ORLANDO, Fla. — The City of Orlando as we know it today is much different than what it was in 1972.
Back then, Disney World had been open just shy of four months and a ticket to “The Happiest Place on Earth” would set you back a pocketful of quarters at $3.75. During the early ‘70s the population of Orlando hovered around 500,000 people – today, 2.13 million people call the Greater Orlando area home. UCF football didn’t exist, and wouldn’t start for another seven years.
Nearly 50 years ago, there was no Vrbo Citrus Bowl — at least not in its current form. There was, however, the Tangerine Bowl, the original iteration of Orlando’s New Year’s Day classic. And for a West Virginia native and Alabama resident, Nick Saban knows an awful lot about his Florida citrus.
“I guess I have a unique perspective on this because I played in 1972 Tangerine Bowl here,” Saban chuckled on Tuesday when asked at this year’s head coaches press conference about how the sport of football has grown in Orlando since the original Tangerine Bowl was played in 1947.
To his right, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh smiled and asked, “Is that right?”
That’s right.
Juggling scholarship offers from Navy, Miami (Ohio) and Kent State, Saban chose what he called “the worst program of the bunch” in Kent State – a team that went 1-9 a year before his arrival.
Saban, a 5-foot-6 defensive back, was joined on defense by linebacker Jack Lambert – the same Jack Lambert who helped the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowls.
With a 27-9 win over Toledo that fall, Saban and Lambert helped the Golden Flashes capture their first and only Mid-American Conference title.
The reward? A Christmastime visit to Orlando to take on the University of Tampa, led by eventual No. 1 NFL Draft pick John Matuszak — who later played Sloth in the movie “The Goonies” — future Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Freddie Solomon, and Paul Orndorff, who later became a WWE superstar best remembered as “Mr. Wonderful.”
My how things have changed.
All these years later, Saban is back for his third Vrbo Citrus Bowl appearance as a head coach — he coached LSU in the 2005 game and the Tide in the 2011 edition — and unlike 1972, a nation of fans will be watching him and his team this time around.
And while Alabama may lament missing out of the College Football Playoff, Saban seems pretty satisfied to be returning to Central Florida to play the Wolverines.
“We were excited about having the opportunity to come here and play because we were here in, I think, 2010 and had a great experience,” Saban said. “And I’ve actually experienced and seen growth ever since then in terms of what this game does.”
To some degree, that growth has come in the stands — when Saban played in Orlando in 1972, the reported game attendance was 20,062; at the 2011 game, 61,519 people watched Alabama thump Michigan State 49-7 — but he’s also witnessed development in the shadow of Camping World Stadium, where Lift Orlando has worked to transform the underserved neighborhoods that call the area home.
“Based on what this game has become, relative to where it was then, I think this community has done a great job of supporting the game,” Saban gushed. “And obviously the organization of this bowl game has grown to be something special, and I think one of the great venues in college football, to have an opportunity to be a part of.
“I think Orlando itself has grown with the bowl game,” Saban added, “and the Citrus Bowl folks have certainly taken advantage of that.”
But now, it’s time for Saban and the Tide to take advantage of what’s ahead of them – an opportunity to leave Orlando with a trophy stocked with local citrus – oranges, grapefruit and tangelos, to be specific.
Despite an astonishing 156-23 career record, Saban returns to Orlando with a 1-2 record in the game as a player and coach, with his only win coming in that 2011 game. And changing that won’t come easy.
“It’s a great opportunity for our team to play an iconic traditional program like the University of Michigan,” Saban said Tuesday. “You know, Coach Harbaugh and his staff have done an outstanding job with their team and had a great season and [it’s] certainly going to be a challenge for our team to be able to compete against them.”
—–
By Joseph Salvador
Florida Citrus Sports
ORLANDO, Fla. — Only one of the most iconic and respected coaches in college football history could say “no disrespect” after chiding a reporter and have the rest of the media in attendance chuckle in response.
In a setting that mixed one part comedy with one part drama, with a sprinkling of history on top, Tuesday’s Vrbo Citrus Bowl head coach press conference with Alabama’s Nick Saban and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh was everything you’d expect.
It started off with the usual niceties, right after a formal pose with the winners’ trophy that had photographers rushing to get the perfect shot.
Both coaches thanked the Vrbo Citrus Bowl and the city of Orlando for their hospitality. Both went on to call the other’s football program “iconic” in their opening statements.
Then Saban got a question about the NFL Draft.
Specifically, Saban was asked if he was surprised that only one of his players received a top-15 grade from evaluators and whether he expected some juniors to return in 2020 to “finish the deal.”
“Everybody’s got to make a decision about what’s best for their future, and we feel like our job is to make sure that we give them the correct information because there’s a lot of misinformation out there, whether it’s mock drafts or who is the evaluator,” Saban replied. “And what we try to do is make sure we get the information from the actual people who draft.”
He wasn’t done.
“Do you have a pick when the draft comes?” Saban followed up, allowing the question to linger.
“We try to get the information from the people who will actually pick the players, which is sometimes not congruent with what you all think, no disrespect to your ability to evaluate.”
Laughter cascaded from the back of Salons 5-7 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel following Saban’s response. He then smiled at Harbaugh, who sat to his right and seemed to echo his sentiment.
On that, the two coaches could certainly bond.
The presser’s next highlight came when the coaches were asked what they’d ask one another if given the chance to discuss their philosophies or careers in football.
A brief silence ensued as Saban looked to Harbaugh with a smirk while Harbaugh’s mouth remained agape before he slowly turned to Saban as a proverbial game of chicken commenced. Then Harbaugh took the floor.
“That would be a real treat,” Harbaugh said. “There’s really nobody better. Tremendous respect for coach Saban.”
Saban then shared his admiration for Harbaugh’s football family before ending on an answer.
“I would certainly cherish and have tremendous gratitude for the opportunity to be able to sit down with Jim and talk to him about how he does things and how that can improve our organization,” Saban said.
The pair put on a great show and said all the right things during the press conference, but come New Year’s Day, the formalities will be over. Such is the nature of bigtime college football.
Wednesday’s Vrbo Citrus Bowl will be the first time these two coaches face off against one another on the gridiron and the first time their storied franchises have met in a bowl game since the 2000 Orange Bowl — when Tom Brady and the Wolverines won in dramatic fashion, 35-34.
It remains to be seen how this meeting will pan out, but in a press conference or on the field, one thing is for sure: It will be entertaining.
###
