Nick Saban admitted that he has nobody to blame but himself for taking the Miami Dolphins head coaching job back in 2004 – a decision the 73-year-old would soon come to regret.
While appearing on Fridays episode of the Pat McAfee Show, Saban advised those looking to become the next head coach of the Chicago Bears to do their due diligence prior to pursuing the position. The former Alabama coach wished that someone had given him the same advice before he was hired by the Dolphins 20 years ago.
“Having interviewed for a few NFL head coaching jobs in the past, and I know you guys think that Chicago’s a beautiful city and all that, but if you take a job when you don’t have a roster – you got to look at the roster, Saban began.
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You gotta look at the salary cap, you gotta look at the quarterback situation, which the Bears have a good one. But I’m saying you have to take all those things into consideration, because if you don’t, you can end up in a no-win situation.”
Drawing upon his own experience, Saban continued: I took the Miami Dolphins job. We were $17 million over the cap, which was a lot back in those days, this is 20 years ago. We had the oldest team in the league, they’re 4-12, got no quarterback, and I’m thinking, I’m gonna make it right.
Well, we had a winning season first year, but we couldn’t get it turned around. But there were so many obstacles and no draft picks because they gave them all away for Ricky Williams. So if you don’t do your research in taking an NFL job … is my point regardless of how pretty the city is.”
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After inheriting a 4-12 team from interim head coach Jim Bates, Saban commanded the Dolphins to a 9-7 record in his first season at the helm. Miami struggled to achieve similar results the ensuing year, however, posting a meagre 6-10 record – prompting him to leave the NFL and join Alabama.
Though Saban was confident in his ability to fix the Dolphins during his tenure with the franchise, he acknowledged that there were signs the roster he overtook was not built to succeed.
How much of that did you know going into that job? co-host A. J. Hawk asked. Because youre right, everything has to be in place if you want a chance to be successful as a head coach.
Saban was blunt in his answer, replying: “Yeah, I knew it,” he said. “I just had a bad case of the ——-.
Wayne Huizenga was a great owner, and I thought this was a really good organization, and I thought we could get it fixed, and we got it moving in the right direction, but not being able to overcome the quarterback thing was the issue.”
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