Serious question. How?
Honestly? They never did it before. Saban came in and demanded it.
I've told this before, but I had a friend who worked with the football team during the Stallings years. After Gene left, the guy would still go hang around the athletic complex, farting around with the players and staff, working out in the gym area, whatever. Was over there a lot.
Saban gets there and my friend was over at the complex as usual, fucking off, down in the player's area hanging out and wandering the halls. He passed Saban in the hall and made some "what's up coach" comment. He said Saban walked a couple of steps past him and then turned around and asked who the hell he was. He told him he used to be blah, blah with the team. Saban told him that unless he was there for a specific purpose and had permission from the coaching staff -- him -- to be there, he could take his ass out of the building and not come back.
Dude was pissed. He wasn't the only hanger-on Saban kicked out. He hated the guy, wanted him gone. Said he'd never make it acting like fucking Hitler. Who did he think he was anyway?
Now? Same guy would eat a bucket of Saban's runny shit if he thought Saban would like it. He'd defend him to the death.
Guys like Saban typically fail because the stress of keeping your hand on every single thing is too much. Something squishes out and it spirals out of control. I honestly thought he'd burn out. I thought he'd alienate the fans and the players with his asshole attitude. But at Alabama, winning covers a multitude of sins. They don't care that he burns through players and treats most of them like pieces on a chess board -- completely disposable. They don't care that he's got no personality. Maybe that's what it takes to win at that level of consistency. If so? I just don't think I want that.
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