With Saban, No. 1 'Bama writing new chapter in storied program

The calendar says three years.

A brief snapshot in a 114-year-old program.

History suggests there have been chasms between 10-win seasons at Alabama since Bear Bryant retired.

NCAA probations, coaching changes, scandals, losing seasons. Alabama has rebounded every time, never going more than three seasons without 10 wins since Bear stepped down after the 1982 season.

Resiliency doesn't begin to describe 'Bama. There are only a handful of programs that bounce right back from major NCAA penalties. Fewer then that continue to thrive despite going through coaches like they were bon bons. None that could survive the white-hot heat of the day-to-day pressure to win.

"We hold ourselves to a higher standard," Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson said this week.

He was talking about the current Tide, at their accustomed No. 1 spot in the polls for the first time in the regular season since 1980. He could have been talking the steel plating that has encased the entire program for decades.

Nick Saban could become the fourth coach this decade to win a national championship in his second year at a school. There might be pressure elsewhere to duplicate that feat. At Alabama it is lived every day.

"We appreciate the acknowledgement (of being ranked No. 1)," Saban said, "but that really doesn't define anything."

Not until the ranking is backed up with what the school would proclaim to be its 13th national championship. Win No. 10 for Saban could come this week, in that second season, if Alabama is able to beat LSU.

It seems like a lifetime since 'Bama was at this place. Safety Rashad Johnson was asked the last time he received back slaps and congratulations on campus.

"Uh, I guess it would have to be two years ago," he said.

That's right. The last 10-win season was in 2005. That Tide team finished 10-2. A season later, Mike Shula was sent packing. That's Alabama.

Nick Saban and the Tide are happy with No. 1 but 'that really doesn't define anything.' (US Presswire)

"They expect you to win," said athletic director Mal Moore, who ought to know. The 68-year-old has been a part of seven national championships since arriving as a player under Bryant in 1958.

"That creates a feeling or an air or a sense of responsibility."

Through his gruff exterior, Saban gets it. When he was hired for an average of $4 million per year, it was a business transaction. Saban had the confidence to get it done and the school paid top dollar for his services. The coach probably has no more loyalty to Alabama than he did to Michigan State, except that more is expected of him in Tuscaloosa.

That's part of the resiliency. Saban has it. Dennis Franchione didn't.

To ask if Moore is getting his money's worth seems crass except that it is the obvious question at this point.

"I don't want to say it like that," Moore said. "When we made the change, I wanted to hire a coach who had won a championship, wanted someone who had been there. Certainly coach Saban fits the bill. It's not new to him. It's what we desperately wanted."

This, then, is the week why Saban was hired. Circumstances have conspired for that No. 1 ranking to be tested in the coach's first visit (as a college coach) to his old employer.

Only the $4 million coach with Saban's resolve could stand up at a press conference and say about the game, "It's not about me."

But it is all about you, Nick.

Extra security might be needed to get you safely into (and out of) Tiger Stadium when the Tide goes to LSU. Your players have been peppered with questions about the coach all week. LSU fans are waiting with every sort of insult.

The game should be a reminder of how far Alabama has come. Last season's 41-34 loss to LSU was one of six games lost by seven points or less. After starting 6-2, the Tide were never the same after that LSU loss -- they lost four of their last five.

There is no doubt that this team has arrived a year early -- at least -- in Saban's grand plan. A squad that has only nine scholarship seniors has trailed for a total of 75 seconds all season.

Patience has worn thin in a hurry at a lot of places recently. Kansas State's Ron Prince on Wednesday became the fifth coach to be fired or resign during this season. It took the perfect combination of factors for 'Bama to get to this point. Saban was dissatisfied with the NFL. Alabama was desperate. Money was no object.

"That's what tradition is," Moore said. "It's something you can't buy."

Well, sometimes.

In other programs, Saban's no-excuses approach wouldn't have been tolerated by skeptical veteran players. At Alabama they were expected to snap to attention. Four million and a national championship get your attention real quick.

"With a coach like that you pretty much have to jump on board," center Antoine Caldwell said. "We had to fall in line with it. It's about winning and getting it right."

Every day. All the time. If not, someone else will. Alabama doesn't stay down for long.