HOOVER, Ala. — He poked his head around the corner on Radio Row at the Wynfrey Hotel just long enough for me to see the brim of houndstooth hat.
Not wanting to be noticed by too many of the fans, writers or broadcasters, he ducked in an alcove over by Shula’s steakhouse, pulled out a pack of unfiltered Chesterfields and whispered, “Psssst! Over here! Got a light, there, Gator man?”
Suddenly realizing that the most famous coach in Alabama football history was appearing here only to me, I borrowed a candle from one of the restaurant tables. And as the flame touched the end of his cigarette, those deep crevices in his face became visible and I knew for sure that this was, indeed, Bear.
“Let me ask you a question,” he said with a gravelly bourbon voice and a deep Southern drawl. “What is all this ‘touchy/feely stuff’ I am hearing from these coaches about encouraging their players to ‘get in touch with their inner selves’?”
You could tell where this Master of Old School technique he was going with this New School approach. People like Urban Meyer and Nick Saban have espoused the theory that young men need to have second and third chances to correct bad choices in life and that they live in a much different world today.
“Aw, pshaw,” said Bear. “Football players need discipline. They need structure. They need to have their butts kicked when they screw up. And if they need to know there are consequences for every action.”
Yes, I said respectfully, both coaches have addressed that matter and both say they feel differently today about kids in a world with so many external forces influencing their choices. Meyer and Saban, among others, are among the first to embrace the wholistic approach to coaching.
“Nick Saban just said yesterday that as a college football coach he has a chance to influence the lives of young men for the better – as has Meyer,” I told Bear. “He said he feels players have to develop a positive attitude and become responsible citizens who can be successful in life through higher education and good choices.”
Bear wasn’t buying this. “So are they trying to run a football team or one of those California think tanks where they sit around meditating on their navels all day and eat quiche on their coffee breaks?” he asked.
“Let me tell you about positive attitude: When I coached at Alabama, all we needed to worry about was MY positive attitude.”
I could understand where Bryant was coming from, because as I sat there listening to Saban use words like “patience” and “chemistry” and “choices” and “negative energy,” it did sound a little bit like Oprah and Dr. Oz.
It turns out that in the past Saban, indeed, has been reading up on some psychology and admitted to having a “firm” work with the Crimson Tide to gain a more positive attitude. (The Pacific Institute.)
This part was for real and I didn’t imagine or dream it. So I asked Saban if his approach was a radical departure for Alabama and Old School football, considering Bear’s background at Texas A&M and the stories about the “Junction Boys.”
And what had he been reading, anyway, Freud?
“I’m from West Virginia,” Saban responded. “And in West Virginia we don’t even know who Freud was.”
He had that in common with Bear.
“Well,” Bear said, “we had a tackle from Dothan once named Fred Freud. Played both ways.”
About that time Bear looked at his watch and realized he had 30 seconds to catch his ride back to that Great Football Heaven, so he put out the smoke, tugged at his houndstooth hat and dissolved like he’d been beamed up by Scotty.
It was just difficult to believe that football coaching had changed all that much over the recent 20 years. And I wondered if Bear’s stuff would work today and whether Saban could have coached in Tuscaloosa back in the 1970s.
Going back over my notes from Saban’s interview, I remembered his response to the second part of my question about the difference. Nick related it to his own children.
“We played checkers when we were growing up,” Saban said. “And when we moved the wrong guy, you lost your guy. You got immediate positive or negative gratification (response) and you learned from that.
“It’s so different (today). My kids just push the restart button and don’t even know if they got blown up. It’s different.”
There probably has never been a greater football coach than Bear Bryant, but even his ways eventually changed a bit over the years.
Let us not forget that Bear coached some mavericks in his day, including Joe Namath and Kenny Stabler, and without question cut them some slack to keep them on the field — although Bryant once booted Namath off before a Sugar Bowl game and still won with field goals.
Saban has probably got it right, and so has Urban Meyer. Meyer once told me he would hope to never kick another player off the team, but that probably just isn’t plausible. He feels a deep commitment to teaching, and when a player is cut loose, that chance for redemption is gone.
Deep down, I think Bear Bryant was a good enough football coach to realize that even he might have to adapt to today’s game and today’s athletes.
In fact, as he vanished from Shula’s, I noticed something sticking out from his back pocket. I can’t prove it, I think I saw the title “Urban’s Way.”