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Bama Fans Eye Urban-Like Ascent For Saban

By ANDY STAPLES The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 27, 2007

HOOVER, ALA. - Wearing crimson jerseys and houndstooth hats, they stood behind a velvet rope Thursday. They cradled Sharpie pens and autograph-ready footballs and craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the man they hope - no, they know - can bring the program they love back to college football's Promised Land.

Now, take those true-believing University of Alabama fans out of the lobby of the Wynfrey Hotel and put them in the St. Petersburg Coliseum in May 2005. Take off the houndstooth hats and change the jerseys from crimson to blue.

Change nothing else, because that same blind hope swam in the eyes of Florida fans two years ago. Their once-proud program had fallen on hard times, and Urban Meyer was just the person to raise it up again.

Alabama fans expect the same of Nick Saban. Saban has been quick to point out the difficulty of the job ahead, but Meyer's rapid ascension - combined with Saban's salary of almost $4 million a year - have added to the pressure to produce a champion quickly.

"There's no waving a wand and making all that happen," Saban said Thursday. "But we work hard and go from where we are right now to try to get to where we want to be. There's no real formula for what the timetable to do that is."

Meyer came to Southeastern Conference media days Thursday as coach of the defending national champion, but he could have walked through the Wynfrey's lobby early Thursday afternoon with a "Hi … My team whipped Ohio State for the national title" sticker on his suit jacket, and the multitudes behind the velvet rope barely would have noticed. Their man Saban hopped from radio show to radio show, talking about "building" and a "work in progress," but, like Florida fans two years ago, the Bama fans hope their new coach is only being modest.

Can Saban follow Meyer's trajectory and bring the Crimson Tide a national title in Year Two? Or does the nation's most demanding fan base expect nothing less than a title in Year One? A look at the similarities and differences between Meyer and Saban's arrivals may offer some clues.

Each man replaced an unpopular predecessor (Ron Zook and Mike Shula) who failed to live up to expectations in his first head-coaching stint. Each man had previous success in college. Meyer had gone 39-8 in his first four seasons as a head coach, and Saban went 48-16 with a shared national title at LSU before a less-than-memorable two-year stint with the Miami Dolphins.

Asked what he remembered about the spring and summer of 2005, when Florida fans packed venues across the state to hear his plan to bring them a title, Meyer said he blocked out the hype and concentrated on what would happen when his players took the field.

"I'd kind of shake their hand and move on as fast as I can and get back to what's really important," Meyer said. "What's really important is getting around your players."

Players are the key difference between Meyer and Saban's arrivals. Meyer inherited a talented team from Zook and a fertile recruiting base. Saban inherits a team less talented than any he coached at LSU. And while he had talent-rich Louisiana all to himself, he now must share a state that produces fewer prospects with rival Auburn, which has beaten Alabama five consecutive years.

Unlike Meyer in 2005, Saban already appreciates the difficulty of coaching in the SEC. He knows LSU's defensive backs can cover his receivers one-on-one, something Meyer learned the hard way his first season.

Saban also knows the expectations he faces. He has looked into the eyes beneath those houndstooth hats. He has seen the hope.

"It's great to be optimistic," Saban said. "It's probably not so good to be pessimistic. But it's best to be realistic, to stay focused on the process of things you need to do to continue to improve so that you can reach your full potential."

Reporter Andy Staples can be reached at (352) 262-3719 or astaples@tampatrib.com.