I think a lot of people don't get it
But everything he says and does has a meaning and an intent. He is a master of using the media in my opinion. He uses them to send messages to his team and also in turn it sends a message to the fans "hey, this is what I'm preaching- and if we don't see a good performance, the onus is on the team." Sometimes he will use his image to control the media- like the time he called out the reporter that was complaining about Bama not having a lot of sacks a couple of years ago. I think he uses them to control the fans too- like after they beat Clemson in the first game of the year and he said- "all we've done is win one game, and that's all we've done" and he went into a tirade basically about being over-confident.
The reality is you have to have that type of intensity if you want to win championships. Sure, you have to have the talent and the players, but that's why Saban isn't going to ever take a job at New Mexico State. But if you have talent and a coach with that type of OCD intensity- you see what you get. About the only way to beat him is to do something way different than most people- see the Meyer spread option at one time and now the up tempo spread offense that Texas A&M runs. And even then, Saban is so OCD, he will spend countless hours in the offseason trying to figure out how to defeat the up tempo spread- just like he did the spread option, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he finds a way to shut down A&M next year. Actually, I'll be more than surprised if he doesn't.
That is exactly why I'm concerned about Dan appearing to be comfortable at MSU. You have to keep up the relentless effort to win in the SEC. I also wish Dan would use his image to control the media better at times. Instead of just leaving the press conference and saying "we don't talk about injuries"- tell Locke or whomever off and whenever they say something bad about the program, confront them during a press conference and throw it in their face. I'm not saying that our reporters should blow smoke up our ***, but they also shouldn't do things like constantly talk about how weak our schedule is or say things that constantly downgrade the program. Dan and Scott may not realize it, but that hurts fan morale. Which is not good for your product. And Dan better get his *** in gear pretty quick because Auburn and Arkansas don't look like they are going to be sitting around having losing seasons like they did this year and go through some five year rebuilding plan. Just like Ole Miss who beat us this year.
If Saban was our coach, Marcello's nickname would be S'more's from *** his burned time and time again for all the stupid stuff he says about us. I honestly am surprised that our coaches and MSU AD staff let the media here get away with saying a lot of the stuff that they do. But I guess it's hard to have time to do that when you're trying to order fake snow and you're trying to celebrate an Independence Bowl victory. #17me