Anger management

DAVIE, Fla. – He prays he won't get mad. Literally. That's what Nick Saban said – that his first prayer in church Sunday is to not get angry.

But reality eventually asserts itself. Even divine powers have to grant Saban a mulligan or two or two thousand while rebuilding the Miami Dolphins. Taking over an aging 4-12 team is a job that lends itself to quite a profane tongue – third only to demonic possession and screenwriting for HBO. So count on Saban defying his own heavenly wishes where it concerns frustrated rage.

"If I'm praying about it, that means I'm still working on it," Saban admitted.

Not that language etiquette is what this whole thing is about. For a coach on his third consecutive retooling project, the mild manners are sure to have the life span of a fruit fly. But that's what the Dolphins are paying for: A sandpaper approach that can quickly turn around the franchise and lift it out of the AFC East's garbage can.

The next eight months, effectively until the end of the 2005 regular season, Saban is bound for one of the most difficult coaching experiences of his life. But a secret lies within that inevitability. Perhaps no other coach hired this offseason – not San Francisco's Mike Nolan or Cleveland's Romeo Crennel – comes more well-equipped to piece a football team back together. And while Saban's chief experience as an architect has come on the college level, he's never gotten the proper credit.

By revamping defenses and instilling discipline, Saban engineered complete turnarounds for both Michigan State and Louisiana State. He took over an 0-11 MSU program (which went 5-6 but had to forfeit all of its games due to ineligible players) and, during five years of NCAA probation from the previous regime, transformed the Spartans into a team that went 10-2 in his final season. Then he scraped LSU out of the Southeastern Conference gutter and led the Tigers to a share of the national championship only four years after his arrival.

Yet during both stints, Saban's prowess as a defensive tactician always overshadowed his ability to build – to unearth players and manipulate them into a collection of winners. His entire tally of NFL players at LSU has yet to be realized, but in five years for Michigan State, he developed 18 NFL draft picks and a handful of undrafted free agents – despite never landing a top-10 recruiting class.

Many of Saban's trademarks since his days at Michigan State haven't changed. He still builds through defense. He still takes measured risks on players with talent. And he still rules over his programs with Belichickian authority.

Little appears different in Miami, where he made Auburn running back Ronnie Brown his first-ever draft pick but then selected defensive players with four of his last five picks even though defense wasn't Miami's primary problem in 2004. And make no mistake, the choices were Saban's and Saban's alone. While other elements in the franchise may have had input, the ultimate decision-making power rested at Saban's feet. It's an interesting development for a man who supposedly wasn't hired to be both coach and general manager by owner Wayne Huizenga. Asked what was going to happen to current GM Rick Spielman this weekend, Saban gave little endorsement.

"We're in the process of evaluating all areas of the organization," Saban said.

In most organizations, the general manager weighs the future of the coach, not the other way around. That should leave little doubt what this franchise has become: an autocracy, with everyone but Huizenga answering to you-know-who.

For now, there's little to dispute. Beyond Saban's typical lockdown, when he narrows outgoing information to the width of a swizzle stick, he's given relatively unambiguous signals as to how the franchise will be built. The defense will be a base 4-3, but with the ability to flip into the 3-4 at Saban's whim. And the roster will be developed slowly, barring the occasional lack of talent available – in which case he dips into the free-agent market for veterans like defensive end Kevin Carter and quarterback Gus Frerotte.

And fans would be wise to take note of Saban's constant harping on "long-term" success. After seeing mentor Bill Belichick get fired by the Browns for following an 11-5 season with a 5-11 campaign, Saban has been resolute about downplaying Miami's future.

But he also allowed himself to be optimistic about pieces of that future at last weekend's minicamp, specifically Brown ("bright guy, very smart"), defensive end Matt Roth ("some pass-rush ability") and linebacker Channing Crowder ("natural leadership qualities"). Yet Saban did have some intermittent trouble with his anger management, showcased at one point Sunday when he punched the air and cursed his offense for blowing back-to-back plays in a drill.

"They key to it is how they ... sustain [effort]," Saban said of the 51 rookies and free agents who practiced over the weekend. "Are they going to get tired? Are they going to get sore and get the 'poor me's' on us? … When they get the 'poor me's' we'll see how much mental toughness they have."

The same could be said for Saban, who's destined for plenty of rage and prayer over the next eight months.