Nick Saban has become so much more likeable.....

Nick never chose to leave LSU... he has said many times that what he did to force him out of LSU was his biggest professional regret. He will be Kiff's biggest supporter for sure.

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Do you think he wishes he would have returned to LSU from the Dolphns?

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He did try to. But LSU couldn’t tell Les Miles to kick rocks so we ended up with the grass eater instead of a dynasty.

Never disliked him... I just hated the Bama dominance. He laid the current LSU foundation.

Well, it’s hard to like a fellow when he gets his team to kick your team’s arse year in and year out

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Nick never chose to leave LSU

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Um, that is exactly what he did. He chose to become the HC of the Miami Dolphins. LSU didn't tell him that he had to leave. He wanted to try being a NFL coach.

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He did try to. But LSU couldn’t tell Les Miles to kick rocks so we ended up with the grass eater instead of a dynasty.

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Les was 10-1 in his first regular season and ended the year with a blowout win over top 10 Miami. One where he had to navigate his program through the worst natural disaster maybe in Louisiana history. He was 10-2 in year 2 with what was expected to be a championship caliber team returning in 2007. Saban had the NC at LSU. But he also only won 10 games in a regular seasons once in 5 years.

In January of 2006 there was little objective reason to get rid of Les. He paid it off with a NC the following year (albeit with some good fortune)

Like many things in life the only reason Saban ended up at Alabama was fortuitous timing for AL. Mike Shula was 9-2 in 2005. Many thought Alabama was "back" after that season. Then, Alabama collapses at the same time Saban was growing leery of the NFL. Still, Alabama wanted to hire Rich Rodriguez. Rich decided to stay at WVU and Alabama took a swing for Saban just at the right time. The rest is history.

Look at Ohio State. They had zero desire to fire Jim Tressell in 2010. They ultimately did...at the same time Ohio native, Urban Meyer, left Florida. After a year of OSU struggling and Urban sitting out, the two matched needs. OSU need a HC and Meyer wanted a big time job.

Agreed

You couldn’t pull for him at Bama but he has always been the same.

Frick him and his verneers

He's much more likeable, when he's not Kicking Our arse.

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I think he even looks more fondly on his LSU years than his Bama years. He is really high on Kiffin and LSU and it's good to se him go from Satan to Saban again. Do you think he wishes he would have returned to LSU from the Dolphns?

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I don’t think Saban thinks about Alabama or LSU as anything other than a means to an end. If he had it to do over again I think either would serve his purpose.