“Well, it’s no trick to make a lot of money, if all you want is to make a lot of money.” –Mr. Bernstein, Citizen Kane
By writing this—perhaps by even thinking this—I am putting myself and my family in great danger. You see, I live in Alabama. In Alabama, as you might have heard, people take college football VERY seriously. People kill trees, they even kill each other, and they worship their coaches like gods. In Alabama, there is only one god (maybe) above Nick Saban. And Nick Saban takes football more seriously than anyone else.
Last season, only one team beat Alabama in football: Texas A&M, led by Prodigal Quarterback (and Heisman Trophy winner) Johnny “Football” Manziel. On Saturday, Alabama faces A&M again, this time on the road, after having a bye week to prepare. In honor of that game, this is the first of a three-piece series about Nick Saban, the Gospel, and me.
While I have never met Nick Saban, I have a conflicted relationship with him. I love college football, and Saban routinely savages my favorite team. As a citizen of Alabama, I often wonder how much better the state would be if it focused its energy on education (We’re not 49!) rather than football (We’re number 1!).
But my real beef with Nick Saban has to do with me. You see, Nick Saban is known for his devotion to “The Process.” Here’s how he describes it:
“Well, the process is really what you have to do day in and day out to be successful,” he said. “We try to define the standard that we want everybody to sort of work toward, adhere to, and do it on a consistent basis. And the things that I talked about before, being responsible for your own self-determination, having a positive attitude, having great work ethic, having discipline to be able to execute on a consistent basis, whatever it is you’re trying to do, those are the things that we try to focus on, and we don’t try to focus as much on the outcomes as we do on being all that you can be.
“Eliminate the clutter and all the things that are going on outside and focus on the things that you can control with how you sort of go about and take care of your business. That’s something that’s ongoing, and it can never change.”
It is unquestionable that, by following The Process, Nick Saban and his teams have been able to achieve enormous success. I suspect that, if we all followed The Process, we could succeed as well. And that’s what bothers me. I wish I could follow The Process. I wish I could care only about being all that I can be and not about the outcomes. I wish that the journey was more important to me than the destination. I wish that my positive attitude and my work ethic could struggle free of my human weakness.
Sadly, it can’t. And, because it can’t, I strongly suspect that, if Nick Saban ever met me, he would have to reject me. I don’t see how he could ever take a person like me seriously, at least without circumventing the Process which he holds so dear. The Process, after all, stretches beyond football and stands in undeniable judgment of my unshakable weakness and lack of discipline.
Fortunately, I don’t have to be strong and disciplined. I don’t have to follow a process. I am justified, not by my ability to win national championships, but by my faith. In other words, I’m banking on the fact that God loves me, even if Nick Saban never could.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpz_gUyImhw&w=600]
Even if The Process has no effect on my salvation, could it make me a better person? Click here to find out in part two.
COMMENTS
19 responses to “Nick Saban Could Never Love Me”
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This reads a lot like sanctimonious, accusatory sour grapes, dressed up in “grace” language, complete with a damning photograph of the accused and imagined threats from demonic, uneducated Alabama fans. I may have missed it, but I have never heard Saban say that his love for someone related in any way to their performance, yet this is exactly what it appears he is being condemned for in this post. If my boss tells me that I need to be at work on time in order to be successful in my job, is that somehow anti-gospel? That is all that Saban is saying, yet because he has been so successful, many people want to find self-righteous reasons to hate him.
I don’t see a condemnation of Saban here at all. The point (it seems to me) of this article is simply that Saban’s process (though immensely accomplished at achieving athletic success) would not be good news for us if it were God’s process.
Human achievement and success can almost always be traced to a Saban like “process”…..it’s the way the world works, and because that’s true, we tend to project an expectation on our relationship with God to work the same way.
However, Michael suggests that (as Paul says in Romans 2) we can’t even live perfectly up to human standards (like Saban’s)…let alone God’s standards.
Maybe Nick Saban could love me, but he’d never put me in the starting lineup (or recruit me for that matter) because he’s made no provision for my failure and weakness. God demonstrates His love toward me in that while I was weak and failing, Christ died for me…and because of that, God would actually put me in at tailback.
Thus, by comparison, Nick Saban could never love me. At least that’s how I read Michael’s article.
If you think this reads like sanctimonious, accusatory sour grapes, you will really dislike the rest of the series. I look forward to your comments!
