This week's top-10 list topic: the best villains in college football... I'm listing the brash,...

This week's top-10 list topic: the best villains in college football...

I'm listing the brash, stir-the-pot characters:

1. Alabama coach Nick Saban: ...In our recent ESPN The Magazine survey of college players, Saban was the runaway top answer to the question, "Who is the last coach you'd want to play for based on what you know?" In fact, Saban was named almost twice as often as any other coach. Apparently, word from some Tide players has circulated. "Guys never have anything good to say about him," one SEC player said. (emphasis mine)

Bruce Feldman's Villains of College Football

ESPN's big thing right now is asking who the biggest villains in college football. Normally I just skip these sorts of exercises, but Feldman isn't a rabble rouser and I haven't heard anything like this before.

What about y'all? Anyone else heard of any dissent within the Tide ranks?

For what it's worth, he has Lane Kiffin at No. 2 and Bobby Petrino at No. 4 before the ESPN Insider cutoff hits.

over 2 years ago Year2 4 comments 0 recs |

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I have no idea where Feldman got that from.

I’ve only heard good quotes from players and former players. On top of that, if Saban is so terrible to the players, then why is he still attracting top notch recruits? That would make absolutely no sense.

In fact, I remember seeing a quote from one of the players saying that he’s a players coach and that when he’s not in front of the media, he can actually be a pretty funny guy.

by jsholt969 on Aug 18, 2009 7:13 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, it didn’t seem to add up to me, but as I said, Feldman isn’t a troll. The quotes apparently came from an ESPN the Magazine survey that he did not conduct and was just quoting from.

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by Year2 on Aug 19, 2009 7:44 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't know about players

but I’ve heard the people that worked in the LSU Athletic Department were not all that thrilled with him.

by shelby924 on Aug 19, 2009 11:08 AM EDT reply actions

He probably made folks

in the Athletic Department, who were probably not used to working tremendously hard, work incredibly hard. CNS is a brash, my-way-or-the-highway seeming dictator, but it’s all part of his emphasis on toughness. Sure he can rub some the wrong way, but that just seems odd that he’s the “biggest villain.” Then again, his media persona would make me (if I were a player for a team say…in the Midwest) not want to play for him if I didn’t know him.

by BamaDixi on Aug 19, 2009 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions