February 27, 2008
krogers
If Nick Saban never expected to face the media after a loss to Louisiana Monroe, how do you think he felt about Tuesday’s topic?
After eight Crimson Tide players had been arrested since he arrived in January 2007, Saban felt the time was right to discuss law and order — or the lack of it — in his Alabama football program.
It was a tough assignment because the coach couldn’t make sweeping edicts about what will happen the next time a Crimson Tide football player is arrested.
Situations that call for discipline rarely are as black-and-white as a kid sticking a gun in the face of two people and robbing them of $26.
And let it be noted that Saban responded swiftly and appropriately to Jeremy Elder’s criminal behavior. Elder has been sent home for at least a year. The University doesn’t have to let him come back. It would be shocking if it did.
Unlike that bizarre act, most the off-field problems Saban has dealt with is unruly behavior in and around nightclubs. Late at night.
Now, no matter where you stand on this issue, it’d be tough to convince me that anything good happens after 2 a.m. at or near a bar. That’s not the time to debate Tuscaloosa police, campus officers or even bouncers, no matter how badly they may be behaving.
Rashad Johnson isn’t a troublemaker, but he was the eighth player arrested since Saban’s arrival. It was Saturday morning on the Tuscaloosa Strip. He was charged with disorderly conduct.
Disorderly conduct is not armed robbery. It may not be excusable, but it’s not armed robbery.
Saban knows that. But he also knows that perception can be reality. If Alabama is seen as a place for thugs, he won’t sign the nation’s top recruiting class next year.
His frustration level rises when his players pop off and ignite problems that could and should be avoided.
“There are degrees of everything,” he said Tuesday. “And I’m not going to make comments, but guys have to know when to walk away and keep their mouths shut and that’s probably been the biggest issue that we’ve had to deal with relative to being respectful to people in authority.
“And that could happen to anyone. And that can be disorderly conduct. So does that… there is relative degrees for what you get arrested for relative to the penalties can be.
“The problem is, as soon as you say arrest — when you get a traffic ticket, you’re really getting arrested, too — when you say arrest… and I have never dealt with what we’re dealing with here. We have an issue that we have to work on internally and improve our players awareness of how they need to represent themselves and act. And we also need to do a better job of educating them and developing relationships with people so we have a better understanding of how to educate them so we don’t have these issues in the future. It’s not good for the community, it’s not good for the person, it’s not good for the program, it’s not good for the young men, it’s not good for anybody, it’s not good for the reputations, it’s not good for anybody.”
Saban can make players run stadium steps all day and sweep up lobbies of senior citizens’ centers all night. But there really has to be some accountability from the players in these cases. Does anybody say, man, it’s 1:30, let’s call it a night?
The coach said repeatedly last year that curfews and putting places off limits often creates a forbidden fruit attraction. Besides, these guys aren’t high school kids anymore. In fact, part of the college experience is stretching your limits and your body clock. No one I went to school at Troy didn’t enjoy a late-night outing at least once in a while. Some of them majored in it.
Saban hinted that his players may be restricted in where they go.
“I have always been a strong proponent as the NCAA has of players being able to do and live the same student experience as anyone else,” Saban said. “If we continue to have problems, there may be some places that we are going to ask our players not to go. There have been some limitations already placed on that. It’s a team issue, it’s not going to be discussed publicly.”
Again, personal accountability apparently wasn’t a strong enough deterrent. If you’re responsible for memorizing a playbook and being on time to class and practice, you ought to be able to impose a little self-discipline on a weekend night.
Frankly, it’s easier said than done. After all, Mike Price failed to grasp that he was the football coach at the University of Alabama all day, every day. You give up a lot to be a part of that program.
The players in it need to realize that they are University of Alabama football players all the time, especially when they are in Tuscaloosa. They, too, give up some things to be part of the program. If that price is too high, we’ll miss them.
Everybody wants to win. Saban certainly does. But not at all costs. He pledged again to do things the right way. He vowed to work to get that message through to his players.
We’ve heard a good bit of this last year. Something about the anger and awkwardness of Tuesday tells me the message will be delivered more forcefully this time.
But they still have to listen.
Posted in by Ken Rogers on 02/27 at 12:12 AM
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February 14, 2008
krogers
Wednesday night’s Alabama victory over Ole Miss was noteworthy not for what Alabama did, but what it didn’t do.
The Crimson Tide didn’t beat itself. The litany of self-destructive behavior evident in previous close-but-no-cigar losses was missing.
