BornSlippy said:
I think part of the key to the Pats success in drafting is that Belechick has so many friends who are College coaches giving him inside information and more direct scouting. For years he had guys like Saban, Pat Hill, and Kirk Farentz. Thats essentially an inside source in the SEC and Big Ten. He would also always draft a guy from LSU or sign them as rookie Free agents (maybe he did this in return for inside info, he would bring these guys to the Pats, and in turn that could help the recruiting pitch). When Saban left, Belichick befriended Urban Meyer, who now coaches in the SEC, and he drafted 2 Gators and brought 3 others in to training camp. On College Gameday last saturday they had a little special on their friendship and how Meyer asks him how to build a team, and BB asks Meyer about spread offenses etc. (that Pats offense sure looked like the Florida offense last night). Now Belechick has Meyer, Weis, Farentz, and Hill as connections. Thats connections on the East Coast, MidWest, and West Coast. What I want to know is does Saban have similar connections, or is his ego big enough to believe that he doesnt need it?
I think Saban probably has the SEC pretty well covered. I bet he has plenty of friends in the SEC. Our defensive coordinator last year, Will Muschamp, is the defensive coordinator for Auburn this year. That's a good connection. He was the coach at Michigan State, so he probably still knows a bunch of people up in Big 10 country. He's been a coach his whole life since college, so he's probably met and talked with a lot of people on recruiting trips over the years. Hopefully, he knows a bunch of people in the PAC10, ACC, and Big 12 .... gotta know lots of people in Cali, Texas, and the East Coast schools. If he has a lot of contacts in just the state of Florida, he's doing good. If he doesn't know them, I'm sure he has some really good scouts out there who do.
I bet he has a pretty big Rolodex and his wife sends out a bunch of Christmas cards every year. I bet he can get straight up insider information from people he knows about players who could be really good in the NFL. He's probably in the Belichick coaching tree network somehow or another. He was an NFL assistant coach for a few years in the early 90s. Saban has paid his dues to become an NFL head coach. I hope he can adapt to the NFL world again and master what he needs to master like his buddy Belichick has.
In a way, it's not a good idea for Saban to get too enamored with particular players in the draft or free agents. He needs to have other people like Mueller there to have a lot of input too ... maybe even overrule him sometimes. Saban is probably pretty good at evaluating defensive players and not as good at evaluating offensive players. I think Saban ought to let Coach Houck have a LOT of input about offensive linemen in the draft and free agency. He can see little things on film that Saban and Mueller might not think is important. If anyone knows linemen, its Houck.
Mueller does the draft and free agency stuff just about year round. Saban might not be objective enough about things at draft time. He needs to have other people around to make sure he's not making a decision based TOO much on gut feelings and people he knows and all that. It's not wise for a CEO to have a bunch of "yes men" around who might have really good ideas and know more about certain things but are too intimidated to speak up and tell the boss what's on their mind ... about better alternatives, other things to consider, etc.
If Belichick gives him some advice, he ought to listen. Belichick's been around the block in the NFL a lot longer. Belichick got lucky as hell with Brady. Let's face it, Brady makes him look like a coaching god. That would be Belichick's first piece of advice ... get an all-world top 5 quarterback and build a team around him.
Maybe Saban ought to start wearing one of those shabby looking cutoff sweatshirts like Belichick has with the Dolphins name and logo on it. Why not? He can't really wear those hats to games like he has in training camp. Like Andre Agassi used to say ... sometimes "image is everything". When you're an NFL head coach there's a lot of PR involved. How the fans and people perceive you in the media IS important. We need a "cool" coach that's well respected, gets things done and the players like to play for and all that ... like Tony Romo said the other day ... he wants to be "a Parcells guy".
And, of course, ya gotta have a coach that wins a LOT of games and gets the team into the playoffs every couple of years. That certainly helps. Win games and look like you're having a hell of a good time doing it. Amazing how well the Cowboys players and coaches seem to be getting along now that they won last week with Romo. Parcells was even having some fun with T.O. on the sidelines tweaking his hat. Parcells was even kissing a bunch of players. I guess kissing in football is okay when you're winning. The macho guys on ESPN "Pardon the Interruption" were poking a little fun at Parcells over that. :D
