Ad Disclosure
Dear Alabama fans: It’ll be a’ight without Nick Saban, I promise
By David Wasson
Published:
The following is an open letter to Alabama Crimson Tide fans …
Dear Tide Nation,
It’s OK, I understand.
It’s OK to be fearful of the future, what with Nick Saban now dominating commercials and the ESPN College GameDay desk like he dominated the SEC for over a decade. Saban and his double-fistful of rings isn’t gone out of our fall Saturday lives now, but now we have to share him with the rest of the unwashed out there who don’t know what it is like to have championship parade plans refreshed on a yearly basis.
It’s OK to be fearful of Saban’s replacement, a dude we hadn’t even heard of until last year from a place we aren’t even sure is actually in the United States. Kalen DeBoer is a West Coast guy, that’s for sure – he renovated Saban’s posh office to make it look like an Apple Store instead of the mahogany-hued country club men’s locker room-looking vibe. And he is in process of renovating our beloved Crimson Tide as well.
It’s OK to be fearful of throwing the ball, y’all. A wise man once said that there are three outcomes when you chuck it around the yard, and two of them are no good. But apparently that’s the wave of the future, matriculating the ball through the air and not by simply running it down opponents’ throats. Saban and Co. already had semi-bent to this new-fangled offensive philosophy, but we all better be ready for lots more passing and lots less of 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust.
It’s OK to be fearful of the future, because you’re all too aware of the past. Unless you’re a recent bandwagon-jumper (and if so, welcome!), you remember all to well the hinterlands the Alabama program descended to after Coach Bryant shuffled off this mortal coil. Alabama spent the better part of two decades trying to replace Bryant – and only a fellow former Aggie named Stallings came close, but the surrounding slapstick attempts at legacy maintenance left us all with far more of a sour taste and a much better understanding of the NCAA’s investigative reach.
It’s OK to be fearful of all this, dear Tide fan. Any change brings an unhealthy combination of resistance and skepticism. You won’t find anyone now to admit this, but there was a small slice of folks who questioned why Alabama was throwing all the money they threw at Saban early in his Tuscaloosa tenure. There were those (cough, cough … me) who rightly said that, if anything, Saban was underpaid in his initial eight-year, $32 million deal. That Lord Saban would deliver 10-fold on that investment in time. Now, we have a jewel of a home in Bryant-Denny Stadium (that wouldn’t have gotten all these nifty renovations without Saban’s winning ways) and have regained our rightful place atop the college football throne. The only downside was having to shell out on new flagpoles for all the national championship banners and needing to long-term plan for yet another national championship statue.
It’s OK, too, if DeBoer doesn’t exactly set the world on fire right away this season. Saban was the greatest college football coach of all time, and he went 7-6 in 2007 – and needed to beat Colorado in the Independence Bowl to do that. We aren’t prognosticating that DeBoer’s 2024 Crimson Tide are headed to Shreveport to take on Coach Prime and the Buffaloes, but don’t go gathering For Sale signs to pile up on his lawn if the Tide stumbles at some point this season. There was an actual raid of talent in the days after Saban’s stunning Jan. 10 retirement – programs practically pitching tents outside the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility looking to lure our guys away.
It’s OK, Tide fans. Alabama is still Alabama, after all. Jalen Milroe is a bona fide Heisman Trophy candidate. The defense is still primed to be stingy. DeBoer righted the ship quickly before too much talent bolted out the door and already is recruiting like the menace we used to have when Saban was the undisputed master of the living room.
Take a deep breath, think long term, and enjoy the ride that the Alabama football program will take you on this season. It might even be oddly refreshing to take a short break from Joyless Murderball – if for no other reason than to appreciate the absolute decade of dominance we enjoyed not so long ago.
It’s OK, I understand.
Your friend,
DW
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