Free throws? Alabama was 24-for-32. It ended the first half making 10 straight foul shots and was 10-for-12 in the final three minutes of the game.
Poor defense? The Tide played intense, aggressive defense and appeared to contest more shots than in any other SEC game they’ve played. Ole Miss shot 36.5 percent from the field. More telling, the Rebels turned it over 16 times. Alabama had 42 rebounds (Ole Miss had 44) against the top-rebounding team in the SEC.
Poor 3-point shooting? Alabama wasn’t great, but its 6-for-22 night was good enough to stay with Ole Miss, which shot 8-for-24 from 3-point range.
In short, Alabama made Mississippi beat them, and the Rebels didn’t play well enough to do it. Ole Miss fell to 0-5 on the road in the SEC.
Alabama is 0-4 on the road and will visit South Carolina desperate to snap that skid on Saturday. Alabama hasn’t won on the road in the SEC since beating LSU in Baton Rouge last season for its lone league road win. The year before that, the Tide was 3-5 on the road in the SEC, winning at Auburn, Kentucky and Ole Miss.
The Crimson Tide has just two more conference home games—Feb. 27 against Arkansas and March 8 against Vanderbilt. It needs to find ways to win on the road in the final weeks.
South Carolina is 3-6 in the SEC and just 1-3 at home. Road trips to Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU are also upcoming. Those are winnable games, if the team plays smart, solid basketball. Wednesday offered some signs of improvement. More will be needed to win on the road.
Posted in by Ken Rogers on 02/14 at 05:34 PM
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February 07, 2008
krogers
As Alabama basked in the afterglow of landing the consensus No. 1 class in the country, it enjoyed some spoils from the recruiting wars, too.
Lance Thompson, Alabama’s outside linebackers coach, on Thursday was named Rivals.com National Recruiter of the Year. Thompson recruited the Mobile area for Nick Saban, which held the key for the class. Two five-star Alabama signees, receiver Julio Jones and Burton Scott, who is so versatile he’s listed just as an athlete, are from the Mobile area.
That fertile ground also produced commitments from three St. Paul’s teammates—Ivan Matchett, Destin Hood and Mark Barron. Defensive end Glenn Harbin, defensive back Robert Lester and running back Jermaine Preyear were among the Mobile-area contingent.
Alabama had not enjoyed much success recruiting the area in recent years. Saban and Thompson changed that in a hurry.
“I appreciate this recognition from Rivals, but it should really go to our entire staff and to the University of Alabama,” Thompson said in a statement released Thursday by the university. “Everything we do here is about family and that is what you heard when you listened to our signees yesterday at their press conferences. Alabama’s family atmosphere, coaching staff, players and tradition make this a very special place.”
Saban, in the same statement issued by the university, called it a team effort.
“Lance did a good job and worked extremely hard, but at Alabama we recruit as a team. I don’t really think that an assistant coach or head coach gets a guy to come to school. I think it’s the university itself, the relationships of the people and the players,” Saban said. “It’s the overall philosophy of the program. Every single one of our coaches is a great recruiter and we all work together to develop positive relationships with those we recruit. We have a lot of guys involved. I think Lance did a great job of setting the table and developing a plan for how we would have the best chance to be successful, and I think we all worked hard to try and make it happen and it worked out very well for us.”
Posted in by Ken Rogers on 02/07 at 04:16 PM
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February 06, 2008
krogers
Alabama was going to land a great recruiting class anyway. But signing day commitments from coveted five-star wide receiver Julio Jones of Foley and four-star outside linebacker Jerrell Harris of Gadsden likely cemented Nick Saban’s program with the nation’s top recruiting class today.
Jones and Harris brought the class to 32 commitments. According to rivals.com, three of those are five-star athletes (scale of five)—offensive lineman Tyler Love of Birmingham, Jones and Burton Scott of Prichard. Harris is one of 19 four-star athletes in the class and there are eight three-stars.
By mid-afternoon, rivals.com had Alabama ranked first in the country with its class, ahead of, in order, Notre Dame, Florida, Miami and Oklahoma. Georgia, Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan and Southern Cal rounded out the top 10.
One of the signees, four-star defensive end/linebacker Courtney Upshaw of Eufaula, said he felt special pride in being part of the elite class.
“It just adds to the day,” Upshaw said. “I just heard we got Julio, too. It was good to get him. I feel great about (the class). My name will be one of the the names that people when Alabama gets back to where they used to be. That feels great.”
Saban’s press conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. today to discuss the class.
Posted in by Ken Rogers on 02/06 at 02:23 PM
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