The Real Nick Saban Finally Exposed

Gene Chizik at Auburn has taken the high road and offered all 2012 signees a guaranteed four year ride. Meanwhile Saban forces a kid to greyshirt at the last minute and the kid commits to Arkansas instead. The ruthlessness of Saban will come back to haunt him.

4 months ago nole34 29 comments 0 recs |

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I dont have a problem with 1 year deals.

Whether its an academic or athletic scholarship, if you dont perform up to that school’s standard in either you shouldnt be guaranteed anything. On the other hand I dont like surprise greyshirt either.

"A better ending could not have been scripted. Of course, if we had won, that would have been better." -Bobby Bowden

by cerebralfish on Feb 4, 2012 9:32 AM EST reply actions

I pretty much despise Saban as a person

but this isn’t all that big a deal. Some better players flipped Alabama’s way and Saban had to make room. Do you think we would have turned away Goldman and kept a 3* DT if we were in a similar situation this year? College football, like it or not, is a business now. And the fact that the author of the article pretends not to understand that while simultaneously singing the praises of Auburn is the height of hypocrisy.

by BobLoblaw113 on Feb 4, 2012 11:03 AM EST reply actions

I don't think we would have taken a commitment from a 3* if we were in the running for Goldman.

and not to talk it through with that recruit and be upfront is the garbage that Saban does.

"What kind of addicting substance has Jimbo spiked the Tally water with?
It’s this new thing going around campus lately-I think it’s known by the term…"winning". I hear it’s really addictive and the real hardcore victory junkies can smell it from all the way across the nation."

by SmoothCrimiNole on Feb 4, 2012 11:33 AM EST up reply actions

This IS what we did

Well put. And we have nowhere near the prestige that UA currently does. Saban is a businessman. No love lost, ever. If you want to play at that kind of program prepare yourself for its intrinsic risks

by NeuroNole on Feb 4, 2012 7:10 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

I have to say I have not felt that CJF has pulled the kind of crap

Those 3 are in a class by themseleves and the poster child for abusing the system. I don’t have a problem with greyshirting a kid as long as he knows in the process that he is going to be a greyshirt. Unlike LSU who waits until Aug and they kid is already in class to tell him he is greyshirting.

I don’t have a problem with oversigning a couple of players because stuff happens and without a small bit of oversigning you will never have the full class. Sigining half of the high school players in the country like Huston Nutt and not telling the kids is a special kind of bad. Or for that matter is it Troy that signs like 35 to 40 kids a year? I think I got an offer from them.

I don’t even have a problem with the 1 year deals as long as a school that wants too can offer 2, 3 and 4 year deals and the kid going in knows its a 1 year deal. The number of kids that think its a 4 year deal is just way to high to believe they are being infromed of this going in.

F the Deacs - Notre Dame, Rutgers and UConn to the ACC

by TheJim on Feb 4, 2012 8:42 PM EST up reply actions

I am in favor of one year deals

Follow @SBNRecruiting on Twitter

by Bud Elliott on Feb 4, 2012 1:04 PM EST reply actions

i don't like one year deals

i think 2 years would be better… the difference between academic and athletic scholarships are that academic ones have clear things you need to maintain, i am pretty sure athletic ones don’t

by Colton Cook on Feb 4, 2012 1:55 PM EST reply actions

there are no standards in sports that are easily shown

grades are an arbitrary way to make decisions, but that doesnt make them any more accurate than a coach’s evaluation of a kid’s effort, talent, or projected production.

"I guess they have a reputation of being more of a tricky team and not being tough. You hit ‘em in the mouth, and they don’t like it. Other teams that have beat them just hit them in the mouth, so that’s what we started out with.’’ - Nick Moody

by nole07 on Feb 4, 2012 3:06 PM EST up reply actions

Not true – athletic ones have stipulations.

by FSU on Feb 4, 2012 4:33 PM EST up reply actions

like what?

by Colton Cook on Feb 4, 2012 4:36 PM EST up reply actions

Give me some time and I’ll do a write up. I was thinking about doing a posting about what the scholarship is, what the numbers mean, “clearing room” and this whole thing about 4 year deals, etc. per Bud’s permission for a posting.

But for the time being, there are limitations/criteria on how you can dismiss a kid during the period of renewal – None of which can be athletic performance based.

by FSU on Feb 4, 2012 4:40 PM EST up reply actions

Would you say those standards are the same for everyone?

because i have a hard time believing if they are

by Colton Cook on Feb 4, 2012 5:10 PM EST up reply actions

Yes, they are (It’s usually a test question on the recruiting test that coaches have to answer yearly too). However the institution may make stricter standards if it chooses.

by FSU on Feb 4, 2012 6:06 PM EST up reply actions

so your saying

if one of the standards were if you are caught doing drugs you may have your scholarship revoked that if say star qb and random player x both get caught they will be treated the same way?

by Colton Cook on Feb 4, 2012 10:23 PM EST up reply actions

I didn’t say they would be treated equally. That’s dependent on what an institution’s, athletics & program policies are.

