The Governing Body of Athletics
Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh serve as a perfect example of two vastly different coaching archetypes across collegiate and professional sports.
Athletics have always played an integral role in American society, serving as a national pastime used to teach valuable lessons, detract attention from calamity, create unbreakable bonds, and even provide people, with many perceived differences, a common struggle. As sports become increasingly popular the role of athletics within communities across the country has grown exponentially. Today many parents encourage their children, from a young age, to participate in athletics. Whether it’s the rigor of a local Pop Warner football team or just tossing a pigskin around in the backyard, athletics serve as a method many parents use to teach their children priceless lessons in perseverance while keeping their child active. Just ask First Lady Michelle Obama, whose white house campaign is to combat childhood obesity by encouraging children to get outside and play. The growth of youth sports has led to the immense overall growth of the sports industry, meaning the role of your local little league coach has grown as well.
Joining the likes of teachers, parents, college counselors, grandparents, tutors, and principals, a coach has assumed a fundamental role in the upbringing of our children. The influences of a coach often extend well beyond the lines of any court, field, or track. Often times coaches and their coaching styles are the topic of many heated conversations at the dining room table, the reason for many late night tears, the fuel behind rigorous workouts, the basis for many budding friendships, and even the support needed to earn a college scholarship. For these reasons it’s no wonder that high schools and college coaches get paid millions of dollars to teach young men and women. After all “Coach”, like “Doctor” or “President”, is one of the few titles used to prefix ones last name in casual conversation.
No coaching doesn’t require years of medical school or a meticulous national campaign, but there are select set of skills needed to be the coach of a high profile program. Within the medical field there are many different disciplines an aspiring young med student can choose to pursue, but amongst the decorated programs there are only two archetypes of coaches.
Atop college football supremacy, lie two very storied programs with a distinguished tradition of excellence. Both programs have tasted the palatableness of conference and national championships spanning over many decades. While rarely chewing the bitterness that comes with poor recruiting, sub five hundred seasons, the triumph of instate rivals and a revolving door of coaches.
Football is a religion in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Saturdays a day of worship; in which fans gather to watch their beloved Crimson Tide play sixty minutes of football in it’s purest form, or watch the Wolverines sporting their inviting maize and blue define the true meaning of tenacity. Alabama in the past decade has once again established themselves as the sole monarch atop a sovereign college football playoff regime, but Michigan has stumbled in recent years living in the shadows of their loathed neighbors in Columbus, Ohio. However, in 2016 both teams have experienced tremendous success. Alabama once again finished the season atop the college football playoff as the top ranked team in the nation, and Michigan finished sixth nationally. The Wolverines only losing twice despite an unforgiving Big Ten schedule.
The various successes of both of these programs can be attributed to tremendous talent, like Crimson Tide Quarterback Jalen Hurts and Jabrill Peppers the Wolverines’ heisman candidate, but a lot of the credit is given to the fearless leaders at the helm of both programs.
Nick Saban an authoritarian dictator with a hard exterior, who expects nothing but the best from his players, his staff, and himself. Thus, he tolerates no bullshit and leads the tight efficient ship known as the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Jim Harbaugh the rambunctious and enthusiastic people’s politician, who embraces getting down in the trenches with his players and prides himself on quirky recruiting pitches and the fun of the game.
Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh clearly outline the two, and only, vastly different coaching techniques that lead to success in youth, collegiate, and professional sports.
Nick Saban is predictable. If you were wondering what Coach Saban is doing right now he’s probably hiding his piercing eyes underneath a straw fedora, christened with the Alabama Crimson Tide logo, while he irons out every kink in his defense underneath the sweltering Alabama sun. At sixty-five years old Coach Saban’s daily routine hasn’t changed even the slightest, throughout his championship tenure at LSU, short stint with the Miami Dolphins, and now incredible run at Alabama where he has won five national titles and six conference championships.
Nick Saban’s message remains the same. Coach Saban preaches “Be where your feet are”, a simple message that implies he isn’t concerned with the records he has eclipsed or his legacy but instead just the state of Alabama Football right now. Coach Saban is even less concerned with the media, he rarely answers questions in their entirety, he doesn’t joke, he doesn’t speculate, he doesn’t reveal his secrets, instead he simply loiters until he’s fulfilled his press requirements.
Nick Saban is a man who is madly and hopelessly blinded by his love for the game of Football, and more specifically the steps one must take to become a winning football team. Coach Saban requires that his players and his coaching staff embrace the process with him, holding players accountable for every minute miscue.
Everything Nick Saban does is purposeful, he never loses focus or wastes a single second standing idly by. Nick Saban has an extreme phobia of idleness that even intrudes his life beyond Football. He has eaten the same three meals everyday for years because it would “waste too much time trying to decide what to eat”. God forbid if any player or coach irritates Nick Saban’s extreme phobia, they are in for an “ass-chewing” as Coach Saban calls it. Ask Alabama Offensive Coordinator Lane Kiffin, innovator of the spread offense, who was on the raw receiving end of a Nick Saban “ass-chewing” after Saban was disappointed with the way his offense was playing. Despite the Crimson Tide’s twenty-eight point lead against Western Kentucky earlier this season.
Coach Saban practices the most severe form of discipline but rarely ever credits himself for the successes of his Crimson Tide. Nick Saban often deflects praise onto his team and coaching staff and attributing his accolades to the talent and drive of his players.
