Nick Saban could always explain the " Alabama standard."
It was easy at the height of the Crimson Tide , sitting next to Dabo Swinney on Jan. 6, 2019, one day before Alabama football faced Clemson in its fourth straight national championship appearance. It's about becoming "the best version" of yourself, he said, wiping away each outcome on a scoreboard and instead focusing on the heart of individual performance for something greater.
"Did you create the best value for yourself and for the team by the way you execute, the discipline that you play with, how you're able to focus on the next play and not get frustrated with something that was difficult for you?" Saban asked.
It's what defined the Saban era. It marked six national championships at UA, allowing Saban to vault himself onto the short list of one-named college football legends: Woody, Osborne, Bowden, Bear.
It's a standard fifth-year defensive lineman Tim Smith knows well, one he was recruited for and experienced under Saban, one he tasked himself to help bring to the new regime under head coach Kalen DeBoer in his final season of eligibility.
So the question to Smith was succinct, one he faced before his Crimson Tide career was officially over: "Did DeBoer and his coaching staff meet the Alabama standard?"
Despite four losses, despite ending a 16-season streak of 10 wins or more, despite no College Football Playoff and no shot at an SEC championship, Smith was emphatic.
"Absolutely," Smith said.
But Smith clarified one thing about the "standard." It was never up to DeBoer.
DeBoer and Saban were not the same. They were never going to be the same.
Saban was the legend, the traditionalist, the seeming authoritarian who never played music at practice.
DeBoer was the young, approachable, offense-minded coach who brought energy, and music, to the practice field.
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Neither is right nor wrong, quarterback Jalen Milroe said during the preseason. But the two expected the same out of its players.
"What I'm seeing is a lot of guys are having fun," Milroe said. "Having fun, but also demanding excellence out of each other. And we all have a common task, which is to be successful. Not to win a championship. Be successful and (attack) each and every day so that when you do that, that's going to build into championships."
Like Saban, DeBoer rarely lost, coming into stint at Alabama with 104 wins in 116 games.
But the outcomes of the transition still had a learning curve, one that led to a stunning road loss to Vanderbilt after a seemingly season-defining home win against Georgia, one where Saban said he saw "a little bit of complacency, almost even arrogance," one that reared its head again at Tennessee , again at Oklahoma and again in Tampa against Michigan .
But the standard remained, one that Smith said didn't fall on the shoulders of DeBoer or any singular member of the coaching staff, but on the players who knew it well.
"The standard is still the standard," Smith said. "We uphold that. The players do. So even though the coaches may be new to the program, that's part of our job as well is to teach them, 'This is the standard, this is how we go about things.'"
The standard remained for Saban in retirement. His scope was just bigger.
The legend, the traditionalist, the coach who never played music at practice turned into a widely-viewed voice of reason, using his platform on ESPN's "College GameDay" to joke with Pat McAfee , to praise former assistants and teams, and give his take on where the sport stands.
It's a platform where Saban continues to push the standard, talking about – or, at times, to – teams as if they were his own.
"Why do you care about what some guy puts on the internet who's a fat guy in his underwear living in his mother's basement?" Saban said when talking about Ohio State's loss to Michigan ahead of its first-round College Football Playoff meeting with Tennessee. "Why do you care? Why does that mean anything to you? Why does that affect you in any way, shape or form? We should be focused on what we control and what we can do."
When Saban speaks about the CFP, people listen. When Saban speaks about the role of Name, Image and Likeness, the incoming NCAA settlement and what it means for the sport, people listen.
And when Saban spoke about, or to, Alabama football or to Crimson Tide fans about the team and where it stood, people listened.
"I don't want to be judgmental about what they do because I think (DeBoer) has to do what he does his way," Saban told McAfee in October. "He can't be me, he can't try to be somebody that he isn't. And I think there's more than one way to skin a cat.
"I actually think the guy has been successful. I think his way will work."
The "Alabama standard" never changes.
It didn't change Nov. 7, 2022, when Saban faced questions after the Crimson Tide had lost two out of its last three games, being asked, again, what the standard he holds his team to looks like. The goal, he said, was never to win SEC championships or national championships. It was to "be a champion." And if done right, "you have a chance to win a championship."
"If your focus is on the championship, are you really focused on the things you need to do to get there?" Saban asked.
It's why Milroe sees a bright future for Alabama under DeBoer. He sees a staff that understands what it takes for a roster to become the best version of itself.
But it was not about DeBoer or his staff.
"The standard that is here, the standard that is set and we have a lot of great dudes in the locker room that's hungry, that's looking to get better and looking to uphold the standard," Milroe said.
When Milroe was asked if DeBoer and his staff lived up to that standard in their first season in Tuscaloosa, the quarterback echoed Smith and gave his stamp of approval.
"For sure," Milroe said.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Where Alabama football 'standard' stands after Nick Saban era
