Saban quiets the naysayers with 2023 SEC triumph

While I watched the confetti fall to the ground at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, my favorite memory was not seeing 300+ pound Alabama players making snow angels in the SEC version of a ticker tape parade. 

No, as a lifelong fan of the Crimson Tide, it was seeing Coach Nick Saban smile on the SEC Championship stage.

Something we have never seen over the last 16 years.

Best coaching performance of all-time?

Whether they make the College Football Playoffs or not, Saban’s coaching performance this year was among the best of all time. 

Hyperbole? 

Let me make the case.

Alabama reloads every year. That’s a given.  But this year was different. Name me a coach that has ever begun a season replacing:

• Former Heisman Trophy winner — Bryce Young
• Best defensive player in college football — Will Anderson, Jr.
• Players who were chosen 1st, 3rd and 12th picks (Young, Anderson, Jahmyr Gibbs) in the 1st Round of the NFL Draft  
• Hiring new offensive and defensive coordinators

Pile on transfer portal defections, the football world didn’t realize Saban was facing his biggest coaching challenge since he came to Tuscaloosa two days after  New Year’s Day in 2007.

And both the Texas and University of South Florida games confirmed it. 

Saban’s patience pays off

Coach Saban was coaching a team that played like a 15-year old kid who just got a driver’s permit and drove a car for the first time.

There were so many mistakes – Bama fans were pulling their hair out, like the dad in the front passenger seat.

A 15-year old has a year to learn how to drive.  Saban’s Crimson Tide had to play the SEC West and bowl-bound Tennessee and Kentucky squads.

Gradually, under Saban’s fiery, emotional and patient guidance, the entire team, from the coaches, players and staff improved and united. 

Tide passes final test?

Saban famously deemed the Texas loss the “midterm, not the final.”

Following a setback, the Crimson Tide aced 11 straight exams, including a pivotal victory over the reigning National Champ Georgia Bulldogs for the SEC title.

I submit, this ranks among the finest college coaching jobs of all time.

The Tide’s 2023 Motto — LANK

The College Football Playoff Committee has a tough decision to make. 

Anyone who knows football will tell you they watched the game’s most complete team defeat the team the Committee ranked as the best in the nation the week before.

Alabama’s motto this season is LANK — “Let All Naysayers Know.”

Let’s hope they give the 2023 SEC Champion the opportunity to take the final test.