If there’s one person who can reliably provide the media with a good rant even after a big win, it’s Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Yesterday he gave us another great one.
Following questions about the status of left guard Emil Ekiyor and his place on the depth chart, Saban began a rant about what a negative the official depth chart has become for his team. He suggested that he might stop releasing a formal depth chart just to stop the constant questioning.
“Now, if Emil didn’t miss 5 days of practice, I’m not sure who would have started at left guard,” Saban said. “Because there’s competition at every position, which is a good thing. My biggest issue, and this may be the last time you ever get one. My biggest issue on the whole team was the day the depth chart came out, so you may have seen the last one. Y’all may have seen the last one. Because that’s all you worry about.”
As with many things Saban says, he’s getting a lot of praise for going off on the media like this. But some fans – particularly Texas fans – are annoyed that Saban is getting praise for it while Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian got roasted for doing the exact same thing:
Still others are just tired of Saban acting like this after every basic question he’s asked:
There certainly is something to be said for how old the shtick from Saban is getting. But so long as he keeps winning, his methods are above reproach.
If people want Saban to change his ways, he’s going to have to lose a lot of games first.
And with the way he builds his team, that’s not happening this year.