One of the benefits of having an engaged coach like Nick Saban as the titular figurehead of the Alabama athletics department has been his continued push to improve all of the school’s programs, athletic and academic. Certainly, a lot of this has been to improve football recruiting, but these consequences are consequences nonetheless. And they are paying huge dividends: Throwing money into the programs has worked.
Take Alabama Track & Field, long a middle-of-the-pack program. Entering into the SEC Outdoor Championships this weekend, the Tide women were 19th in the country. The men have had an even better showing.