SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ —
The big crimson “A” stands for “Alabama.” It also stands for “aura.” There is no program like Nick Saban’s program. Maybe there has never been a program like Saban’s, not even previous manifestations of the one he heads.
Even Bear Bryant had peers, or nearly so. Alabama was mighty in the ’60s and ’70s, but so were Texas (Darrell Royal) and Southern Cal (John McKay, mostly) and Ohio State (Woody Hayes) and Notre Dame (Ara Parseghian into the post-Ara era) and Nebraska (Bob Devaney) and Oklahoma (Chuck Fairbanks to Barry Switzer).
