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Posted by Montgomery (AL) Advertizer on 1/24/2008, 12:22 pm
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COMMENTARY: National media won't let up on Saban
By Josh Moon
Don't cross the media.
Those words should be burned into the minds of every coach in America. No matter what shady dealings you involve yourself in and no matter how many lies you tell, just make sure you leave the people who have notebooks and video cameras out of it.
If you want to know what will happen if you ignore that advice, call up Nick Saban.
Since his departure from Miami last year, Saban has been turned into college football's No. 1 villain. And no other coach can seem to measure up to the pure evil that he exudes.
No matter what underhanded nonsense some other coaches pull, no matter how sleazy some other coaches turn out to be, no matter how much some other coaches lie, they never quite obtain "Saban status," according to the media.
Don't believe that? Just look at Bobby Petrino and Rich Rodriguez -- both of whom have been labeled by the media in recent weeks as "not as bad as Saban."
I don't get it. How can you say Petrino and Rodriguez aren't in Saban's league?
I mean, if the conversation is on bad form in leaving a job, Petrino's in a league all by himself. Because what he pulled with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank will go down as the slimiest exit in football history.
Given the small time frame between Petrino assuring Blank that he was staying and him accepting the job at Arkansas, Petrino might very well have lied to Blank while he was on the phone with Arkansas officials.
"Uh, hold on just a sec, Art. (Into cell phone) Yeah, a five-year deal will be fine. (Back to Blank) Sorry about that. As I was saying, you've got a coach, Art."
Click!
And still, Petrino, at least according to some, doesn't measure up to Saban. How can that be? Simple: Petrino didn't treat the media poorly.
As a result, Petrino's got at least a few people out there who are willing to consider his excuses and at least report his side of things.
Saban never had that luxury. He had so alienated the media that no one cared about his excuses or his situation. So, he just took a beating.
If only it would work like that for Rodriguez. But it's not. He's getting the same treatment Petrino got, despite the fact that Rodriguez's antics of late might very well be the most shameful example of greed and arrogance ever displayed in college athletics.
First off, RichRod bolted West Virginia for Michigan -- sending a grad assistant to inform his bosses at WVU, because he's sweet like that -- about four months after signing a new contract with the Mountaineers. Included in that contract was a $4 million buyout, which Rodriguez is now trying to weasel out of by claiming the school didn't keep a few promises.
Oh, but wait, it gets even slimier. As the lawsuits heat up, it has been discovered that RichRod also used his WVU-issued cell phone to call UM recruits before he officially accepted the job at UM and before he informed WVU officials that he was leaving. So, basically, he informed Michigan recruits that he was leaving WVU before he told his own Mountaineer players.
While that's way low, let's watch Rich slither in under it.
The latest bit of shadiness to be revealed is that all the football files, including the files on every WVU player and files on recruits, are missing. School officials are alleging Rodriguez, or someone on his staff, destroyed them.
Without the files, the school has no documentation on any achievements or awards earned by the players and has no records of disciplinary actions taken against any player.
It's a good thing WVU is Rodriguez's alma mater or might've really shafted the place.
But here's the kicker: After all of that, in a column that ran this past Wednesday in the Ann Arbor News, columnist Jim Carty says, "Let's say this up front: Rodriguez is not Saban."
Carty's right. Rodriguez isn't Saban. He's far, far worse. Saban's just greedy and arrogant. He's not underhanded and borderline fraudulent.
Look, I think we all know that I'm no Saban apologist. I've been pretty hard on the guy for his arrogant attitude, his childish media policies and his overrated record. But this reputation Saban has developed isn't based on fact or circumstance. It's been generated by a media snowball.
We hated Saban because of the way he acted in Miami and the way he has treated the media the last few years. And that's fine.
But at the same time, we've turned Saban into a comic book-like villain. And I think it's gone a little too far.
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