Gators vs. Tide: Latest Meeting Between Muschamp and Saban Much Different Than the First
Saturday, October 1, 2011 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – There will be a moment on Saturday night when the exchange takes place.
At some point as the Gators and Crimson Tide warm up for their highly anticipated SEC showdown at The Swamp, Florida head coach Will Muschamp and Alabama's Nick Saban will cross paths on Florida Field.
The TV cameras and photographers' lenses will zoom in to capture the moment.
The meeting will be like most others between coaches before games. There will likely be a handshake. A backslap. A few grins and good lucks mixed in. Don't expect a whole bunch of chitchat.
“In the offseason, we talk quite a bit,'' Saban said this week. “I don't talk to anybody [during the season].''
Once they trade brief pleasantries, Muschamp and Saban will get to work at trying to beat each other for the first time as opposing head coaches.
They have met twice previously, both times since Saban took over the Crimson Tide in 2007.
In Saban's first season at Alabama, Auburn's defense limited Alabama to 225 total yards in a 17-10 Iron Bowl win over the Crimson Tide as Muschamp, Auburn's defensive coordinator at the time, got the best of his former boss. Two years later Saban got revenge when Alabama shredded Muschamp's Texas defense in a 37-21 win over the Longhorns in the BCS national championship game.
Much has been made this week about the mentor vs. prot?g? matchup that is Florida vs. Alabama.
There's good reason for all the hoopla, of course. Over the last several years the two have been repeatedly linked despite the fact they haven't worked together on the same staff since Saban was head coach with the NFL's Miami Dolphins – and Muschamp his assistant head coach for defense – six years ago.
“He and I will not take one snap Saturday night,'' Muschamp said. “He knows me as well as I know him. There is no advantage in this game.''
As true as that may be, Muschamp and Saban are forever linked because it was under Saban when Muschamp's star began to shine bright enough for everyone to notice.
Their connection was made at a Peach Bowl practice in 2000 when then-LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher introduced Muschamp, an assistant at Valdosta State, to Saban, who was preparing the Tigers for a game against Georgia Tech at the Georgia Dome.
Thankfully for Muschamp, they did chitchat that day for about 20 minutes, altering the first-year Gators coach's career in a big way.
“Sometimes, you meet somebody and you really get a good feel for them,'' Saban said. “Will was just a real good person, real genuine, and you could tell he was hard-working and had a sort of special intensity about him in terms of what he wanted to do and a passion for football and how important it was to him.''
A month later Muschamp joined Saban's LSU staff, eventually becoming his defensive coordinator and helping the Tigers win the 2003 national championship. When Saban left for the NFL after the 2004 season, Muschamp went with him for one year before returning to the college game as Tommy Tuberville's defensive coordinator at Auburn.
Saban had seen enough of Muschamp during their time together to know that one day he would be a head coach, even allowing Muschamp to call the defenses in Miami despite no previous NFL experience.
“He did a great job for me for a long time,'' Saban said. “Will is a good coach because he is a great teacher. He has got about as much passion and enthusiasm as anybody that you're ever going to be around.
“Will, probably of all the guys what we have had on our staff through the years, probably worked the hardest, did the best job, had the most passion, was probably as well-liked by our players as anyone.''
The qualities Saban first sensed more than a decade ago are the same ones Florida's young players see in Muschamp every day at practice and on Saturdays. Gators sophomore defensive lineman Sharrif Floyd said Muschamp's enthusiasm can be infectious.
“A good group of us feed off Coach Muschamp's emotion and we love it,'' Floyd said. “It's amazing to me, actually, watching him pour his emotions out on game day and throughout the week.''
While the mentor was immediately impressed by the prot?g?, the understudy was equally impressed. Still a young coach at the time, Muschamp gained knowledge and experience from one of the top coaches in the game.
Florida assistant Dan Quinn was on Saban's staff with the Dolphins as well and understands why the Alabama coach has the reputation he does – Saban was recently the first football coach featured on the cover of Forbes magazine for a story documenting his business-like approach to running a program.
“He was certainly involved in every part of the organization,'' Quinn said. “I learned a great deal from him. He was really hands on from the way we selected our personnel, the way we installed our defense. He is one of the brightest football minds that I've been around. He gets football.''
Quinn voiced similar opinions about Muschamp when he decided to leave Seattle – after 10 years as an NFL assistant – to join Florida's coaching staff as Muschamp's defensive coordinator.
In his time around Saban, the football part came naturally for Muschamp, a former defensive back at Georgia who was a co-captain as a senior. The lessons he learned from Saban run much deeper than what takes place on the field on Saturdays.
While they conduct themselves differently in some ways – Saban comes off more as a cold-blooded leader and Muschamp a fiery general – they aspire for the same results.
“Nick never asked me to do anything as an assistant coach that he didn't do as a head coach,'' Muschamp said. “He does a great job of managing his program from top to bottom.''
When Muschamp took over the Gators in January, he immediately began implementing a plan for his first 100 days on the job. Many of the ideas he pulled from a thick notebook were ones he learned from his time around Saban.
So far so good for the pupil in his first head-coaching job.
Muschamp has quickly made a good impression by starting his UF career with four consecutive wins and a No. 12 national ranking entering Saturday's game against the third-ranked Crimson Tide. He has also shown signs that he has certain people skills with the media, fans and boosters that Saban has been criticized for lacking on occasion.
Muschamp showed some of his quick wit and personality this week when a TV reporter compared his relationship to Saban using a reference from Star Wars.
"Excuse the Star Wars reference, but you guys have sort of a Master vs. Padawan thing going on with you and Nick,'' the reporter asked. “What's the sentiment in that?”
“What's a Padawan?" a bemused Muschamp asked.
“You've never seen Star Wars?'' replied the reporter.
“I've seen Star Wars 1. After that, I watched 'The Empire Strikes Back' and that's it. I ain't seen nothin' after that. I don't know what a Padawan is. You didn't call me a bad name, did you?”
The humorous exchange is one that is difficult to imagine with Saban, but one that Muschamp pulled off well. With kickoff approaching, he hopes the Gators can pull off what many consider would a big upset by knocking off Saban's powerful Crimson Tide.
Saban knows his former student will show up for the test well-prepared.
“Will has done a great job there from a discipline, execution and technique standpoint,'' Saban said. “Their guys are playing hard, and we're certainly going to have to match that intensity on the road and get the kind of execution that we need and play smart so that we give ourselves a chance to play winning football.
“This is going to be a real test and a real challenge for us.”
More than anything, Saturday's game will be “about the process,” a personal favorite phrase of Saban's and one Muschamp is known to use from time to time. In their world, building a winning team, a successful program, winning a big game is all about the process.
For Muschamp, part of that process included 20 minutes of chitchat with Saban on a football field in Atlanta. There were no cameras around to capture that moment, but there will be on Saturday.
“It's football. It's not personal,'' Muschamp said. “I've got great respect for Nick and the job he does. I probably wouldn't be standing here today if it weren't for the opportunity he gave me at LSU to be a position coach and then naming me the coordinator.''
