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Saban Retires Due To Landscape He helped create

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RedSquare said:
once the legal means to compensate players outpaced his advantage of compensation by deceit, then all of a sudden, his age became an issue.

how convenient.

he has a method and capacity for coaching that excels in college, and even without having the most well oiled machine to circumvent the rules at his disposal, would have been very successful as a college head coach. 6 natty's? maybe not, but 2 or 3 were never out of the realm of possibility at Alabama.

as the college game has metastacized into an NFL look alike (free agency, payrolls, agents, short term contracts, GM's etc.), he needed to go, as he failed as an NFL HC. and he knew he couldn't succeed in professional football. which is why he never returned. having college become another form of the NFL was never going to be a good fit for him, and never an environment where he would see extended success. having a nice win over Georgia as a last hurrah doesn't count. even he saw it as the last act of Henry V.

so to saban I say: "congrats. you figured out how to work the system, and win lots of college football games. now, adios you motherfu*ker"
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correct.
 
The haterade is flowing in here.

If he went out whining I’d have a different opinion, but the man won his championships and made his money. He’ll always be in the GOAT conversation.

Good for him for getting out while he can still enjoy his success. He’ll spend the rest of his life living like a billionaire doing whatever tf he wants to do.

frontofficesports.com

Nick Saban’s Car Dealership Group Moves Into Florida For $700M

Dream Motor Group, which Nick Saban co-owns, has bought two Mercedes-Benz dealerships in South Florida for approximately $700 million.
frontofficesports.com frontofficesports.com
 
HerbieDaGawd said:
I agree that it was one of his grievances, but see my above post. Even with Bama's poor NIL he was still recruiting at the top. You did see a lot of the bigger money schools start stealing guys, but he was still raking in talent.
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The closing of the gap between Bama and everyone else was accelerating.

Age + I have enough money + I can't compete with my last 5 years over my next 5 years = Saban retired

Even 40s/50s Saban, in today's NIL world was not going to repeat his past run.

He closed down the circus before the clowns came to eat him.

Now, all.of the above takes nothing away from what he has done, but don't kid yourselves. Cat daddy knew this new age was a whole new bag for papa and his legacy was going to get tarnished.

#AndThat'sTheWordSuckas!
 
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Empirical Cane said:
The closing of the gap between Bama and everyone else was accelerating.

Age + I have enough money + I can't compete with my last 5 years over my next 5 years = Saban retired

Even 40s/50s Saban, in today's NIL world was not going to repeat his past run.

He closed down the circus before the clowns came to eat him.

Now, all.of the above takes nothing away from what he has done, but don't kid yourselves. Cat daddy knew this new age was a whole new bag for papa and his legacy was going to get tarnished.

#AndThat'sTheWordSuckas!
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Agreed and the point of the article was never to take away from what he had done. Heck, I argued that HE CREATED this system:


Saban’s arrival in Alabama heralded a complete overhaul of college football. Coming from the NFL, where he spent two seasons with the Dolphins, he transformed Alabama into a professional-caliber team. The university’s substantial investments in sports science and state-of-the-art facilities, along with bringing in NFL-level coaching staff, were pivotal. Saban’s unique approach, focusing on the importance of each individual play, influenced many, including Mario Cristobal, Kirby Smart, and Jimbo Fisher two of which won National Championships at Georgia and FSU, while Cristobal built Oregon into one of the better teams of the PAC-12 during his tenure in Oregon. He built Bama like a professional team, and in the pre-NIL era, he received resources that most coaches couldn’t even dream about."
and

"His process and success were directly responsible for the changes occurring today. Now that he is gone, his legacy is secure and his achievements set in stone, but the biggest unknown and change in his legacy will be the new era of college football, an era that looks more like a pro league than college athletics, an era that he unwittingly birthed in 2007."

That can never be taken away from him, someone else could have built it but it was him and he applied what he learned in the NFL to Bama.

So for the naysayers I am not hating at all. But as @Empirical Cane rightly pointed out

"Age + I have enough money + I can't compete with my last 5 years over my next 5 years = Saban retired

Even 40s/50s Saban, in today's NIL world was not going to repeat his past run.

He closed down the circus before the clowns came to eat him."
 
