If you will recall, one of the reasons Saban came to LSU was due to the fact that Mich. St. would always be second fiddle to Mich. especially when it comes to recruiting. Nick wanted to come to a place where he had first crack at the in-state talent. I'd say he is succeeding in that endeavor big time ! We are a top 5 class by all accounts at this point with a couple of more big fish yet to be landed. Nick .... Cest Bon !
He also had problems with the administration there if I have not been misled about it. Contrast that with the support he has here from the Chancellor and Athletic Director, as well as everyone else that counts. The Man knows he is appreciated and his hard work and talent is recognized.
Nick spent years as an assistant at MSU before he left for other jobs before becoming head coach. Nick had problems with the administration related to his continuous flirtations with the NFL. Nick recruited players at MSU. The Michigan jab was more of a calculated insult to MSU since he left with some bitter feelings with the administration. Check out Nick's recruiting record at MSU guys like Plaxico Burress, Julian Peterson, Flozel Adams, Paul Edinger, Derrick Mason, Sedrick Irvin. True its tough to recruit against Michigan, but Ohio State, Notre Dame, Illinois, Penn. State, Purdue, Wisconsin, and the rest of the big ten recruit against Michigan. In Michigan, IL, IN, OH, PA, IL, WI and the big ten there's talent to win. Nick recruited well out of Florida. His there's no Michigan jab was meant to get under the skin at the folks at MSU, not a statement of fact. If you read between the lines there were a lot of bitter feelings when Nick left MSU. He has friends at MSU like Tom Izzo, but don't know if you ever heard that his wife had to clean out his office at MSU. He hadchristmas presents returned from folks at MSU supposedly. There was more behind the scenes of Nick leaving MSU than most folks realize. Nick has done a good job of spinning things his way, but he was not entirely blameless.
All that was wrong at MSU per Saban is right at LSU. Saban will be here until that statement is no longer true. LSU (namely Emmert and Bertman) will make sure that statement remains true. If you can say nothing else good about those two (I think both are doing a great job) you have to admit they recognize what we have in Saban and are committed to keeping him. Saban stays.
MSU will never be a consistant big time program, it was a no brainer. No matter what the feelings between MSU and Saban he left because he had a great chance to build a great program. Or he could have stayed at a program thet wins 8 games and celebrates like the $aint$ just won the Super Bowl. He left an average at best situation to come to a great situation. He was also right that MSU will ALWAYS play second fiddle to Michigan, ALWAYS!!!!! He did what any smart coach would have done regardless of the situation he left behind.
Always? Got this from the college football database. MSU's national championships http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/bigten/michigan_state/all_national_champs.php Total Major College National Championship Year(s) 8 Total Major College National Championship Year(s) 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1965, 1966, 1978--this is dubious, but someone gave it to them. For Comparison until this year. LSU has 6 http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sec/louisiana_state/all_national_champs.php 1908, 1935, 1936, 1958, 1959, 1962. (2004-Hopefully) Michigan has a lot 23. I won't list them all, but they have 23 http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/bigten/michigan/all_national_champs.php Since 1950: 1964, 1973, 1976, 80, 86, 97. In regards to state of Michigan College sports, a lot of folks thought that UM would always be better in Men's and Women's hoops. Not going to argue that MSU doesn't have the program UM has now, but Nick's shot at MSU more a jab at MSU than a statement of fact. Nick preached MSU's glory days all the time at MSU and stated his goal was to build one of the best programs in the country. Don't forget that Nick had LSU upgarde facilties (the student academic center) and so on to match MSU's facilities. My point is that MSU was not this backwater hellhole where you can never win a national championship and you'll always be second to UM. Notre Dame is right across the border from MSU as well. Nick had to recruit just as hard against them.
