Could Saban right now... Topic

take over a program like Purdue, Minnesota, Colorado, Kansas, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Wake Forest, etc. and turn them into a national power capable of winning a national title?
1/9/2013 3:20 PM
I think he can win anywhere assuming the football spending is at least in the ballpark with everyone else. It would be hard to get recruits if his facilities are a dump, comparatively.
1/9/2013 3:56 PM
No, he could not.   Beating MAC teams in Toledo is still beating MAC teams.

Michigan State is not a chump school and he was a .500 coach, more or less, until his final season there.

LSU is LSU.  They have something like the 10th most victories in NCAA history.  Winning at LSU isn't something that has never been done.

Alabama.   OK, 'nuff said.


Spurrier has actually done more at SC than Saban has at any of those schools.  That said, maybe Saban stays at MSU and racks up B10 title after B10 title thus making me feel differently.
1/9/2013 4:54 PM
Saban or most big name coaches could get it done as long as the school financially commits to it as well, meaning they will provide the faciltiies, money to hire top assistant coaches, etc.  You have to have an enviroment that is attractive to recruits and be able to hire good assistant coaches.
1/9/2013 6:07 PM
Of course back when he was at Michigan State, he hadn't built the reputation he has now. I think now, as he is widely considered the best coach in the NCAA, wherever he went, he would recruit very very well. That would make him far more effective and more likely to put a better product on the field.
1/9/2013 6:47 PM
Posted by MikeT23 on 1/9/2013 4:54:00 PM (view original):
No, he could not.   Beating MAC teams in Toledo is still beating MAC teams.

Michigan State is not a chump school and he was a .500 coach, more or less, until his final season there.

LSU is LSU.  They have something like the 10th most victories in NCAA history.  Winning at LSU isn't something that has never been done.

Alabama.   OK, 'nuff said.


Spurrier has actually done more at SC than Saban has at any of those schools.  That said, maybe Saban stays at MSU and racks up B10 title after B10 title thus making me feel differently.
Michigan State was under recruiting violations from his predecessor when he took it over thus he was a bit hamstrung his first couple of seasons.  He also didn't have 4 national titles on his resume.  His resume is just a tad better now.

And I didn't identify any MAC schools.

1/9/2013 8:03 PM
Saban's first head coaching gig was a year at Toledo...
1/9/2013 8:06 PM
I'd argue that Spurrier has done more at Duke, Florida and SC than Saban did in his 4 stops. 
1/9/2013 8:33 PM
then go ahead and make the argument because you are out of your mind
1/9/2013 10:39 PM

Sure.

Duke-horrible before and after Spurrier.  Won ACC and first bowl game in 50 years with Spurrier
Florida-Slogging along as a .500 team before Spurrier(and on probation), returned to mediocrity until Meyer arrived.
SC-sub .500 team, all-time, before Spurrier.   A couple of wins away from the Natty under Spurrier.  Corso even said "Spurrier can't win in SC.  No one can."

Toledo-MAC team, no one cares.  It's the MAC.
Mich State-.600 team all-time.   Powerhouse in the 50s-60s.  Rich football heritage.
LSU-They have something like the 10th most victories in NCAA history.  Winning at LSU isn't something that has never been done.
'bama-Uh, it's Ala-*******-bama.    They've won a few games.

Saban went to schools that have won and "turned" them into winners.  Spurrier went to two schools with a history of losing(Duke resumed after he left and we'll see with SC) and turned them into winners.

I don't know if Spurrier wins titles at AL/LSU or if Saban turns Duke/SC into winners but Spurrier did what hadn't been done at two schools.   Saban won games at schools with a rich tradition of winning.

 

1/10/2013 9:14 AM
I see your point but give me Saban over Spurrier all day long

I admire what Spurrier did at Duke but lets not kid ourselves, it was the ACC and even then the ACC wasn't a powerhouse conference

South Carolina had everything in place for a coach to succeed:  facilities, fan support, lots and lots of recruits within 200 miles, plenty of money for assistant coaches, plus Spurrier didn't win at South Carolina until Tennessee went into the pooper and FLA and GA went downhill a little bit.  Maybe Spurrier is a part of that, but the SEC East is not the West.

And if it were that easy to win at Alabama and LSU everybody could do it.  Both LSU and Alabama have had plenty of coaches that have failed.  I even think LSU has gone downhill since Saban was there.  LSU is still premier, but Saban had that program at a much higher level.

Spurrier was at Florida and to be honest I think he underachieved.  Florida has everything Alabama and LSU have. 

Again, give me Saban all day long.

The only coach in the modern era that I think can compete with Saban is Pete Carroll.  Both guys were made to coach college football.
1/10/2013 3:31 PM

Duke was **** before Spurrier in the crappy ACC, won with Spurrier in the crappy ACC, and proceeded to be the dregs of the ACC when Spurrier left.

If SC had everything in place to succeed, why didn't they?   Since SC draws from the same talent pool as TN, GA, FL, I'd say Spurrier did have something to do with their downturn. 

Virtually everyone does win at AL/LSU. 

I'd suggest looking at Spurrier's record and Florida's history without him before declaring he underachieved.    I could argue that Saban underachieved at AL.   Hell, the Bear won a lot more with only white boys.

Whether Spurrier or Saban is the superior coach isn't what was asked.   moranis seemed to imply that Saban can win anywhere.   He hasn't proven to me that he can win at a historically sub-par program.  Spurrier has.

1/10/2013 5:02 PM

Winning at Alabama, LSU, and Florida is one thing, but being national champions and building a dynasty is another.  Spurrier had everything Saban has at Florida and Spurrier didn't build a dynasty.

I don't know why other coaches couldn't win at South Carolina, never could figure it out.  That program has a lot of what the other big time programs have in place and Spurrier probably did contribute to TN, FL, and GA falling down a little bit, but this is also the best Clemson has ever been so they might be involved in that as well.

I think at this point in his Career Saban could win anywhere because his name alone will draw recruits and the support he needs to build a program. 

And again what Saban is doing at Alabama is remarkable and something that only a handful of coaches have been able to achieve in the last 100 years

1/10/2013 5:42 PM
Spurrier didn't win a bowl game at Duke and it wasn't 50 years since they had appeared in a bowl game before he got there and they were in one 5 years after he left as well.  And Duke was a top 15 program throughout much of the 30's, 40's, 50's, and early 60's so there was some history there, though it had been awhile.  Hell Duke went the entire 1938 season without getting scored on until the final minute of the Rose Bowl (finished reg season #3, finished 1941 reg season #2).  The coach for that period was Hall of Famer Wallace Wade who left Bama with 3 national titles to take over Duke (in a shocking move).  A good coach can win at Duke, which has been shown more than once (Wallace Wade, Bill Murray, and Steve Spurrier). 
1/10/2013 7:44 PM (edited)
If the only criteria for "dynasty" is national championships, then no Spurrier didn't create a dynasty.

But during his 12 seasons at Florida he DID:

Avg 10 wins per season, including a stretch of six consecutive 10 win seasons (which had only been done one other time in CFB history).
Not ever win less than 9.
Win the SEC 6 times including 4 in a row.
Not ever finish lower than 13th, including 8 Top Ten finishes in a row.
Appear in every AP Top 25 poll released during his tenure.

That's pretty impressive. There is a strong possibility that Saban could match some of those marks, but as of today he has not done so.
1/10/2013 8:15 PM
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