What I said is the terms for revoking the aid while within the term of aid cannot not be performance based. You can’t have “he didn’t play well” as grounds for taking the scholarship. Disciplinary action as a reason varies.

by FSU on Feb 5, 2012 6:17 PM EST up reply actions

i guess this is what i am trying to get at

i am on scholarship for science and i know exactly what can and will get me kicked off of it, like maintaining a 3.25 GPA and a 3.5 science GPA as well as being a full time student and having a attendance of over 85%. Now if i miss these within up to .15 (I think) i get on probation, if over .15 i will get it taken away no matter what. Even if no one is qualified for it .

Now say i am the worst student out of the 50 kids who are on my scholarship. I still can’t lose it to a genius because i didn’t go under any of the standards set for me.

It may not be within the rules, but i am sure that players lose their scholarships because coaches believe they can bring in someone else better to take their place even if that player was never in trouble and did everything right, but just wasn’t a good football player.

by Colton Cook on Feb 5, 2012 11:07 PM EST up reply actions

Not within the term of aid they won’t. They may not be renewed, yes. But within the period of that the scholarship is granted, no.

by FSU on Feb 5, 2012 11:51 PM EST up reply actions

i think we are both arguing the same thing

only i am saying a coach will run a player off and you are saying they won’t renew it

by Colton Cook on Feb 6, 2012 2:10 AM EST up reply actions

"running off" is something that has been applied too often, i think

it is far more likely that kids are shown that they will not play, and are encouraged to transfer elsewhere that they can get PT (or just graduate and start earning money). i find it hard to believe that coaches will just tell a kid “you suck, get off my team. i dont care where you go, but you cant stay here”. they spend a lot of time recruiting and coaching all of these kids, so they know them.

but to be perfectly honest, some kids just dont pan out, and they are not helping the cause to stick around. what is sadder than a HS SR that is on the football team for 4 years and never plays? why keep trying, when you clearly arent good at it? best to move on to another sport, another school, or just quit sports entirely and focus on academics.

for those who want to think of an athletic scholarship as a job, this is no different than telling your employee (who tries hard but just isnt good at his job) that his performance review is again sub-par, and the boss makes a few phone calls to find him a job he can do well because he is a hard worker. how often does that happen in the real world? more often, your boss just tells you it isnt working out, good luck, or even calls security to escort you out ASAP.

by nole07 on Feb 6, 2012 10:33 AM EST up reply actions

No.

It’s not running off. It’s you’re given a 1 year deal and at the end of the 1 year. I choose not to renew. “Running off” is trying to make you quit.

by FSU on Feb 6, 2012 7:15 PM EST up reply actions

Things have changed I'm sure

but in Biblical times I had an FSU buddy who played on scholly for Hugh Durham and he hated Durahm, hardly ever played, but felt secure that he would remain at Florida State as long as he kept his grades up. Sound right?

Dogs bark in the night but the caravan moves on.

by fmnole on Feb 5, 2012 11:56 AM EST up reply actions

And this is why FSU coaches encourage players to continue to visit other schools. You never know what may or may not happen……

by DJ82585 on Feb 4, 2012 1:57 PM EST reply actions

One Year Deals

Bud, I respect your opinion, but as the father of a high school football player, these kids have been taken advantage of for a long time. College football is littered with stories of kids showing up on campus the following year only to find out their scholly wasn’t renewed. Also many stories about how kids were injured and thrown to the curb with no guarantee to finish school.For a multi billion dollar business that part has to to be cleaned up.Why don’t they create insurance policies for these issues? My kid sacrifices alot to be part of an team, walks the straight and narrow and frankly I’m thankful he does.

by nole34 on Feb 4, 2012 2:52 PM EST reply actions

I would say there are three different issues there.

by FSU on Feb 4, 2012 4:34 PM EST up reply actions

we already did this.

We asked 2008 commit, Anthony Hill, (first player for the 2008 class to commit) at the last second to greyshirt. And he went elsewhere instead.

"Sweet baby Jesus on Fire, I'm need of a damn lawyer and a miracle to pull my ass out of this."

by harper.rb on Feb 4, 2012 3:07 PM EST reply actions

"the

ruthlessness of Sabon will come back ro haunt him." As long as that means basking in the refracted light of crystal balls, then I guess that is probably an accurate statement.

Knowing is half the battle, the other half is violence.

by onebarrelrum on Feb 5, 2012 11:56 AM EST reply actions 2 recs

For the record...

I like and respect Saban. I may be misinformed, but he pretty much lays it out there and other than his artfully worded public statements during the Dolphin fiasco, he seems to have been a straight shooter. Jimbo seems to respect him too—in contrast, I can’t remember a single positive public reference, or any reference for that matter, that Fisher has ever made to Clown Prince Miles.

Dogs bark in the night but the caravan moves on.

by fmnole on Feb 5, 2012 12:03 PM EST reply actions

Because Nick is all business when it comes to business. He’s challenging to work for and has expectations for you give the maximum you can to what you’re doing – And he will also do the same. But he also has a sense of humor and once you’re one of his guys are a part of his circle, he will take care of you big time.

He’s a very disciplined and organized coach. Does he have blind spots. Yes. But we all do. He’s not Darth Vader. He’s not a one dimensional person either – he’s complex. Just as most successful people on an elite level are.

by FSU on Feb 5, 2012 6:13 PM EST up reply actions