Tide Tidbits - November 19, 2008

Nick Saban: "There's no better place to coach than Alabama"
It's no surprise the largest crowd of the season turned out for tonight's weekly Cellular South 1st and 10 club meeting at Heron Lakes Country Club in Mobile. The biggest roar was one of approval at this memorable line from Saban about his future. "There's no better place to coach than Alabama,'' Saban said. "There's no better place to be than Alabama. ... When we do this the right way, then I'm going to stay as long as we want to stay.''

Saban's work is never done at Alabama
Nick Saban is a man in motion. Don't try to stop him. Just get out of his way. There he goes, walking down a hall in the Mal Moore Athletic Facility with a purpose. He does everything with a purpose. Saban spies star sophomore linebacker Rolando McClain and stops to coach him up. Alabama's Nick Saban never misses an opportunity to coach up one of his players. "When we call that blitz, you have to jam up in there," Saban says. "Do you understand?" "Yes, sir," says McClain, who nods and continues on his way. Saban heads the other direction, resuming a gait that's almost a gallop. If you saunter, stroll or simply walk, Saban will leave you in his dust. He is headed to a meeting. And if there's one thing Saban loves, it's meetings. They dot his daily schedule, and his goal is to maximize every last tick of time.

National love for Alabama... and lots of it.
I guess you guys can probably get used to this. With being the No. 1 team in the country comes lots of publicity. And this has been Alabama's week for it. First this love-fest from Rivals.com, and now a pictorial from Sporting News. As the press release I just got tells me, TSN photographer Bob Leverone spent five days hanging with coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide -- from the Wednesday evening news conference to a Sunday brunch with a recruit.

Alabama ready for chance to chill out
Alabama senior defensive end Bobby Greenwood has spent the past 13 weeks flinging his body at large offensive linemen. There was a grueling training camp before that. He welcomed two weeks to prepare for Alabama’s season finale against Auburn. “I was real sore. Perfect timing to have a bye week,” the senior from Prattville said. “I feel a lot better today just having an off day yesterday.”

Roll Tide!