three Championships, in four years, so don’t give me all that self righteous crap you folks continue to spew from behind a freaking keyboard.
OkieDawg
November 28th, 2012
5:47 pm
Nick Saban can beat you with his players one week and after the game the teams could switch players and the next week he could beat you with your players.
Well, maybe not Auburn’s.
bamatl
November 28th, 2012
6:31 pm
Kevin, no comparison to Herschel? Obvioulsy he was great, one of the greatest, and was robbed for the Heisman his frosh year. But I’d put Barry Sander (OSU), Bo Jackson (in fact, I’d take Bo b/c he had to block and was faster and more aggressive) and Marcus Allen against him (and they were contemporaries). Throw in Marcus Dupree, too. As for Saban…he is straight up a good man and a good coach. Georgies are always complaining about ‘bama being too tough. Look, win the SEC 14 more times and 11 more Nat’l Champs and we can talk. With all those draft picks and recruits you ought to be better than you are – but nothing ever comes of it. Maybe this is your chance.