By Rock Westfall
Nothing lasts forever, especially college football dynasties. The college football graveyard has plenty of tombstones of fan bases that thought the good times would never end. Powerhouse legacy programs such as Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Nebraska, USC, Miami-FL, Florida State, Michigan, and Texas have spent painful periods in the wilderness after thinking the sun would always shine. But perhaps no fan base in recent memory has had more of a belly full of humble pie than the Florida Gators.
With that in mind, fans of the Alabama Crimson Tide would be well advised to study the histories of seemingly invincible programs like Florida that saw glory unexpectedly end.
What Nick Saban achieved at Alabama will likely be impossible to replicate in this era of increased parity, with the sport's legacy programs gaining more power, money, and influence. And if a contracted super-conference emerges, it will be even more difficult to dominate with fewer cupcakes on the schedule.
After Saban won six national championships and nine SEC titles with a serious look almost every year, Alabama fans have become spoiled, entitled, privileged, arrogant, and presumptive. They believe dominance will last forever and have an obnoxious sense of inevitability. Not only are they ignoring the history of God’s Game but the history of Alabama football itself.
Alabama fans had better get a grip. The Crimson Tide could fall as they have done before. Alabama could even become Florida, a pitiful, helpless wannabe giant.
Impossible, you say? Gator Guy and most of the country thought their fall was impossible not that long ago. Yet it wasn’t.
Florida Gators – A Warning from History
Steve Spurrier took over the Florida Gators in 1990 and instantly began winning big. Spurrier led the Gators to ten Top Ten finishes from 1991 through 2001, along with a national championship. Spurrier sought refuge in the NFL after Florida fans became so entitled that they lost appreciation of the man who became celebrated as “Steve Superior.” The man who saved the program and took it to unprecedented heights was no longer winning enough for the faithful.
After three years of Ron Zook's failure to develop the cupboard full of elite talent he brought in, Urban Meyer arrived to forge a second Florida dynasty that included two national championships.
Florida fans bragged that they could get an endless supply of in-state talent to keep the good times going. The administration thought they could just roll along without significant facility upgrades. But when Florida was hammered 32-12 in the 2009 SEC championship game by Alabama and then went 8-5 in 2010, Meyer saw the writing on the wall and headed for the tall grass with his tail tucked, infamously being accused of faking a heart attack, and escaping right before potentially ending up in a nut house.
In the years that followed, Saban forged his dynasty. The rest of the SEC caught up to Florida, and the Gators' arrogance became an albatross. Top recruits went elsewhere to programs with far better facilities. Florida has never been the same .
Florida fans refuse to acknowledge their role in the program’s demise, instead believing that Florida should always contend for national championships because it is Florida.
That sounds a lot like what is now taking place in Tuscaloosa.
Title Town No More?
Kalen DeBoer deserves considerable credit for agreeing to “ be the man who followed the man .” But let’s not forget, Saban did not go out on top and was lucky to produce a 2023 College Football Playoff Berth. Most observers said it was Saban’s best coaching job when he saved a 2023 season that was on the brink of being lost. The Crimson Tide were not as talented as previous editions in the Saban Dynasty.
By Saban’s own admission, times had changed , and his type of coaching was not likely to work anymore. Today, it's largely about the bag instead of development. It’s a whole new ballgame, and Saban got out while the getting was good . He knew the dynasty was not sustainable . Alabama fans had better come to grips with that. If Saban thought he could keep winning championships, he most certainly would have stayed.
DeBoer takes over the Tide at a moment when the SEC has never had more quality programs capable of winning the league title. He will also have to deal with two blue-blood marquee legacy programs, Oklahoma and Texas, who are new members that Saban did not have to contend with for the league crown.
Alabama fans should also dust off the history books of their program. After Bear Bryant ’s 1981 team finished seventh in the nation, the program lost much of its dominance for the next 25 years, winning only one national title and finishing in the Top Ten only seven times. Nobody in Alabama expected such a period in the abyss.
It is reasonable to believe that DeBoer can avoid a Florida-type collapse and that he will consistently keep the Crimson Tide in the CFP hunt. But no coach is likely to produce what the Nicktator did in his time at Alabama.
Saban had a relentless drive, determination, vision, focus, and attention to detail that was superhuman. He also benefited from a league that was usually far weaker than it is now, and he enjoyed full institutional commitment to football while most of his opponents did not.
Get over yourselves, Alabama. The Tide won’t be rolling so high anymore.
The times, they are A-changing.
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