Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

7/21/2010 at 8:58pm

HOOVER, Ala. — Nick Saban has always seemed like a confident guy. He certainly doesn’t come across as the sort of person who needs the help of others to figure out something as simple as the current year.

Yet there was Saban on Wednesday, making sure he had his facts straight, just moments after he began addressing a room full of reporters at SEC Media Days.

“I want to make sure I’m in the right year. Is it 2010? Am I right about that?,” Saban said.

Saban, of course, was asking the question rhetorically. He knows exactly what year it is and didn’t anybody to help him come up with the answer. Instead, the coach who is 33-8 in three seasons at Alabama was trying to ward off questions about the Crimson Tide’s chances of repeating as BCS national champions.

Alabama went 14-0 last season. Tailback Mark Ingram won the Heisman Trophy and is one of eight returning starters on offense.

With 22 players “graduated” and 13 of those under contract in the NFL — numbers Saban made sure to point out shortly after taking the podium — there are questions in Tuscaloosa. Especially troubling to Alabama is the loss of eight starters from a defense that ranked first in the SEC in total and scoring defense.

Alabama's coach has clearly been, well, coaching his players in how to approach the season. They also downplayed the accomplishments of last season when the Crimson Tide two games decided by a touchdown or less.

“It was a great run, great memories that we’ll have for the rest of our lives,” quarterback Greg McElroy said before doing his best Saban impression and explaining why 2009 has no bearing on 2010. McElroy even sounded like he believed what he was saying as the explained the measures the team was going to in order to keep the past in the past.

“If you look at us, none of us are wearing our rings,” McElroy continued. “We understand that whatever happened last year isn’t going to give us an advantage this year.”

Alabama is still thought of as the favorite in the SEC. And even as the Crimson Tide coach and players worked to deflect focus on defending the national championship, the questions were asked.

Saban even tried to get media to avoid the phrase “defending champions”.

“You know, we’re not really defending a championship,” Saban said. “I’m sure somebody is going to ask me, ‘How are you going to defend this championship?’ The championship is a part of history and we’re not going to defend anything.”

NEW MAN?
Florida safety Ahmad Black saw the TV reports about Coach Urban Meyer’s health concerns. Black heard the news of how Meyer was planning a new approach to the 2010 season.

But Black hasn’t seen or heard a bit of difference from his head coach. Meyer is still the same ultra-competitive, intense coach that black has played for the previous three seasons.

“If it wasn’t for the [reports], I’d have never known,” Black said.

Meyer’s health and need to relax became an issue when he abruptly resigned for what amounted to a 24-hour period in December. Stress and three-years of undiagnosed chest pains — later discovered to be esophageal spasms — were too much for Meyer to handle at the time.

Today, Meyer said the health issues no longer bother him. He took time off in the spring for the first time in his professional career and he’s learned to shed some stress by no longer trying to oversee every aspect of the Florida football program.

Meyer is still very much involved in coaching and recruiting. Where he’s changed his routine is in cutting out speaking engagements and trying to delegate to the rest of his staff, including associate head coach Steve Addazio.

“I think we just prioritized what’s important to have us be successful on Saturdays, successful in the classroom,” Meyer said. “If we do that, then I’m going to do that. If it has nothing to do with that, there’s a great chance that’s not going to happen.”

Even so, Meyer looked and sounded like the same Urban Meyer that’s appeared at the last four SEC Media Days. He gripped the podium and gritted his teeth at times during the Q&A session.

Meyer might be a new guy on the inside, but to the audience in Hoover, including some of his own players, it was tough to tell much had changed from his outward appearance.

ALABAMA FANS: STILL NUTS
There’s just no better way to sum it up: Crimston Tide fans are little crazy [and we have the video to prove it].

SEC Media Days takes place in the thick of Alabama and the ‘Bama fans came out in full effect. Fans filled the lobby with footballs, helmets and other memorabilia hoping for a chance at having Saban bless autograph their prized possessions and gasped when the savior coach arrived, flocking to him as close as the velvet rope would allow.

It took Saban, who brought the Tide a national title in his third season, nearly 10 minutes to go 10 feet and in that time we lost count of how many times we heard “Roll Tide” chants.

You have to remember the first games are six weeks away, yet these rabid fans are sick with Saban fever. Poor Saban looked as if he was sick too, sick of the fans. But hey, if we were getting paid that kind of money, we’d sit through “Roll Tide” chants all day long too.

CLICHE KING
The SEC has its fair share of “silent leaders”, one-word answering players and funnymen, but Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy has earned the “Cliché King” title in our book.

While McElroy got hounded with questions during an interview, he managed to drop numerous gems like “If you’ve been to the top of a mountain why would you settle for anything else?”, “All you can do is put your best foot forward,” and “the ball has to bounce your way.”

We’ll give McElroy — a Rhodes scholarship hopeful — credit for being an eloquent speaker on most topics, but boy, he was rapid-fire with the player-speak.

RING 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM
Mississippi State’s infamous cowbells have been one of many topics of conversation this off-season, so you had to know Media Days wouldn’t be complete without their mention. MSU’s coach Dan Mullen started his statement joking to the media saying, “For the next 10 seconds it’s legal to ring your cowbell.” It generated a lukewarm response from the press, as only a few chuckles followed.

The cowbell issue wouldn’t go away, as the Bulldogs’ defensive back Charles Mitchell said, “when those bells start ringing your hair starts sticking up and the adrenaline starts sticking up. We have some of the best fans in the country.“

We understand that the cowbells ringing for three hours can be hair-raising, but only in the sense that that hair would be leaving the scalp as its torn out. As far as the fans, they’re just as rabid as Alabama fans for using those awful cowbells, but thankfully they display their excitement on Saturdays.

GONE FISHING
While new Kentucky Coach Joker Phillips was at SEC Media Days, predecessor Rich Brooks was playing golf. Brooks even managed to tweet that he was in Oregon playing in a golf tournament, while Phillips had to suffer the wrath of Hoover, Alabama.

Phillips went on to say “I’m working his handicap myself, because everyday, I’m getting scores from him.” Phillips tried a few other times to crack jokes but wasn’t able to pull it off.

GEOGRAPHY LESSON
Why does Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen refer to Ole Miss only as ‘The school up north’?

“Because they’re to the North of us,” Mullen said when asked that very question during his portion of media days. Mullen does not call Mississippi State’s in-state rival by name and hasn’t since taking over the program last year.

Mullen, who went 5-7 with a victory against Ole Miss in his first season, eventually expanded his answer. Essentially, he’s just trying to add fuel to the fire between his program and the one run by Rebels’ Coach Houston Nutt.

“[It] just adds to our rivalry, to our kids, that they understand the importance of that game, to our fan base, that they understand the importance of that game,” Mullen said. “It means an awful lot to he people in the state of Mississippi. I can promise you this.”

QUOTABLE
“How are they any better than a pimp? I have no respect for people who do that to young people. None.” — Alabama Coach Nick Saban sharing his thoughts on agents who “recruit” players while in college.

QUOTABLE II

“I want to welcome Coach Dooley back to the SEC, and when I say 'welcome,' I mean welcome.”
—SEC Comissioner Mike Slive taking one last shot at former Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin

Tagged: Houston Nutt, Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Urban Meyer, Dan Mullen