SEC Spring Meetings:Nick Saban on entitlement, titles and schedules

Nick Saban sat down with Buzz Baker to talk about things at the University of Alabama, and he made sure that he delivered more than just an interview…

Here are some of his best quotes:

On Entitlement: There was a lot of entitlement in 2010 after we won in 2009 and we played badly. In 2012, the team we have now the entitlement is less but the schedule is tougher.

But entitlement is a human condition. With it, you focus on what you’ve done and the holiday that you’re entitled to rather than focus on what makes you successful.

The LSU game: I’m proud of the way they managed losing the first LSU game. We knew that we didn’t execute properly, and we felt that if we did, we could give ourselves the chance to play again.

The 2012 team: I met the team two days after the National Championship and said: “You haven’t done anything. That team’s gone. You are going to be the target for the other teams out there. They are going to count down to when they play you. You’d better get ready”. People will want us to play like the 2011 team. But this team’s lost 23 seniors, 8 of those to the NFL. We lost some really good players on offense and defense. The role of these guys on the teams change. The guy standing next to Dont’a Hightower is suddenly going to have to take his role. That’s what people don’t understand. People don’t understand is that the team isn’t going to look a lot like the 2011-2 team.

Play-off: People want to see the best teams play. And when the leagues get bigger the better the teams will become. I think that people want to see the best four teams play in the play-offs. There is no equal parity in the leagues. There will be a time when other leagues are stronger than the SEC. You will get a lot of complaining if the No.1, 3, 7 and 11 sides get into a play-off just because they happen to be conference champions. There will be a mutiny.

Wanting something other than a play-off is about self-absorbed people who care only about their own team and not about college football or its fans.

On the BCS: I’m a BCS supporter. If we have a four-team play-off we’ll debate who the fifth team should be. They have two-hour shows for that in basketball in March for the 65th team. That’s OK. That’s just interest for our game. The media creates it.

The league schedule: There are so  many natural rivalries in the SEC and some people want rotating scheduling. It’s important to fix rivalry games and important for our team and our fans to play the other division games, too. They look forward to it. What I don’t want is another game in the SEC schedule. That would just create another headache.