- Mar 19, 2006
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Nick Saban goes off on Alabama students' poor attendance vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/nick-saban-goes-off-on-alabama-students-poor-attendance-vs-louisiana-lafayette/ar-BBNV9eE?li=BBnb7Kz
TUSCALOOSA ? Since the on-field competition hasn't been much of a challenge for No. 1 Alabama this season, Nick Saban is taking his fight elsewhere.
During a minute-and-a-half rant Wednesday evening, Saban expressed major disappointment with the half-empty Alabama student section in the south end zone of last Saturday's game against Louisiana-Lafayette.
"I can honestly say I was a little disappointed there weren't more students at the last game. I think we're trying to address that," Saban said Wednesday. "I don't think they're entitled to anything, either. Me personally, I think (seats) ought to be first-come, first-serve. If they don't want to come to the game, they don't have to come. But I'm sure there's enough people around here that would like to go to the games, and we'd like for them to come too because they support the players."
Saban's unprompted diatribe came in response to a question about how many Alabama fans are supporting Hawaii-born sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa by wearing leis to games this season.
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Before going even further in on the Alabama students, Saban acknowledged student support and fan attendance has seemingly waned in the decade-plus that he's been in Tuscaloosa.
"When I first came here, you used to play that tradition thing up there (on the video board) and everybody was cheering and excited and happy and there was great spirit," Saban continued. "Now they don't even cheer. They introduce our players and nobody even cheers. So I don't know, maybe there's something else somebody else ought to talk about. Maybe I shouldn't talk about it. Maybe I already talked about it more than I should."
Although the listed attendance for last Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff was 101,471, the wealth of empty seats in the usually-full student section behind the south goal post was blatantly noticeable and something many fans and even a few players commented on after the game.
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Alabama senior running back Damien Harris even quote-tweeted a picture of the mostly-empty student section with the comment: "This makes me sad, if I?m being all the way honest."
Saban made it clear the Crimson Tide players ? both current and future ? deserve better support than what they received Saturday.
"Look, our players work too hard and they deserve to have everything and people supporting them in every way and have tremendous spirit for what they've done," Saban said. "But there's a part of it where other people need to support them too, and there's got to be a spirit that makes it special to play here, because that's what makes it special to be here. And if that's not here, then does it continue to be special to be here or not? That's the question everybody has to ask, and I'm asking it right now."
Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC) hits the road this weekend for another 11 a.m. CT kickoff at Arkansas (1-4, 0-2 SEC) before returning to Bryant-Denny Stadium for the team's homecoming game Oct. 13 against Missouri.
"So I'm hopeful. We've always had great people travel on the road for us and had great spirit on the road," Saban continued, calming down near the end. "We have great fans. So I appreciate that. But to see half the student section not full, I've never seen that since I've been here before."
Alex Byington covers Alabama for The Montgomery Advertiser, which is part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Twitter @_AlexByington.
Alex Byington
www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/nick-saban-goes-off-on-alabama-students-poor-attendance-vs-louisiana-lafayette/ar-BBNV9eE?li=BBnb7Kz
TUSCALOOSA ? Since the on-field competition hasn't been much of a challenge for No. 1 Alabama this season, Nick Saban is taking his fight elsewhere.
During a minute-and-a-half rant Wednesday evening, Saban expressed major disappointment with the half-empty Alabama student section in the south end zone of last Saturday's game against Louisiana-Lafayette.
"I can honestly say I was a little disappointed there weren't more students at the last game. I think we're trying to address that," Saban said Wednesday. "I don't think they're entitled to anything, either. Me personally, I think (seats) ought to be first-come, first-serve. If they don't want to come to the game, they don't have to come. But I'm sure there's enough people around here that would like to go to the games, and we'd like for them to come too because they support the players."
Saban's unprompted diatribe came in response to a question about how many Alabama fans are supporting Hawaii-born sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa by wearing leis to games this season.
<twitterwidget class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" x-enc1="id" id="aaiknzkkvi-nzuxvk-7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe WP", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; position: absolute; visibility: hidden; display: block; transform: rotate(0deg);"></twitterwidget>
Saban during mini-rant on poor student attendance vs. ULL: ?I can honestly say I was a little disappointed there weren?t more students at the last game. ... I don?t think they?re entitled to anything either. Me personally, I think (seats) ought to be first-come, first-serve.? pic.twitter.com/JZOgnMKkwp
? Alex Byington (@_AlexByington) October 3, 2018
"When I first came here, you used to play that tradition thing up there (on the video board) and everybody was cheering and excited and happy and there was great spirit," Saban continued. "Now they don't even cheer. They introduce our players and nobody even cheers. So I don't know, maybe there's something else somebody else ought to talk about. Maybe I shouldn't talk about it. Maybe I already talked about it more than I should."
Although the listed attendance for last Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff was 101,471, the wealth of empty seats in the usually-full student section behind the south goal post was blatantly noticeable and something many fans and even a few players commented on after the game.
<twitterwidget class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" x-enc1="id" id="aaiknzkkvi-nzuxvk-8" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; visibility: hidden; display: block; transform: rotate(0deg);"></twitterwidget>
The BDS crowd minutes before No. 1 #Alabama takes on #Louisiana-Lafayette.Don't think Nick Saban is gonna be too happy about the turnout in the south endzone. #earlymorningkickoffpic.twitter.com/4MkOuEUMYV
? Alex Byington (@_AlexByington) September 29, 2018Alabama senior running back Damien Harris even quote-tweeted a picture of the mostly-empty student section with the comment: "This makes me sad, if I?m being all the way honest."
Saban made it clear the Crimson Tide players ? both current and future ? deserve better support than what they received Saturday.
"Look, our players work too hard and they deserve to have everything and people supporting them in every way and have tremendous spirit for what they've done," Saban said. "But there's a part of it where other people need to support them too, and there's got to be a spirit that makes it special to play here, because that's what makes it special to be here. And if that's not here, then does it continue to be special to be here or not? That's the question everybody has to ask, and I'm asking it right now."
Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC) hits the road this weekend for another 11 a.m. CT kickoff at Arkansas (1-4, 0-2 SEC) before returning to Bryant-Denny Stadium for the team's homecoming game Oct. 13 against Missouri.
"So I'm hopeful. We've always had great people travel on the road for us and had great spirit on the road," Saban continued, calming down near the end. "We have great fans. So I appreciate that. But to see half the student section not full, I've never seen that since I've been here before."
Alex Byington covers Alabama for The Montgomery Advertiser, which is part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Twitter @_AlexByington.
