(01-14-2021 09:59 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-14-2021 09:50 AM)bullet Wrote:  Saban can produce great offenses while constantly flipping coordinators because he has the talent.

He is a great coach. He knows how to motivate and focus his team. But with turnover in the coaching ranks, talent allows you to overcome the learning curve.

No question. But then again, there's no law that bequeaths Saban a large amount of talent each year. He gets it because he is an ace recruiter, because Alabama is a blue blood with many titles, and because of the reputation he has built up over the years in terms of having great teams and putting lots of guys in the NFL.

It's no different than why Urban Meyer got tons of talent at Ohio State and before then Florida, why Spurrier and Bowden got a ton of talent in the 1990s, why Bear Bryant had it in the 1970s, and why Duke and Kentucky and North Carolina always have tons of talent in hoops, etc.

And beyond that, give Saban credit for innovating. E.g., I recall the 2017 kickoff classic game between #1 Alabama and #3 FSU, which was being touted as a possible national title game rematch at the end of the season. They showed the coaches boxes, and Jimbo Fisher and FSU - a big time coach of a big time program - had like three guys up in their box. Saban had like 9 in his. He has "analysts" for just about everything, and most of those guys are ex-coaches who worked at major programs.

He develops his players skills and gets them drafted. Recruits play where they have the greatest chance of being noticed and making it professionally. As conferences the SEC and ACC do the best job of this, largely because of the talent pool, but what separates Saban and Swinney from the rest is the ability to develop the skill sets of the players. Malzahn for one failed to ever develop the QB's even though he had several highly rated ones at his time at Auburn. When a QB goes to Alabama or Clemson they get better than the raw talent they had.

It is the ability to evaluate talent and not just look at the number of stars next to their name, and the ability to evaluate a kids coachability and teach them to hone their skills that separates great coaches from average or even above average ones.