Time to stop the nonsense...

    It's time to end the nonsense about who is the SEC Coach of the Year. Jimbo Fisher is drawing some well-deserved accolades for his one-loss SEC season. When you finish 7-1 in the Conference, you've done one heck of a job. The only game the Fisher led Aggies lost was against Alabama. Oh yes, the always present Crimson Tide, the destroyer of dreams in the SEC.  Alabama beat Texas A&M 52-24. Looking back, the Tide didn't put the pedal to the metal in the second half of that game. Just when you think you have arrived along comes Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

     Nick Saban and the Tide did something that most experts said would never happen.  It was too much to expect any team to play 10 SEC games in one season and win each. Alabama did, and for good measure, they won SEC Championship Game, which brought the total to 11.  That game propelled the Tide to the number one see in the College Football Playoffs. 

    None of this column disrespects any coach or SEC program.   In a year of chaos and confusion, one program kept its eye on the ball. The season started, the process began, and Alabama won the SEC.  Nick Saban showed us that he is more than just a coach. He appears to consider each contingency and has a plan ready to address what happens. 

   The Saban defense isn't his best. He stuck with Defensive Coordinator Al Golding when most fans wanted his head on the proverbial pike. The defense improved. It's not incidental that Saban developed the most prolific offense in Alabama history. Sanban and Sarkisian built an offense that proved a perpetual motion machine is possible. Saban did this by hiring a talented Offensive Coordinator, a quarterback that no one thought could be a star, a skinny wide receiver, and a running back from California who chose to forego the NFL Draft. The offensive line is the nations' best. 

    Trust the process. Trust the process. Each play matters. The last play is over, and time to move on. Saban invented this mind-set or at least perfected it. Nick Saban isn't a great coach; he is the greatest coach in the nation, college or pro. How good is he? None of his assistant coaches who have moved on to head coaching jobs have ever beat him. 

    Nick Saban just reeled in the most extraordinary recruiting class in SEC history.  He devastated Texas coaches, including Fisher, by signing the best players in that State. He did the same in Florida. Alabama no longer has real arch-rivals. He has buried Tennessee. Georgia made a run but lost. Florida has fallen. Auburn is not significant.

The media should stop throwing awards to coaches who don't win the SEC.  The SEC Coach of the Year should go to the winner of the SEC.