Buy-in under Saban adds to home-field advantage
September 24, 2009
By Ken Rogers
Alabama was unbeaten at home last season and takes a nine-game winning streak at Bryant-Denny Stadium into Saturday’s SEC opener against Arkansas.
But Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban doesn’t want his players to need the advantage of a friendly crowd to win a game.
“As much as I appreciate our home crowd, our stadium, our venue, and the great job that they do in their part of this team for helping to create a wonderful atmosphere for our players to compete in, I don’t want our
players to ever rely on them, think that’s going to be an advantage to
them,” Saban said after practice Wednesday. “Because the advantage is getting your tail ready to play, working
like you need to do, studying so you don’t make mistakes. Go out there and
execute and do what you need to do to take care of business.”
But veteran players have said the atmosphere around a home game has changed dramatically over their careers.
Senior guard Mike Johnson, who I talked to for my Thursday story in the Dothan Eagle, said Tide fans are as noisy as any in the league.
“I think our fans are just excited about where this program’s headed,” said Johnson, who talked about the biggest change in the Nick Saban era.
“I was talking to James Carpenter the other day,” Johnson said. “He was telling me about all his official visits that he went on. He went to Oklahoma and Ole Miss, this place had great facilities; this place had great places to hang out.
“I said, ‘Well, James, why’d you come here?’ He said, ‘Well, I wanted to win.’
“That just kind of tells the story about where we’ve come since I was a freshman here. We’ve come so far. Coach Shula did a good job getting this program back around and on its feet.
“Coach Saban’s kind of come in and taken over and given us a whole new mindset to take off running with. We’ve done a good job of adjusting to his philosophies and his staff. I think the fans have really caught wind of that and really gotten excited about this football team.”
