Howard Schnellenberger says Nick Saban ‘needed a big serving of humility’
Maybe someone should have videotaped former Miami coach Howard Schnellenberger's reaction to Chris Davis' 100-yard field goal return to beat Alabama?
Schnellenberger was on WDRB in Louisville on Tuesday and said that he thought that the return was "the greatest thing in the world" because Alabama coach Nick Saban needed some humility.
"I thought that was the greatest thing in the world," Schnellenberger told WDRB. "Not for the football program. For the football coach. He needed a big serving of humility. He's been Mr. Perfect. He's been Mr. Arrogant. There's no reason for that. Every coach all the way down to Little League knows that you cover that field goal."
We're pretty sure that Saban's team knew it needed to cover that field goal. It just didn't do a very good job of it. And Schnellenberger realizes that. He said he still believed that Alabama was the best team in the country.
"They just made a stupid play," he said. "Every coach in the country knows you don't go into that play thinking, ‘I hope the kick is good.' You go into it telling your players, ‘What if they run it back?' "
Schnellenberger's comments about humility are also funny given his Miami tenure and especially what followed it. He rebuilt the Miami program in the early 1980s and left after the team won the 1983 Orange Bowl. Once Miami started having the sustained success that Schellenberger keyed, that Miami swagger that we all know followed.
But don't consider Schnellenberger, who retired in 2011 after 10 years at Florida Atlantic, to be an advocate for a one-loss SEC team in the BCS Championship if both Florida State and Ohio State are undefeated. He also told WDRB that the two undefeateds should play for the title.
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is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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