In today’s Schmidt List, Nick Saban reveals his biggest professional regret, Hard Knocks goes to college, College GameDay sign goes viral and the latest example of college fandom being wild.
Nick Saban regrets leaving LSU
Time heals all wounds. That’s the case with the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inducting former LSU head coach and current Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
“I’m just amazed this has happened,” Saban told Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland and selection committee member/sportswriter, Ron Higgins, early this month when he got the call. “I didn’t know Louisiana would do this for me.”
Saban led LSU to the BCS National Championship in 2003, the first for the program since 1958 and gift-wrapped the 2007 team for Les Miles to take to another national title. After Saban left LSU for the Miami Dolphins, Saban was Public Enemy No. 1 in the state. It was made even worse when he took the job at LSU’s rival, Alabama, and then proceeded to win five national titles, including one against LSU in 2011. LSU has lost eight straight against Alabama.
But Saban didn’t leave LSU because he didn’t enjoy his time there. He loved it. His wife Terry loved it. The fans, stadium, players, facilities, all of it were great. He didn’t leave LSU because of any other reason other than he wanted to be an NFL head coach. Or at least, he thought he wanted to be a pro coach.
“As it turns out, what I learned from that experience in hindsight was, it was a huge mistake to leave college football,” Saban said. “And I know a lot of LSU fans think I left for whatever reasons, but I left because I wanted to be a pro coach, or thought I wanted to be a pro coach. We loved LSU. We worked hard to build the program. If there was one thing professionally that I would do over again, it would’ve been not to leave LSU.”
Can you imagine how college football would be different if Saban never left LSU?
LSU could have all those titles Saban won at Alabama. What would have become of Alabama? They could still be stuck in the Mike Shula-type head coach landscape and certainly not the king of college football. Now, that’s something LSU fans will keep themselves up late at night thinking about.
Hard Knocks goes to college
After the last season of Hard Knocks featuring the Raiders was totally underwhelming and disappointing, leave it to college football to resurrect this once-proud docuseries. I am taking all the credit for this too because I asked for this several months ago and even came up with a list of 10 schools that would be perfect for the show. Thankfully, HBO reads my work and obliged.
HBO announced on Wednesday it will follow four college football teams for their game week. Florida, Penn State, Arizona State and Washington State are the four lucky schools who will be featured. The first episode begins with Florida on Oct. 2 at 10 p.m. ET for their game leading up to Towson.
Penn State will be the following week and chronicle the lead up to their contest with Purdue on Oct. 9.
Then, it’ll be Herm Edwards and Arizona State on Oct. 16 for their game leading up to Washington State.
The season finale sees Washington State and Mike Leach get their hour on Oct. 23.
Liev Schrieber will continue to serve as the narrator for the long-running series that provides a behind-the-scenes look at the inner-workings of a football team and its players and coaches.
“For many years, we have been enamored with the storylines and unrivaled traditions of college football, and we’re excited for the opportunity to expand the 24/7 franchise into the realm of college sports,” said executive producer Rick Bernstein in a statement. “Viewers will feel the tremendous electricity of some of the best atmospheres in the country, and see the meticulous preparation and challenges facing these programs in the build-up to gameday and during the game action. We are excited for the challenge of delivering a four-part series of four different college programs over a four-week period with the production values and storytelling associated with our 24/7 franchise.”
College GameDay beer money sign goes viral for charity
One of the best parts about College GameDay is the signs fans bring. They are creative, funny shows off the trash-talking element of college football. But GameDay signs can also be used for good. Take, for example, Carson King who brought a sign to last week’s Iowa-Iowa State game saying his Busch Light supply had run low and he requested people to donate to his Venmo. Little did the 24-year-old fan realize that he got considerable airtime and the donations begin to pile up.
King decided he was going to donate the money to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital that has become famous for The Wave by Iowa fans to those in the hospital.
“It’s just a huge part of Iowa,” King told ESPN. “They help out kids from all over the country. They’re one of the best at what they do, and Iowa supports them. I figured this would be our way to help out.”
https://twitter.com/venmo/status/1174045653443338241
After King’s intentions to donate the money went viral, his Venmo notifications began to really pop. By Wednesday, his account had more than $36,000. Even better, the viral tweet caught the attention of Anheuser-Busch and Venmo who are matching King’s donations. So this GameDay sign that started off as a fun joke turned into a $100,000 charitable donation to a Children’s Hospital in less than a week.
“Those kids are incredible. They’re going through such a hard time,” King said. “I think it’s important [that] any help we can get them, we should get it to them. Give them something to smile about at the end of the day.”
Amazing.
And in case you’re wondering, Anheuser-Busch is also gifting King with a year’s supply of Busch Light.
No luck of the Irish (Spring) for Notre Dame fans
College football remains the best. This is so petty and so great. Dill’s Food City, which has locations about 30-40 miles from Georgia’s campus in Athens have temporarily run out of Irish Spring soap ahead of Notre Dame coming to town.
College football fandom is so crazy and it’s the best and I will hear nothing of the contrary. Georgia is favored by 14 over Notre Dame, so if it ends up a long night for the Irish, they can till drown their sorrows in Irish whiskey and a pint of Guinness.