It was August 1994 and one-time Kent State defensive back and University of Toledo head coach Nick Saban, beginning what would turn out to be his last season as defensive coordinator of the Browns before taking the head coaching job at Michigan State, plopped down next to me and two other beat writers in the cafeteria at Browns Headquarters between training camp practices.
This was back when the media could still eat – for free, no less – in the team cafeteria. And, to top it off, we were able to do so with the players and coaches mingling amongst us. Considering the fact that if a media member even glances in the director of the cafeteria now he is practically arrested on the spot, it is mind-boggling when I look back on that courtesy extended to us.
But even more surprising – or, blungtly, shocking – is that Saban would choose to break bread with some media types. By 1994, Browns head coach Bill Belichick had already thrown down the gauntlet against the local media. Perhaps the fact that the three of us treated Belichick fairly, and he was fair to us in return, is the reason that Saban, his top assistant and friend, felt he could trust us.
Saban, who is cut a lot like Belichick, willingly talked about a variety of things, including Belichick’s unceremonious release just nine months earlier of quarterback Bernie Kosar, a Browns icon even to this day. It was a still a hot-button topic.
“Look, did we handle it the right way? Probably not,” Saban said in his tpical matter-of-fact fashion. “But it definitely needed to be done. Kosar’s skills were eroding.”
Despite that comment, it was still hard to digest the waiving – in the middle of the season with the team in first place in the AFC Central – of a guy who had accomplished so much for, and meant so much to, the Browns and their fans for 8½ seasons.
But, again looking back with crystal-clear 20-20 hindsight, it was a preview of what would turn out to be one of the hallmarks of Belichick’s coaching career as he has gone to great things with the New England Patriots, including a quest for a fifth NFL championship when they play the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI on Sunday evening.
That is, Belichick will release any player at any time, regardless of who he is and what he has done in his career, if he thinks it’s good for the team. And Kosar had lost some of his fastball, and there was also the fact that he made it clear, in so many words, that he was not on board with Belichick. That was a double-whammy, and more than enough reason for him to send Kosar packing.
And that was exactly what Nick Saban was trying to tell us between bites of his hamburger and salad about 22½ years ago.
