Nick Saban has brought the people of Alabama three national championships in the past four years. In return, he expects full support from the students and fans who attend the games, regardless of who the opponent may be.
Alabama scheduled non-conference home games against Colorado State, Georgia State and Chattanooga this season. They will destroy play Chattanooga on Nov. 23 and have already beaten Colorado State and Georgia State by a combined score of 76-9. We get the whole “cupcake” concept, but how can you expect fans to stick around and scream their lungs out until the end of blowouts like that? Saban sure does.
“I talk about the players playing for 60 minutes of the game and competing for 60 minutes in the game,” Saban said Thursday, via The Anniston Star. “I think that some kind of way, everybody that chooses to go to the game, you should stay there and support the team for the game.
“Maybe if you’re not interested in doing that, you should let somebody else go who would like to go because I have a lot of people who want to go.”
Saban made sure to mention that keeping a packed stadium for 60 minutes can even help influence recruits.
“We have a lot of recruits there. We like to see a full stadium,” he added. “We have a beautiful stadium and a very nice place, one of the nicest venues in all of college football. I think we should all show our appreciation for it by staying there and showing our appreciation to the team for the whole game.”
Something tells me Nick Saban doesn’t need a full stadium in a 50-0 game to convince a recruit to enroll at Alabama. His resume should kind of speak for itself in those situations. But the issue is one that the school is even looking into. According to The Crimson White (via The Big Lead), Alabama administrators are exploring the idea of stripping reserved seating from some student organizations.
“I am sending this e-mail to remind you to ask each of your organization members to stay for all four quarters of the Crimson Tide football games,” SGA president Jimmy Taylor said in an email to the school’s organizations. “This is certainly important for all UA students, but organizations with reserved seating have signed an agreement to stay until the conclusion of the game.
“Administrators will review photos and film of the student section from the games. Seating will be taken away from those organizations, who abandon reserved seating. I have also been informed that this is a ‘pilot year’ for SOS and if sections do not remain full, this will likely be the final year of Student Organization Seating.”
Folks, this is not a drill. Remember what Saban said after that game against Western Kentucky last year? Yeah, that still applies.
