Saban absolutely hires yes men. He won't hire guys he think will give him any push back. He is notorious for yelling at his coaches in front of players, which on most staffs, is a no-no. When that does happen, grown me with egos (which most D1 coaches have) will bark back at a head coach. That just doesn't happen with Saban's hires because he hires yes men who don't dare to yell back or won't simply answer him with a "yes." Why do you think Kiffin didn't work out there?
But, hey, don't take my word for it:
QAre you saying the only reason Saban hires a guy to be on staff is because they are "yes" men? OMG n
His position coaches are no better than the position coaches at the other top 25 FBS schools. He wins for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which include his attention to detail, preparation, and resources of staff.
His staff rivals that of an NFL team in terms of number of personnel. He has so many analysts, recruiters, and quality control that they cannot miss the smallest of details. It allows less work to be done by everyone which allows better focus and attention to detail in each part of a program. He is able to pay more for analysts than other FBS schools pay coordinators. Hell, a Miami (not the real one, the one in Ohio) special teams coordinator recently resigned to accept an off-field position at Alabama.
As a head coach, his attention to detail and being prepared is second to none. You could replace three or four assistants each year off of his staff and fill them with assistants from 25+ other teams, and he would still win at the same rate. It isn't that he "assembles great coaches." He assembles yes men that do their role and don't interfere, challenge, or try to question exactly how he does things. Hell, he is on record as saying he won't hire anyone who wants to come in and reinvent the wheel or change anything. He wants it done his way - the way that has worked -and he lets that be known early and often.
I've coached on staffs with two coaches who have worked under Saban. It isn't a big secret.
Well, lets see. The DFO's son at Cookman who I knew since he was in 9th grade was offered by Alabama and signed (early enrolled) at Florida State. I was around him daily, as he was a part-time worker for Cookman football and traveled to help out in operations for his dad on some weekends.
The kid I mentioned earlier at Stanford who 'Bama had offered? I discovered him as a tenth-grader before he had any offers. He was a basketball player who had never played football before. He had no offers as a sophomore. A former Marshall teammate is good friends with the kid's uncle or cousin. They sent me a link of his first few games as a sophomore (his first year ever playing football). I knew the kid was going to be a stud and told my OC at the time to call his son (who was a coordinator at Penn State). Within two weeks, they offered him. Around that same time, UVA and Maryland offered him. Shortly thereafter, Cookman hosted a camp that Rutgers co-hosted. I told the Rutgers o-line coach about the kid. After camp that day, he came to my office to watch the kid's first half of the season. They flew back the next day and offered the kid within 24 hours of knowing anything about him.
Ole Miss has a QB who they recently signed. I was the kid's first D1 offer. His team had a long bus ride for a game. The day before the game, they stopped to practice at Abilene Christian's facility. There, I watched them practice and offered him a few weeks later.
A Texas JUCO QB was introduced to me because he had played as a freshman at another Southland Conference school (same conference as Abilene). After his freshman season, he went to a JUCO. I, too, was his first offer. He signed with Texas Tech.
There are numerous high-level recruits with major offers who are some of my 20,000+ Instagram followers. They frequently message me, including many asking if I will be at any camps this summer. One is a current 8th grader who already has a dozen FBS offers, including many major ones. His best friend just happens to be a kid I have produced 10 records for and have known since he was twelve years old.
Mainland High School was 1.4 miles from Cookman's campus. Many of them worked out with me on the beach in the off-season. Five of them had Louisville offers last year. Those guys are currently playing at Florida, Louisville, Florida State, FAU, etc.
I can continue giving you example after example after example to show how clueless you are.
While at North Texas, they had official visits from the #1 JUCO defensive tackle in the country and one of the top JUCO tight ends in the country. The d-tackle was leaning towards Miami (the real one). He also had a ton of other major offers in the Big 12 and SEC. He wanted to go to whatever school would offer his girlfriend (also at his JUCO) a full-ride in volleyball. The kid wanted to hang out with me during his visit instead of the other players. During that first night, he asked for money- straight out payment to get him to commit. One of his lines consisted of "just tell that guy [while pointing at the location of the head coach's office] that I want $100 bills that I can wipe my ass with before my visit is over, and take care of my girl and I will commit on Sunday." He went on to reiterate his JUCO ranking, the offers he had, and what he wanted. I set him straight, told him we don't play like that, made sure the DC and head coach knew, and he was sent home that night. He ended up signing with Baylor (they, coincidentally, offered his girlfriend), but he was dismissed before ever playing a down for them.
The tight end was leaning towards Kansas State but had numerous better offers. He ended up going to North Texas.
The Roberts' twins worked out with me frequently in DC. Their high school was a few blocks from both the gym we shared and my condo. They had offers from Wisconsin, Michigan State, North Carolina, Rutgers, WVU, etc. They would have gone wherever I had been. Hell, even after they left WVU, they continued reaching out to me.
An offensive lineman at a prep school had offers from Tennessee and Georgia Tech among others. His mom was, for the most part, forcing him to go to an HBCU. He was a very unique, reserved kid. At dinner, he ordered an extra steak and crab legs to be delivered to his room through room service late that night. So, I did the same. He didn't want to go out with the other recruits and their player-hosts. He wanted to eat a late night meal and study. I had both dinners with him that night. He was a huge NASA fan. I couldn't take him to Cape Canaveral since it was slightly past the 30 mile entertaining radius NCAA rules prohibit, but I had a friend of a friend set up a Facetime convo with Eileen Collins, a former NASA astronaut. Two mornings later, there was a rocket launch off of the Cape. We woke up at 4 am to go onto the beach and watch it.
I could go on and on and on.
The only thing more entertaining than your denial and Ohio's ignorance to how Saban operates is the two of you trying to claim to know more than somebody who has been doing this for 5 years.
