According to one coach who attended camps with former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Mike Shula and present Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, there is a big difference between those men. Shula was a “dog-and-pony show.”

“His first year down there, all of us coaches went from (Mike) Shula to Saban,” Sardis assistant coach Dusty Darnell told the Sand Mountain Reporter. “Shula was a dog-and-pony show, and Saban came in and it was daylight to dark (the difference).”

According to the coach, Saban works the high school players at camp just like the college guys. Saban’s even made a few players cry too.

But the real news is how Saban impresses even Auburn fans, and this is very informative about Alabama’s approach to high school coaches and camps compared to the “new” Auburn approach under Gene Chizik.

“They’re going to get their money’s worth. I’m an Auburn fan, but I told Alabama’s coach the other day if I had a kid right now, I’d send them to Alabama,” Darnell said. “They’re going to work if you send them down there. … “I didn’t get to work the Auburn camp this year. They closed the doors at the Auburn camp and wouldn’t let us in. I worked it the last three years.”

Already alienating high school coaches in the state? Sure sounds like Gene Chizik is off to the right start. If 5-19 is his Auburn goal.

26 thoughts on “Saban vs. Shula; Chizik already alienating coaches”

  1. Cap, you don’t have to convince AU fans that Saban is a great coach. WE KNOW!!!!

    The Shula “dog and pony” show, thats funny. I can just close my eyes and visualize Shula standing there with his arms crossed or falling off the stage on sportscenter. LOL.

    I bet it was a culture shock the 1st year Saban was there. Can you imagine?

    Saban is the real deal and AU fans better know it. I was telling some the other day on the al blogs that if Au can’t win with these assistants, were in trouble. They got there pitch forks out on me.

    I think your reading a little to much into the h.s. coaches being alienated.
    If that guys an Au fan then I’m not. No way that guy loves the orange and blue.

    WDE!!!!!!!!!!

  2. One more thing and I’m done kissing up to bama fans. ha.

    I absolutely love it when a coach gets in another players face. I mean thats real football.

    Heck, I got that kind of treatment on the 8th grade team. I see nothing wrong with that at all.

    One thing you can’t knock Saban on is his passion. It runs through his veins.

    Ok, now my head hurts.

    He’s still a coach that gets botox and can still play in the ball pit at mcD’s.

    Now I feel better!!!

    WDE!!!

  3. I could be reading too much into a simple comment; however, that is about all we can do in the first days of any regime.

    There have been two clues on how Auburn has irritated persons involved in recruiting. First, some players not invited to Big Cat Weekend were perplexed at being excluded. Second, some coaches were apparently excluded from the Auburn camp.

    Those are clues. They might not mean anything, but then again, maybe they do.

  5. Cap, I hear ya.

    I mean it could make the parents or prospects turn there noses up at AU. If AU strikes out then they have to go down a few notches. Then it’s those players turn to return the favor. I get it.

    I also think AU had to do something. I mean look at what our natl. perception was when Chizik was hired. They had to get back in the news in a positive way.

    I think that the coaches realized they may have angered a few people. If you noticed, they were pumping up the big July thing right after those comments were coming out.

    I like it. If we strike out, hell I’m use to it but if we don’t???

    WDE!!!!!!!!

  7. Chizik could clone Elvis and Knute rockne and still wouldnt be able to out recruit Saban.
    When jay Jacobs said the check book was open he should have actually followed up the statement with getting a real brand name coach. The signal JJ keeps sending out is that Auburn “Talks a good game.”
    Super Dooper Trooper and Luper will always have to take it up the pooper if they are trying to match name recognition with Nick Saban.

  8. Your really reaching out there arent you cap ? SARDIS ???????? Thats smaller than Ballplay, and the coach up there is saying “IF” I had a kid Id send him to Bama ? First off, I cant name ONE kid from SARDIS thats ever made it to a 1A school. You are actcing like this is a coach at Hoover , Prattville , and Daphne combined. Get real. Lets quote the coach from the powerhouse of SARDIS !!!

    Your right tmc1……They did NOT open the checkbook. They hired a guy that the trustees and Dye were comfortable with. I just hope it works out.

  9. Actually, I think he is talking about sending them to camp at Bama because of the difference between Alabama and Auburn.

    In other words, Alabama is run by professionals. Auburn is run by amateurs, unlike the Tuberville years.

    I really think you have to read the tea leaves until we get more definitive information on Chizik. Hints about irritating recruits with Big Cat Weekend and now irritating high school coaches aren’t good hints.

    Those hints might not mean anything, but Auburn fans should find it worrisome. The AU staff seems less like a competent one (Tuberville) and more like an incompetent one (Shula).

  10. Looking at it objectively, I really think your splitting hairs.

    This all relates to recruiting right now, correct ? Your article implies that by closing down his camp to certain people that it will negatively affect recruiting, Yes or no ?

    Then you say that Tubbs was better than Chizik because offffff exactly what ? Do you not remember our last two classes ? They were half hearted attempts. Not a lot of effort in it at all. The results of the Big Cat weekend will end up being wayyy more positive than negative. To compare what Chizik and co. have done on the recruiting trail this year to what Tommy did during his tenure clearly shows that Chizik is the one that is getting the results. You and a whole lot of other Bama fans say that the only reason Tommy got good players at all was because of the probation you recieved. Look at what Chizik is doing against a full strength Bama coming off a 12 win season……When you look at it like that , you can clearly see that Chizik is RECRUITING a lot better than Tommy. I know he hasnt signed but 8 players so far, but I remember 2 years ago when Tommy didnt have but one or two by this time. So that ” competent ” arguement is flawed.