Interactions with Coach Saban, especially “ass-chewings”, are often short, uncomfortable, and undesirable. James Franklin, Head Coach at Penn State, assigned the infamous Alabama Head Coach the nickname Nicky Satan, because he seems lonely at times. In truth Nick Saban couldn’t be further from lonely, he lives with his wife Terry whom he’s known since they were just kids growing up in the humble mining town of Fairmont, West Virginia. Despite Nick Saban’s lofty annual salary of five million dollars, he lives a modest lifestyle. When Coach Saban isn’t recruiting he spends his offseason playing golf, and ignoring the attention he receives from some of the most prestigious NFL franchises.
Nick Saban’s secret to success is not one he is diligently and intentionally keeping from all of us. Instead, Nick Saban’s secret is within every “death stare”, “ass-chewing”, and repetition. Nick Saban’s secret is discipline.
Jim Harbaugh doesn’t seem like he can keep a secret. Jim Harbaugh is spontaneous. Jim Harbaugh holds no punches, when asked a question he tells the cold truth.
Coach Harbaugh’s rise to College Football supremacy was not linear. Instead, he brought his maize and blue ball cap and signature khakis to the national stage by prom-posing to recruits, throwing out the first pitch in enemy held Chicago, playing shirtless touch football, dabbing, and taking his players for ice cream. Jim Harbaugh’s signature coaching cleats seem like a superfluous anomaly to the common onlooker, but in reality are necessary because sneakers wouldn’t be able to keep up with his lively step.
Jim Harbaugh is the prophet of Michigan Wolverine Football, not only did he quarterback Michigan from 1984–1986, his father Jack Harbaugh was an Assistant Coach for the Wolverines in the seventies. Unlike the Manning brothers, Jim Harbaugh wasn’t handed anything because of his Football lineage. Harbaugh prided himself on competition and clawed his way up the coaching ranks.
Jim Harbaugh has the drive of an ambitious college kid, always networking, introducing himself to parents, celebrities, recruits, reporters, fans, and other coaches. He’s always advancing his individual coaching career. Coach Harbaugh stands very wide, always inviting a new challenge and greeting it with a wide toothy smile or a welcoming tweet.
Although he takes his hat off when introducing himself to women, he takes his hat off for no one on the Football field. Underneath that maize and blue brim is the face of an industrious man who believes in a violent brand of Football. Coach Harbaugh embraces smash mouth football with an exuberant smile, which encourages his players to have fun playing the game they love.
Whether it’s to his players, coaches, or high school kids at University of Michigan Football Camp, Coach Harbaugh preaches the same message, “ACE”. “Attitude. Competitiveness. Enthusiasm.” Throughout his coaching career Jim Harbaugh has proven himself as a “jack of all trades”, having success in the NFL, Pac-12, Mountain West Conference, and Big-10. Jim Harbaugh always brings maximum energy to the Football field each and everyday, proving that Coach Harbaugh, much like the best fighter pilots, is truly an ace.
Amongst the thousands of coaches across the country who govern and control our sports Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh are not only two of the best within their sport, but are also in the same company as some of the finest teachers in this country. Both Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh have made a firm choice to extend their roles beyond the lines of the Football field, by committing to helping naive high school athletes become accomplished adults.
Nick Saban the authoritarian, who believes in discipline and a holding players and coaches to a higher standard of excellence, probably won’t make a lot of friends. Saban will undoubtedly produce a great number of professional football players and fine young men.
Jim Harbaugh the players’ coach, who draws the fight out of every player by joining them in their fight and encouraging them to embrace their love for the game. Will have made many friends and provided many young men with everlasting memories, before it’s time for Coach Harbaugh to hang up his cleats.
One cannot call into question the various achievements or successes of their different coaching styles, but one cannot deny that these two coaching styles are mutually exclusive. Much like the old Football colloquialism states “when you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one”, when a coach tries to be both an authoritarian and a players’ coach you have a team in disarray. Thus leading to a new sports mantra: all great coaches are either a Saban or a Harbaugh, but never both.
Fans and analysts identify good teams as playing with an “identity”, and a team’s identity is often times an epitome of the identity of their Head Coach. Therefore teams with a toxic culture of losing lack a coach that supplies their team with one common goal and grants every player something to pride their game on.
Jim Harbaugh, Nick Saban, Steve Kerr, Urban Meyer, Gregg Popovich, Bill Belichick, Tyronn Lue, Ron Rivera, Shaka Smart, Bruce Arians, Mike Matheny, and many others have all experienced success at the very beginning of their coaching tenures in their respective sports. The various successes of all these coaches proves that leading a winning team does not necessarily require years of coaching experience, rosters littered with talent, or organizations with strong financial ties. Instead, it requires that each coach have a strong identity and vision for their team.
In 2017 there will be many whistles blown, “ass-chewings”, hard lessons, tough losses, majestic wins, boring practices, gameplans, playbooks, spirited halftime speeches, controversial calls to the bullpen, but only few championship teams. Those teams will experience a glory that few athletes and coaches get to indulge in. Yet every championship can be accredited to a decisive installation of one governing system within their locker room by their confident leader. A crucial decision before the instillation of this governing body is made well before the ball is kicked, tipped, served, driven, or thrown towards home plate. This clear choice that was made by each fearless commander, of each decorated franchise, was to identify as either a Saban or a Harbaugh.
References
“Nick Saban: The best ever?” ESPN. ESPN , 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 31 Dec. 2016.
Riley , Daniel . “Jim Harbaugh Will Attack This College Football Season “With Enthusiasm Unknown to Mankind”.” GQ 1 Sept. 2015: n. pag. Print.
St. John, Warren. “Nick Saban: Sympathy for the Devil.” GQ 25 Aug. 2013: n. pag. Print.
Willis, Jeremy. “A year of recruiting adventures with Jim Harbaugh.” ESPN. ESPN, 1 Feb. 2016. Web. 31 Dec. 2016.
