I have heard and read since Saban left every opinion you can imagine. Most people hate him for leaving LSU. I am not one of them. I’m thankful for what he did while coaching the Tigers. He obviously wanted to leave to try something else. Good for him. At the time I hated to see him go but if that’s what he wanted to do and thought it best for him and his family then best of luck to you buddy. We are a better team and a strong national power because he was here. Like him or hate him, agree or disagree with him he did what he had to do for him. I wish Nick the best and would shake his hand and thank him for coming to LSU if I had the opportunity.
If Les would have left last year the haters would be out in force. I would have been disappointed but ready to move on and see what the next guy can do. In my 46 years of life one thing I’ve learned is nothing stays the same.
Not saying you’re a hater Richard. :-)

The Saban/LSU pairing was a perfect marriage. Saban did a lot for LSU, but don’t mistake the other side of that. LSU did a lot for Nick Saban. It really was, for five years, a perfect pairing of coach and program. LSU’s deficiencies were tailor-made for a guy like Saban to correct. We had outdated facilities, outdated strength and conditioning programs, and outdated recruiting policies. Saban modernized the LSU football program in a multitude of ways that LSU really really needed in order to be competitive.

But LSU gave Saban the chance to recruit blue-chip athletes with no real competition. It gave him the opportunity to mine fertile ground in Texas and Florida that had been previously untapped by us (how’s that for a mixed metaphor). It gave him an opportunity to just coach. He didn’t have to be all things to all people at LSU. At Bama he has to be the face of the program. He has to be publicly accessible. He has to have explanations for everything. He never had to do that at LSU. He just was expected to coach football. Not a lot of programs are that easily pleased, and Saban isn’t particularly good at the stuff other programs ask him to do.

I think if Saban could do it all over again he wouldn’t have left LSU. He will NOT be able to recruit like he did in Louisiana and the surrounding area. Some would argue that he just signed the top class in the nation. With my limited knowledge I think some of that class is questionable but time will tell. Saban was a good match for LSU but I can say I like Les Miles personality better. I like his fire and his unpolished remarks. In almost every case of a coach leaving for another job he will be ridiculed and criticized. No one thinks these coaches should leave their beloved programs and I understand feeling that way but it is a no win scenario for the coach.

LSU is the only place he has had a high level of success as a head coach. If you look at that guys record and numbers alone, its really underwhelming. Until he has the same level of success somewhere else, there is only one logical deduction that can be made. The credit will remain LSU’s until he can duplicate his success elsewhere.

...reason Alabama fans think Saban will restore discipline in Tuscaloosa is the simple fact he’s a great recruiter and is going to get kids that are already of the mindset that they have to work hard, do the right things, and stay out of trouble to win. That sort of attitude was/is almost completely gone from Alabama, so expecting a fresh group of players that aren’t used to a lax culture and fully believe they can do whatever they want and get away with it to cut down on those problems is a fairly realistic proposition.