Why did this annoy me? From the Bleacher Report: Nick Saban Can Trace His Coaching Roots Through Bear Bryant Back To Knute Rockne.

My immediate response was to write this. I hope it can become a foundation of the Saban hagiography.

And these were the coaches of Alabama: Wallace Wade of Rose Bowl fame, Frank Thomas of Notre Dame, Harold Drew, Jennings Whitworth and Paul Bryant. Now the generations of Bryant were Mickey Andrews, Danny Ford, Jim Owens, Paul Dietzel, Howard Schnellenberger and Gene Stallings, and also Neil Callaway, David Cutcliffe, Joey Jones, Mike Riley, Jackie Sherrill, Pat Dye, Charlie Pell and Mal Moore. …

And the latter coaches of Alabama were Ray Perkins the Jerk, Bill Curry the Stooge, Gene Stallings the Adequate, Mike DuBose the Incompetent, Dennis Franchione the Weak, Mike Price the Horny, Mike Shula the Baffled, Joe Kines the Interim and Nick Saban. Saban was of Bill Belichick, who was of Parcells, who was of Perkins. Fans were able to rejoice in that a descendant of Bryant walked upon the sidelines of Bryant-Denny. For many believed this was the law: In terra Alabama tantum successio Bryant. (For it was modeled on the Salic law, which held in terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant.) Establishing the lineage of Bryant was the only way to establish legitimacy—no championship alone could do it.

UPDATE: Bama Online has joined the hagiography. You can read about the similarities between Bryant and Saban in this story: Coaches Bryant, Saban alike in many ways.

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