Saban part of media he chided; but for how long?

By Ed Daniels, Sports
Clarion Herald

I can’t take credit for it, but it was a great question posed by former TV colleague Ro Brown.

“Ed, have you ever noticed that players and coaches who always knock the media wind up on TV?”

He was right 30 years ago, and Mr. Brown is correct now.

So, let’s jog forward to last week, and the announcement from ESPN that former Alabama coach Nick Saban would be joining their “College Gameday” crew.

You knew this was coming. When Saban announced his retirement, he didn’t visit with local media. He did one interview, and that was with his future employer.

So, this fall, the coach who made the phrase “rat poison” a part of the football lexicon, will be pontificating on college football.

After a game against Texas A&M, Saban chided reporters for making his job more difficult.

Saban told reporters that his team needed to listen to him, not all the folks who wrote how talented his team was.

And, then he added the following: “All that stuff they hear on ESPN, it is like poison. Rat poison.”

Welcome, Nick. Like it or not, you are now a member of the media.

But, my guess is not for long.

I can’t imagine Saban doing TV for the long haul. Coaching football, his lifelong mistress, will beckon.

Right now, Saban is playing golf, enjoying the good life. Good for him. He’s earned it.

But, what will it be like in June and July, when that season, that is now somewhere in the distance, is right around the corner?

What happens when NFL and college teams go to fall camp and the drumbeat of another year beats even louder?

You can bet, that as soon as NFL teams start slowly, Nick Saban’s name will be at the top of everyone’s list.

The NFL is the one place where he didn’t succeed as a head coach. In two seasons in Miami, Saban was 15 wins, 17 losses.

Is he ready to scratch that itch, one more time?

If the Dallas Cowboys call or the Philadelphia Eagles call or the New York Jets call, would Nick Saban listen?

In New York, Saban would have the ultimate challenge: taking the Jets to a Super Bowl. And, the amount of cash he would command? Back up the Brinks truck.

Saban will be 73 years young in October.

He has always been a mountain climber. Most of the great coaches are.

And, sometime this summer, or fall, he may get that itch.

And, TV may not be enough to sufficiently scratch it.

Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].