As New England quarterback Tom Brady and Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma continue to stake their claims as the best in their respective fields, the debate continues as to whether Bear Bryant or Nick Saban is the superior coach in Alabama football history.
Or college football history, for that matter.
"It's not about who's the better coach," ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill said. "It's about who has the tougher job, and there is no question that Nick Saban has had the tougher job, because the eras are so dramatically different."
Coming this spring
The SEC spring-game football schedule (all times Eastern):April 1 — South Carolina (SEC Network at 2 p.m.)April 7 — Florida (SEC Network at 7:30)April 8 — Ole Miss (SEC Network at noon)April 8 — Texas A&M (ESPNU at 2)April 8 — Auburn (SEC Network at 2)April 8 — Mississippi State (SEC Network at 4)April 14 — Kentucky (SEC Network at 7:30)April 15 — Missouri (SEC Network at 2)April 22 — Georgia (SEC Network at 2)April 22 — Alabama (ESPN at 3)April 22 — Tennessee (SEC Network at 4)April 22 — LSU (SEC Network at 8)April 29 — Arkansas (SEC Network at 1)Note: Vanderbilt is not holding a spring game
Two weeks ago, Alabama signed the nation's top-rated recruiting class for the ninth time in 10 years. The latest crop features the five-star likes of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, tailback Najee Harris, receiver Jerry Jeudy, tackle Alex Leatherwood and linebacker Dylan Moses, who all were among the Crimson Tide's 12 early enrollees last month.
The Crimson Tide increased their early enrollee count to 16 this week with the arrivals of quarterback Mac Jones, running back Brian Robinson and defensive backs Xavier McKinney and Daniel Wright.
Alabama's recruiting prowess under Saban began with the 2008 class that contained running back Mark Ingram, receiver Julio Jones, offensive lineman Barrett Jones and defensive lineman Marcell Dareus. Since then, Alabama has posted a 112-13 record and won four national championships, with talented players continuing to sign with the Tide despite the depth chart being stacked at certain positions.
"We work hard at it," Saban said on ESPNU's signing day special. "It's important to have really good players, but it's important to have guys with really great character, too. This is a performance-based program. When guys commit here, I always say, 'I want you to commit to everything that we're going to do to help you be successful, and that's personally, academically and athletically. I don't want you to commit to Alabama because we win games. I want you to commit to those things so you can be more successful in life.'
"We try to create a lot of value for our players, so I think that's why we get players."
When Bryant was winning three of his six national championships at Alabama during the 1960s, it was not uncommon for him to have rosters of 150 players. There was even the running joke of Bryant signing more than he needed just to keep players away from Auburn's Shug Jordan, who had led the Tigers to five straight Iron Bowl wins during the 1950s and to the 1957 national title.
In 1973, the NCAA imposed a scholarship limit of 105 in football, which largely was intended to create extra revenue for women's sports as a result of Title IX legislation that had passed in 1972. The NCAA came back in 1978 with a reduction to 95 scholarships.
A third reduction was announced in January 1991 and resulted in major college programs going from 95 in 1992 to the current 85 in 1994, which included the capping of annual signing classes at 25. Coaches still found ways to surpass 25 a year, most often by counting extra signees in the previous year's class, so additional rules have been implemented.
"In today's era, you have so many more challenges compared to even 20 years ago," Luginbill said. "Things are so rapidly accelerated, and you're not just recruiting guys in the spring of their junior year and having them come to camp in the summer and then their official visits in the fall. There was no internet or television coverage.
"There were a couple of print lists out there, but you didn't have to deal with it under a constant microscope, and in that regard, what Alabama has done is unprecedented."
Down to four?
Fox Sports is reporting that Saban could decide among four candidates to replace Steve Sarkisian as offensive coordinator: current Crimson Tide co-offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, UCLA offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch, New England Patriots tight ends coach Brian Daboll and former Houston Texans offensive coordinator George Godsey.
Fisch was hired at UCLA last month after spending the past two seasons as Jim Harbaugh's passing-game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Michigan.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.