Alabama-Notre Dame: Comparison of Coaches

Nick Saban has been here before.

First it was in 2003 as the head coach, then it was his most recent national championship games as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2009 and 2011. Now the Alabama head coach is on the brink of taking a third national title trophy to Tuscaloosa while adding a fourth to his resume if the Crimson Tide can knock off the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Monday night.

Yes, the Crimson Tide coach has been down this road before, and as ESPN Announcer Brent Musburger mentioned on a conference call Thursday morning it is not hard to get an idea of how Saban feels before a big game, citing the differences between the 2009 game against Texas and the 2011 game against LSU.

When it comes to keeping focused and handling long layoffs, Saban has turned it into an art form. Meanwhile his counterpart, Notre Dame head coach Brain Kelly is dealing with the chaos that comes with playing in a BCS chaos for the first time as ESPN College Football Analyst Kirk Herbstreit pointed out later in the conference call.

Although inexperienced when it comes to the BCS Title Game it should be noted that Kelly took Grand Valley State to the Division II National Championship and Cincinnati to two BCS Bowl games.

The 2013 BCS National Championship can be heard on the 95.3 FM WFFN, 99.1 FM WDGM, and 790 AM WTSK. The Crimson Tide Sports Network broadcast will begin at 4:30 pm on Monday January 7th 2013 with pregame coverage, the play-by-play broadcast with Eli Gold, Phil Savage and Chris Stewart on the sidelines, then the post game show following the contest.