Saban speaks about family, football and integrity

If there’s a successor to the late John Wooden as America’s greatest college coach, it may be Saban—who has won national titles at two schools, Alabama last season and LSU in 2003, separating himself from everyone else in the football business since the 1930s. On the day Wooden died, Saban discussed his reputation, his coaching philosophy and his chances at a third title with Sporting News’ Steve Greenberg. SN: As the head coach of an elite program, how do you find time for yourself and your family? NS: First of all, we have a tremendous respect for the tradition that we have at the University of Alabama and the great fan support that we have here. That positive energy and attitude has contributed to the turnaround and the success that we’ve had here. I mean, for the first spring game (in 2007) to have 92,000 people sent a tremendous message to a lot of people—recruits, coaches, opponents—that, “They have something pretty strong there. It could be something that we’ll have to deal with in the future.” … At the same time, it’s important that if you’re going to do a good job at anything, you find a little balance. [More]

NCAA proposes limiting the number of support personnel

Increasingly, unique job titles are popping up within major col­lege programs, including at Ala­bama and Auburn. The NCAA no­ticed. The Division I Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Issues Cab­inet proposed Tuesday capping support personnel at four for I-A football teams, two for I-AA foot­ball teams and one each for men’s and women’s basketball teams. Alabama appears to have seven football support staff mem­bers who would be counted to­ward the rule if it passed, and Au­burn appears to have four in football. The issue mainly boils down to competitive equity as the finan­cial gap between the haves and have-nots grows. Some universi­ties can sustain extra staff more than others. Those that can’t must assign extra responsibilities to assistant coaches to keep up. [More]

SEC strength coaches

Strength and conditioning coaches in college football are around the players more than the head coaches and more than the position coaches. No wonder the first piece of advice Florida’s Urban Meyer gives to a first-time head coach is to go out and get the best strength coach he can find. Alabama: Scott Cochran One of the most energetic and vocal coaches on Alabama’s staff, Cochran came to Alabama in 2007 along with Nick Saban. Prior to taking on the Crimson Tide’s head strength and conditioning duties, he spent three years with the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets as assistant strength coach. Cochran’s ties to Saban go back to LSU when Cochran was an assistant strength coach on LSU’s 2003 national championship team. An LSU graduate, Cochran has been credited by many of the Alabama players for being a big part of the Tide’s turnaround under Saban. “He makes you want to show up and work every day and push yourself even harder than the day before,” said former Alabama All-America center Antoine Caldwell. [More]

2009-2010 the year in review for Alabama athletics

The latest school year for Crimson Tide sports is shaded by what took place Jan. 7 in the Rose Bowl. UA claimed its first national championship in any sport since 2002 when the football program downed Texas in the BCS title game. That’s one of the reasons these all-sports rankings are as top-heavy as they’ve been during my three years doing them. Obviously, there was the football title, but a total of four programs claimed SEC championships for Alabama this school year. Consider also that the teams ranked fourth and fifth on our list actually were ranked No. 1 nationally during the course of their seasons. After the top teams, however, was a significant dip. While the top six are as strong as they’ve been for Alabama the past three years, the remainder of the list was jumbled, difficult to rank. [More]

Roll Tide!

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