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You can hear the music from the Wizard of Oz coming loudly from Miami Dolphins facility already.
Ding, Dong, the wicked witch is dead.
Let's face it, there won't be a lot of tears shed inside the organization over the decision by coach Nick Saban to leave the team and go to Alabama. Saban took what was once a comfortable place to work and turned it to spot where everybody walked on eggshells.
He made it miserable for his coaches, the staff, the media, the players -- everybody.
That's the Saban way. That's not to say he isn't a good coach, because he is, but men like him beat down an organization.
He turned sunny South Florida days into dark, dank times.
Harvey Greene, the Dolphins outstanding public relations director, was spade and neutered under Saban, seemingly living in a world of Nick fear. That wasn't fair to Greene or his staff.
Saban's coaching staff, which included two former NFL head coaches, constantly told their friends around the league how miserable they were working for the man. He browbeat them, made them feel inadequate and constantly insisted they stay in the building at all hours -- just for the sake of saying they did so.
Randy Mueller, the team's personnel director, is another who wasn't exactly too thrilled with the way Saban operated. Mueller told many of his friends in the league how tough it was to work for Saban.
The terms lunatic, control freak and some not-so-printable ones were often used by some in the organization.
Saban will be seared for the way he handled this move. He constantly denied he was interested in the job, but then took it. What the heck was he supposed to say? That he was going?
Let's face it, Saban left for the money. He will make a reported $32 million over eight years in guaranteed money. That's a lot of cheese.
Coaches are no different than CEOs of major companies who leave for better packages. This is a package that is too good to pass up, so he went.
End of story.
Saban tried to leverage more money from the Dolphins, but Wayne Huizenga didn't budge, especially since he was only 15-17 in two seasons, so off he goes. He leaves behind two non-playoff years, a roster with age and uncertainty and an owner now in search of a head coach.
But for many inside the Dolphins building, none of that matters. The most important thing is that Saban is gone, his iron-fist ways, indicative of the control-freak coaches in the NFL, going with him.
Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead.
Can you hear the music?
LINK
---------------
Per PFT
POSTED 7:26 p.m. EST; LAST UPDATED 9:51 p.m. EST, January 3, 2007
"RESTRAINED JUBILATION" IN SOUTH FLORIDA
In the immediate wake of Nick Saban's departure from the Miami Dolphins, the prevailing mood in the building is, to quote the doctor who informed George Costanza of his fiancé's demise, "restrained jubilation".
Make no mistake about it -- Saban was hated by nearly everyone in the building, with the most notable exception being his in-house spy and ball washer (especially when not golfing) Scott O'Brien.
And Saban surely knew it. Why else would he choose not to face his coaching staff and tell them in person that he was leaving? Instead, Saban let them know of the decision by phone, prompting some of the assistant coaches and veteran players to label him as a "--edited--".
Me-ow.
We're also hearing that Saban's wife had a big role in the final decision to leave Miami, which according to owner Wayne Huizenga was the result of various factors unrelated to money. "I've been through this with Nick for quite some time now," said Huizenga, who apparently was complicit with Saban in the string of flat denials regarding Saban's possible departure. "I feel the pain and so forth and so on of both Nick and Terry."
With Saban gone, there are plenty of folks in the franchise who are feeling anything but pain.
Ding, Dong, the wicked witch is dead.
Let's face it, there won't be a lot of tears shed inside the organization over the decision by coach Nick Saban to leave the team and go to Alabama. Saban took what was once a comfortable place to work and turned it to spot where everybody walked on eggshells.
He made it miserable for his coaches, the staff, the media, the players -- everybody.
That's the Saban way. That's not to say he isn't a good coach, because he is, but men like him beat down an organization.
He turned sunny South Florida days into dark, dank times.
Harvey Greene, the Dolphins outstanding public relations director, was spade and neutered under Saban, seemingly living in a world of Nick fear. That wasn't fair to Greene or his staff.
Saban's coaching staff, which included two former NFL head coaches, constantly told their friends around the league how miserable they were working for the man. He browbeat them, made them feel inadequate and constantly insisted they stay in the building at all hours -- just for the sake of saying they did so.
Randy Mueller, the team's personnel director, is another who wasn't exactly too thrilled with the way Saban operated. Mueller told many of his friends in the league how tough it was to work for Saban.
The terms lunatic, control freak and some not-so-printable ones were often used by some in the organization.
Saban will be seared for the way he handled this move. He constantly denied he was interested in the job, but then took it. What the heck was he supposed to say? That he was going?
Let's face it, Saban left for the money. He will make a reported $32 million over eight years in guaranteed money. That's a lot of cheese.
Coaches are no different than CEOs of major companies who leave for better packages. This is a package that is too good to pass up, so he went.
End of story.
Saban tried to leverage more money from the Dolphins, but Wayne Huizenga didn't budge, especially since he was only 15-17 in two seasons, so off he goes. He leaves behind two non-playoff years, a roster with age and uncertainty and an owner now in search of a head coach.
But for many inside the Dolphins building, none of that matters. The most important thing is that Saban is gone, his iron-fist ways, indicative of the control-freak coaches in the NFL, going with him.
Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead.
Can you hear the music?
LINK
---------------
Per PFT
POSTED 7:26 p.m. EST; LAST UPDATED 9:51 p.m. EST, January 3, 2007
"RESTRAINED JUBILATION" IN SOUTH FLORIDA
In the immediate wake of Nick Saban's departure from the Miami Dolphins, the prevailing mood in the building is, to quote the doctor who informed George Costanza of his fiancé's demise, "restrained jubilation".
Make no mistake about it -- Saban was hated by nearly everyone in the building, with the most notable exception being his in-house spy and ball washer (especially when not golfing) Scott O'Brien.
And Saban surely knew it. Why else would he choose not to face his coaching staff and tell them in person that he was leaving? Instead, Saban let them know of the decision by phone, prompting some of the assistant coaches and veteran players to label him as a "--edited--".
Me-ow.
We're also hearing that Saban's wife had a big role in the final decision to leave Miami, which according to owner Wayne Huizenga was the result of various factors unrelated to money. "I've been through this with Nick for quite some time now," said Huizenga, who apparently was complicit with Saban in the string of flat denials regarding Saban's possible departure. "I feel the pain and so forth and so on of both Nick and Terry."
With Saban gone, there are plenty of folks in the franchise who are feeling anything but pain.