Mr. Cooper, might you be viewing this through the lens of a rabid Alabama football fan? Underscoring the point in the opening about how dangerous it is to write such an article whilst living in Alabama?
Rather than the over-the-top SAT words invoked by Mr. Cooper, I think the take-away might just be that Nick Saban sets a higher bar for his players than God does for people generally. I, for one, find that assertion rather compelling. The alternative (that God’s standards are higher) is a genuinely frightening proposition.
Gosh, I never realized I was that schizo.
Just to be clear, “J.Michael Cooper” in the comment above is not me, as if anyone is wasting their time reading these comments 🙂
Can’t wait ’til the next post, MS!
Great job! Very insightful.
I love football season! He may be a demigod, but he’s our demigod!
I think what Nick Saban is saying is this: if you want to be good in a rough, fast, and powerful game, then you need to do the following…
Just like if you want to make an “A” in chemistry, you must do the following… or if you want to have a book published, you must do the following… There are optimal ways to go about succeeding at an appointed task. I think you might be wanting Saban to preach from the pulpit when what he wants to do is coach football.
And… I must say… the standard by which God judges mankind in infinitely higher than “The Process”. It is nothing short of perfection (Matt. 5:48). The good news is that another fulfilled that perfect demand and took our punishment in “The Great Exchange”. Our sin is therefore not imputed to us (Ps. 32) even though we remain far from the mark.
I think CNS is just like Eric Taylor or anyone else who makes a living out of instructing young people. Coaches inherit more than athletes. They inherit all the back stories (FNL) that goes with them. It’s amazing they can get them all to the stadium in time dressed alike, much less compete for a third NC. There has to be structure (law) considering many of these guys have never known it and therefore, without it, would confuse grace with antinomianism. Then we’d have a bunch of Johnny Footballers scrambling about on and off the field. CNS lives by “the process” because it is pragmatic but he (or any coach) couldn’t do their job without balancing it with grace just by the mere fact they are willing to bank their lives and livelihood on kids who are not their own and give them an opportunity. Plus, how many schools beside Notre Dame have their own priest on the sidelines? Nick keeps his theology close by his side.
Good insight, Tricia.
Thanks for your comments, folks. One of the dangers of doing a multi-part series is that the entire progression of thought is not quite clear in the beginning. I hope it will be clear by the end.
That being said, my hope, in this part, was to present Nick Saban: The Idol. Nick Saban is presented to the public as someone single-mindedly devoted to The Process. I, as a member of the public, receive that as Law and my failure to live up to it as Judgment. That has nothing to do with Nick Saban: The Man.
As a football fan, I don’t want Nick Saban to preach; I want Nick Saban to keep doing what he is doing. He is really good at it! But I think what he does and the way people react to him raise important theological questions. As a theology fan, I want to discuss those.
I’m not sure, though, that we can characterize and confine Saban’s methods to the First Use of the Law. He talks a lot about buy-in and has been known to exile those who don’t buy in. The Process is complicated, and that’s what makes it so interesting.
Michael, I wonder if your article and comments support idolatry and obsession while trying to question them. I appreciate you being hesitant to drink the Kool-Aid, but if you live in Alabama, you’ve got to know that this stuff is in the water we all drink. By “stuff” I mean a general confusion about what matters.
Regardless of where the rest of the series is headed, I’m just not sure you were clever enough here. What’s more disappointing is that you objectified and caricatured Saban as much as those you criticized. What’s incoherent and baffling is that you see theology as something to be a fan of. Is there a difference between “theological questions” and “questions”?
Thanks, man.
Not clever enough? How dare you, sir? I thought the parallel construction of “as a football fan” and “as a theology fan” was extremely clever, but I acknowledge, accept, and appreciate your disagreement.
I do believe there is a difference between “theological questions” and “questions.” For example, “Is this blog post poorly written?” is not a theological question, nor is “Is Andy Farmer an Alabama fan?”
But, to focus on your real point, I didn’t mean to support idolatry and obsession so much as to satirize it, which, of course, requires some degree of caricaturization. That I’m having to explain it indicates that I was not, indeed, clever enough.
Roll Tide
The look in Saban’s eyes when a player messes up will send chills down anyone’s spine. Great post, Michael.
I’ve read that Luther was thorough, quite the genius, dominated his context, and quite an excoriating and fearsome opponent, too.
Looking forward to the rest of the series but I find that persons who become theological foils are often de-personalized. I’ve been guilty of it on more than one occasion myself, much to my regret.
Luther had other problems as well, but he still managed to do some good things.