The idea of Alabama settling for the genius after it whiffed on RichRod (and Saban, the first go) is so delicious, that it almost makes Jeff Schultz’ spectacularly bad take on Saban’s eventual hiring seem like an afterthought.
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“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
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Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
Paul Johnson considered along with Saban at Alabama? Boggles the mind.
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We said the same thing about Bill Curry being considered along with Bobby Bowden at Alabama back in the day.
Boggled the mind even more when Alabama hired Curry.
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If you are going to use that headline how about using it for the fact Saban could’ve been in Athens. He looked at that job as one of the few he would look at if offered.Not a change Adams would’ve hired him though.
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Saban wouldn’t have been in Athens in 2001 or 2007. He hadn’t been at LSU long enough in 2001 and Richt was the toast of Athens in 2007.
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Agreed but it was a job he was watching. If Saban hadn’t gone to Bama and they would’ve hired Rich Rod or someone else, we could’ve gotten him in 09. But yes its a pipe dream anyway because Adams would’ve never hired him
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No way Richt gets fired in 2009. He was coming off a top 3 finish in 2007, a top 10 finish in 2008 (although it didn’t meet expectations), and had an ok season in 2009. It’s interesting to speculate on what if. Just my $.02.
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The two times CMR could have been let go (2010 and 2015 when he did get fired) Saban was not available. Besides, B-M always hires assistants and promotes them to HC (the only exception being Jim Donnan and he was HC in a lower division). Saves them money. Everything at B-M is money driven rather than championship driven.
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If any of those 3 had ended up at Bama, Corch would have never had a heart problem and retired from Florida just to show up in C-bus a couple of years later.
The Bama fan base, media and Fish Fry would have been a match made in heaven. At least, the Toomer Corner trees would still be in downtown Auburn, and Tommy Tuberville may still be on the Plains.
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Is that Tedford or Bill Murray?
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I thought the same…
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They wouldn’t have gone 7-6 in year 1, but they’d have gotten there. Great system that nobody wants to play in these days.
Of course, I’ve always wondered what might have been had Erk gotten the job in 1989. CPJ would have been the OC.
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Derek, you’re right. The system is excellent at what it does. The main question is whether you can win at the highest level with that system today because HS offensive players can’t prepare themselves for a future in the League and defensive players don’t see the type of offenses in practice they will every week. Eventually, that leads to a talent drain at a P5 program. You better recruit guys to the system that have no NFL dream and play for pride and the education (like the guys at the service academies).
If the NCAA ever outlaws cut blocking, Paul Johnson becomes unemployed soon thereafter.
In 1989, we may have been able to run that offense and be successful, but no Eric Zeier, no Andre Hastings, and likely no Garrison Hearst among others. I just don’t think Erk could have brought the formula to the P5 and been successful in the long term.
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It would have been different, that’s for sure. Maybe Charlie Ward doesn’t go to Tallahassee? Maybe tommy Frazier doesn’t go from south Florida all the way to Lincoln Nebraska? Joe Hamilton? Lots of studly qbs who could have filled that role then. Having watched what erk and CPJ built in a short time at Statesboro my feeling is that it would have worked. The team of the 1990’s was Nebraska. It could have been us. So I hate Chuck Knapp with every fiber of my being.
Won’t work long term now, but if alabama hired CPJ before spring practice, with the qb they have, no one would be within 21 points. Then the talent would dry up, no doubt.
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I’ve often thought about how it would work out in the SEC. Even if it meant great success though, there’s some things I can’at allow myself to even imagine. CPJ standing on the sidelines wearing Red and Black is one of them. Plus it would require a new mascot because UGA hates him and it would be embarrassing to have your mascot biting your head coach on national TV.
There’s no reason to really believe he would have dominated the SEC anymore than he has the ACC. He wins his share and sometimes a little more.
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Well you just can’t look at it backwards. You have to look at it as if it were 1989 and CPJ was never a bug. I’m sure that if CMR had become Tech’s coach after the resume padder left, we couldn’t imagine him as a dawg either. What if Vince had recruited SOS out if Johnson City? Everything changes. Such is life.
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Charlie Ward? He still goes to F$U from Central of Thomasville in 1988 and wins the Heisman with CMR. He’s still one of the best high school QBs I’ve ever seen especially live.
Tommy Frazier? It definitely would have been interesting seeing him run the Hambone with a good mix of running and throwing.
Same for Joe Hamilton … I wouldn’t want to see him at tech now.
All of that assumes that Erk and Fish Fry make it past 1995 and keep Florida as 2nd class citizen in the SEC. Steven O. Spurrier becomes a footnote in the history of the WLOCP as the Gators continue to pursue their first fairly won SEC championship. A man can dream …
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Absolutely this. Those Tommy Frazier led teams from the mid-90s were amongst the best of all time. The dumbest thing Nebraska ever did was fire Frank Solich two years removed from playing for the national title. Abandoning the I-Formation option game was abandoing their identity and everything that made them unique.
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Nebraska’s teams had lost a step or 2 by the time Solich was fired IMO. That Miami team in 2000 made Nebraska look very pedestrian.
Tom Osborne was one of the best of all time. I would suggest he likely has at least a couple of additional national championships if they don’t have to play Oklahoma with Switzer every year.
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To me,the absolute most fascinating aspect of the entire Saban-Miami-Alabama saga involves the Dolphins team doctor, who refused to clear Drew Brees after his shoulder surgery suffered as a Charger. If he would have simply done that (which N.O. did shortly thereafter and, in the end, was proven correct over the Miami team doc in the end), Saban 100% stays in Miami and most likely would have never ended up at Bama.
Saban was thrilled to get Brees, in which now he felt he could go toe to toe with Bellichick/Brady given he now had a franchise QB. Instead, he quickly found himself left with Daunte Culpeper, whom he knew was a huge drop off from Brees and would basically mean more of the same .500 type football in the year ahead. Thus, he had Sexton get back on the horn with Bama, and the rest is history.
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Any article that makes Schultz look like a fool has my approval.
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Compare that to the list UGA had when they hired Smart or Richt. There are a few good names, at least at the time, on the list.
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What list? 😉
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