re: Since hiring its new coach, the silence from the Alabama fans has been deafening!

I wish them nothing but bitter disappointment, but . . .

Without Saban, LSU has played in three national championship games and won two with different coaches. Who's to say Alabama won't stumble into another title over the next 15 years?

The thing that makes me laugh at the Gumps is them smugly pointing out that Saban will still be on campus to serve as Coaching Legend Emeritus and counsel DeBoer through the transition.

Ha! Saban knows better. Think he would have wanted some ex-coach looking over his shoulder? Saban didn't exactly embrace Don Shula's presence when he took over the Dolphins.

Come the fall, Saban will be down at his palatial retirement home in Florida, watching games on TV. His neighbors will view him as the grumpy old man down the street.

When Bear Bryant retired in 1982, he told his son that he didn't want to be anywhere near Tuscaloosa when football season came around. He didn't want to cast a shadow on the new coach, Ray Perkins.

Deep down the Gumps are worried. They should be.