When the idea of NIL first started becoming a legit possibility, there were a handful of people who rightly argued that it would hurt the traditional "bag" schools and rural area schools would struggle to match the funds of schools in metro areas when it came to legal NIL fundraising. Saban saw the writing on the wall and was against the idea from the jump. He's privy to Bama's financial matters and saw the uphill battle he'd be facing in the coming years. Make no mistake, they cannot dominate the recruiting landscape like they could when it was just bags and the NCAA chose to ignore them. A free Charger and a rental home for mom and dad is pennies compared to the real money kids see today.
 
DTP said:
When the idea of NIL first started becoming a legit possibility, there were a handful of people who rightly argued that it would hurt the traditional "bag" schools and rural area schools would struggle to match the funds of schools in metro areas when it came to legal NIL fundraising. Saban saw the writing on the wall and was against the idea from the jump. He's privy to Bama's financial matters and saw the uphill battle he'd be facing in the coming years. Make no mistake, they cannot compete with anymore like they could when it was just bags and the NCAA chose to ignore them. A free Charger and a rental home for mom and dad is pennies compared to the real money kids see today.
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Bama has to compete with Delta Airlines and OIL schools now legally funneling their unlimited resources to their collectives.

Nike doing the same thing at Oregon especially with Lanning now.
 
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Anyone that doesn’t think Saban played with a loaded deck is living with their head in the sand. That guy got away with insane amounts of obvious cheating. The Tua situation was so blatant that everyone in the work could see what they were doing. Nothing from his buddy Emmert. Kids signing with Bama then immediately flashing $ and new hellcats. There were certain schools that got away with it and it was obvious. Saban broke the sport and won a lot of football games in the process. He’s a great coach, but ignoring all the facts is ridiculous.
 
JennStrawley’sMyParamour said:
Anyone that doesn’t think Saban played with a loaded deck is living with their head in the sand. That guy got away with insane amounts of obvious cheating. The Tua situation was so blatant that everyone in the work could see what they were doing. Nothing from his buddy Emmert. Kids signing with Bama then immediately flashing $ and new hellcats. There were certain schools that got away with it and it was obvious. Saban broke the sport and won a lot of football games in the process. He’s a great coach, but ignoring all the facts is ridiculous.
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Trying to be balanced and not appear as a "hater" I didn't even mention Emmert's favorable treatment to Saban.
 
This is partially true.. But if he stayed he would have continued to adapt and compete and been a top 5 program.

But he actually wants to do other things and wants to be young enough to enjoy all the wealth he's made and not waste away his life buried in endless work with the new landscape.
 
Empirical Cane said:
He closed down the circus before the clowns came to eat him.
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I've said this the past 10+ years on other sites and on this one that had Jimmy Johnson/Butch Davis stayed with Miami, Nick Saban would probably not exist. JJ was here 5 years, won a title, lost 2 on the field and was cheated out of playing for another. Butch was on the same path and as far as I am concerned, "won" the '01 title with a team that was basically almost unfair to play against. Neither Butch or JJ had the safety net of the crooked NCAA to throw up their hands and say "I dont know what you're taking about" at all the blantant infractions that a few posters have named above. Yes NIL has hurt CFB to a point but it has also in a sense leveled the playing field in some instances. Saban stated as such with his disdain he displayed at the SEC media day a few years ago while pointing a hypocrital finger at Jimbo and A&M's purchased class. Some on here will label Saban as the GOAT and thats fine. Much respect to that opinion but as far as I am concerned, I will not be the one to bow and kiss the NC rings of Nick.
 
Up this way Alabama when he was referring to health causing problems, it wasn't his health it was his wife's. That was why the retiring was so sudden. If he really wanted to retire he would have done so as soon as that game was over or soon after. He was interviewing coaches and was recruiting that morning. He got the call and decided right then he was done.
 
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PSU Cane said:
Above board cost a lot more.

$100-200k the old way is now $500K+ It doesn't stretch as far. Plus, the money guys had more leverage the old way.
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Alabama was “behind” on funding NIL simply because they hadn’t prioritized funding their collective. They are now.

Don’t kid yourself into thinking they are short on cash - they’ve just been slow on putting the money in the correct bucket.

Alabama under Satan definitely accelerated the death spiral of amateurism in college football, but also don’t kid yourself that his success was just about buying players.

It was Saban’s coaching - not Bammer’s bag game - that separated Bama from Auburn, LSU, OSU, etc.

Also, Bama’s got plenty of cash to redirect boosters into their NIL fund.

sports.usatoday.com

NCAA Finances: Revenue & Expenses by School - USA TODAY

Which are the most profitable college athletic programs in the country? See a ranked listed, including total revenue and expenses. Brought to you by USA TODAY.
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