    Now as far a COACHING goes that remains to be seen. I believe that Mahlzan is gonna do alright. I like our wide recievers coach. I like the staff. But can Gene COACH. Tommy was an outstanding gameday coach.

    And I am aware that some of this is not postitve. But to quote a coach at Sardis ? Dude……..Really ?

  11. Cap, you have no clue. Do you know Dusty? He is catching all sorts of crap for this from my boys at the gym. He didn’t cut it at Crossville and moved to Sardis. You put all the stock you want into what he said, people that know, know better.

  12. Im sure hes a Bammer. Why else would he do this. Cap that is kind of the thing you were bitching about earlier in the week isnt it ? People from a program putting out negative P.R. so recruits could be swayed ? Then certain sites running with a B.S. story ? Wow.

  13. Guy says he is an Auburn fan, yet somehow he is an Alabama fan putting out negative spin? OK.

    I think the reason he said that about camps is that he was irritated that Tuberville welcomed coaches, and the new Auburn staff is shutting people out. BIG CATS ONLY!

    Compare that with Alabama’s coaching camp.

    Now, go back to Tuberville a minute. For most of his career, he did pretty well recruiting. He was professional about it and had a good relationship with coaches. However, he stopped working very hard.

    Chizik and his people are working hard but alienating people.

    Good luck with that. 🙂

  14. Ill write it down that the “people” that are being alienated happen to be a 3A school that hasnt had a signee in,, well,, forever.

    Duley noted. And Im sure hes an Auburn fan.

  15. He did work the last three Auburn camps prior to this one. It does indicate something.

    However, if you think this is the only one to get irritated, you might be right. But you might be wrong too.

    I’m trying to construct larger themes from small slivers of information. Is it prone to error? Sure. This isn’t an exact science. Think of it like an intelligence analyst. Do these small signs provide indications of a larger trend?

    It is fair to say no. I think it is just as fair to say these small signs of alienation are interesting and could provide a glimpse inside Auburn.

    One other thing to consider, all those Auburn media guys are writing these glowing stories about the new coaching staff. If I were a fan, I’d be worried about that. These were the same guys propping a lazy Tommy Tuberville up. That is why I put stock in these reports from non-aligned sources (and why I give added weight to the story on Track Em Tigers about a recruit being alienated.)

    Just something to think about. And again, I’m not claiming this is some sort of divinely inspired insight…just an analysis based on limited information.

  16. Cap, thats exactly what your beef with rivals was based on. I cant figure you out. Or maybe I can. As long as its pro Bama ond negative Auburn, your O.K. wwith whatever….You even write about and endorse it. Switch the shoe, and holy freholies………..

    I do agree about the media…..At times….Last year, they had me thinking Tony Franklin was a 2008 version of a 1996 Steve Spurrier. I learned that lesson the hard way.

  17. My beef with rivals was the absolute joke in how they edited a video to remove evidence of recruiting violations.

    All I’ve done is repeat exactly what someone said. Someone whose name is attached to the story in the Sand Mountain Reporter.

    As for my commentary here in the comments section, having a discussion about trends based on EVIDENCE (the actual statements of people) is much different from must making shit up on the telephone with a recruit.

  18. But your motive is the same…..Cause damage to your rival. Just admit it and move on……..I can understand that. Just dont do it under the umbrella of journalism.

    Lets face it Cap, if this is Mobile thats worth reporting.

  19. Causing damage to my rival?

    Good grief. When did having an opinion constitute damage to a rival?

    If I wanted to cause damage to Auburn, I could probably come up with something far more interesting than a quote from a high school assistant coach.

  20. Dont act all offended…….You know thats what your doing. And again, Im aight with that, just admit it.

    Your reaction reminds me of Aunt Esther on Sanford and Son when she would tell Fred ” Well I never !”……Fred responds, ” And you probably never will !!!”.

  21. What irritates me about that, is all I did was tell the TRUTH about Tommy Tuberville getting to be lazy and Auburn fan said the same thing.

    Now I happen to point out a potential problem with Chizik and I’m trying to hurt Auburn.

    Alabama fans said the same thing to me when I was critical of Mike Shula. It just gets old.

    All I’m doing is what EVERY fan should do. Examine things with a critical eye.

  22. Im not disagreeing with that ….. Read my post again. If your going to bust on Chizik, then you need to do it about something that hes is NOT doing better than his predecessor. That would be on gameday. So far Chizik and co. have done pretty well in the recruiting aspect, minus the opinion of the Blue Chip laden area of Sardis and its stellar coach.

  23. Farris Morton of Sardis was all-SEC defensive end in 1962 for Bear Bryant. He was from Sardis. So your wrong… 😛

  24. So he was one of Bahrs boys, and hes an Auburn fan ? Wow.

  25. I got ya he used to play for Sardis….O.K.

    A lot of rural areas had all american and all sec players before integration.

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